Sky-high dreams

Ashok Khade may be a diminutive 53-year-old, but what draws people to him is the stuff that’s conspicuous in achievers who made it on their own: Simplicity.

From being a worker on welding machine works to a ship designer to an entrepreneur whose firm is now constructing the financial capital’s first skywalk at Bandra, Khade’s growth has been meteoric. Hailing from a tiny hamlet in Sangli district, Khade came to the city of dreams in the early 1970s, to complete his education and to “build a career”. Though he wanted to pursue a career in medicine, lack of funds made him opt for mechanical engineering. “After finishing my engineering, I found an apprenticeship at Mazgaon Docks, which changed the course of my life completely,” says the proprietor of Das Offshore Engineering Pvt Ltd.

Khade then worked at different positions in the docks, along with his two brothers Datta and Suresh. “I was a ship designer and was also into submarine quality control since the late 1970s,” he says. Khade also went to Germany (the erstwhile West Germany) with a team working on the fabrication of a pioneering submarine in 1983. According to Khade, his brothers who also worked with him as welders were the two pillars of his life. “They were my strength and it’s because of them that we got into offshore engineering. They (Datta and Suresh) were silver medallist welders in Mazgaon Docks in those times therefore it gave me the courage to turn an entrepreneur,” he recalls.

According to Khade, the turning point in his life was the death of his uncle after which the entire responsibility of his four cousins fell on their young shoulders. “With four cousin sisters I had realised that my salary of Rs 10,000 will never be enough to sustain the entire family. I knew I had to try something on my own,” he recalls. He says that family and friends were confident that he could enter the offshore fabrication business as he had the managerial and engineering skills while both his brothers were excellent welders.

In 1993, he started his own engineering company, Das Offshore Engineering Pvt Ltd, mainly for fabrication of offshore structures for government agencies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Bombay High, Mazgaon Docks Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, etc. Today, his Rs 10,000 salary is a thing of the past — Khade employs over 2,000 people and has a whopping turnover of Rs 270 crore, along with new interests in civil and agro-based works for the state.