How a house-to-house sales rep from Trichy fabricated a Rs 2114 crore turnover business domain in the US
Naturally introduced to a modest family that used to live in a covered hovel in Trichy, a clamoring city situated on the banks of stream Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, Sidd Ahmed, the most youthful of six kin, prearranged his own example of overcoming adversity. The design alumni required seven years to get his science certificate on account of his excesses
Born into a humble family that used to live in a thatched hut in Trichy, a bustling city located on the banks of river Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, Sidd Ahmed, the youngest of six siblings, scripted his own success story. However, from starting as a marketing executive for a salary of Rs 1,200 in Trichy, he quickly climbed the career ladder and ended up founding a company in the US whose turnover has touched $260 million (Rs 2114 crore) this year. Sidd started VD art as an IT staffing company with an investment of $500 in Alpharetta, Atlanta, after a thriving career as a headhunter in some of the top companies in the US.
Today, VD art has diversified into software and product development, with a global workforce of 3700 people operating from 10 countries, including a core team of 750 based in Trichy. “VD art’s success story is being taught in IIM Trichy as a case study,” says Sidd, 51, who grew up in Trichy and finished his Class 12 from St John’s Vestry Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Trichy, in 1989.
Sidd’s father had done odd jobs to take care of his large family of eight people. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher, but she left the job to take care of the children. “I call myself the most privileged child of the family,” says Sidd. He took B.Sc. Zoology, but six months later left the course after his elder brother returned from Bahrain and asked him to pursue engineering. My brother got me a seat at Ghousia College of Engineering in Ramanagara (near Bengaluru), where I did my B. Tech in Computer Science, says Sidd.
Sidd lost his father in 1992 while he was still in college. But before completing his degree, he found a job as a marketing executive at a computer training center in Trichy for a salary of Rs 1,200. I finally got my degree after three years. “My job was to go to schools every morning and address students about the importance of computer education,” he says.
About a year later, he joined another company in Trichy as a business development executive for a salary of Rs 5,000 and joined APTECH, a computer education firm in Chennai as a franchise manager. In 1996, he joined ‘Zero Wait,’ a US-based firm that was into the recruitment of software developers in their Chennai office. “I went to Pittsburg, US in June 1997 and worked with this company for a year.
I was given the job of hiring software professionals from India, China, and other overseas markets for them,” says Sidd, who then went back to Zero Wait in the US and worked in the company till 2001. In 2001, he joined Systel, a staff augmentation company in Detroit, where he worked till 2007. “While working for so many companies, I realized that we were hiring people from many places, but the youth from my hometown Trichy were not getting the opportunities, says Sidd.
So, with the intention to offer jobs to the youth of Trichy and simultaneously start my own entrepreneurial journey, I resigned from Systel in 2007. “I was the only person in the US office,” says Sidd. In Trichy, he invested Rs 1.5 lakh to set up an office on the terrace of his family house. “We started with five people, who are still with us in the company. We operate from four locations across Trichy, including the latest one, a world-class three-floor building that can seat 650 people.” Sidd gets emotional while sharing how life has turned around for his entire family.
Today, VD art has diversified into software and product development, with a global workforce of 3700 people operating from 10 countries, including a core team of 750 based in Trichy. “VD art’s success story is being taught in IIM Trichy as a case study,” says Sidd, 51, who grew up in Trichy and finished his Class 12 from St John’s Vestry Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Trichy, in 1989.
Sidd lost his father in 1992 while he was still in college. But before completing his degree, he found a job as a marketing executive at a computer training center in Trichy for a salary of Rs 1,200. I finally got my degree after three years. “My job was to go to schools every morning and address students about the importance of computer education,” he says.
I was given the job of hiring software professionals from India, China, and other overseas markets for them,” says Sidd, who then went back to Zero Wait in the US and worked in the company till 2001. In 2001, he joined Systel, a staff augmentation company in Detroit, where he worked till 2007. “While working for so many companies, I realized that we were hiring people from many places, but the youth from my hometown Trichy were not getting the opportunities, says Sidd.
So, with the intention to offer jobs to the youth of Trichy and simultaneously start my own entrepreneurial journey, I resigned from Systel in 2007. “I was the only person in the US office,” says Sidd. In Trichy, he invested Rs 1.5 lakh to set up an office on the terrace of his family house. “We started with five people, who are still with us in the company. We operate from four locations across Trichy, including the latest one, a world-class three-floor building that can seat 650 people.” Sidd gets emotional while sharing how life has turned around for his entire family.
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