Mumbai-born Ashok Kalle is president and founder of Pathway Communications (www.pathcom.com), which was also the first Internet company in the world to receive an ISO-9002 certification. Pathway's roster of corporate clients ranges from Fortune 500 corporations to educational institutions, government and non-profit agencies.

The Pathway Group that Kalle, 46, established as a virtual one-man operation in 1994, today serves close to 35,000 customers including businesses in the Greater Toronto area. The company claims to differentiate itself by offering a single source for full-spectrum, integrated connectivity and Internet working solutions with a focus on quality. When asked why he - a personnel management specialist and a graduate of Mumbai's Tata Institute of Social Sciences - switched careers to start a company of his own, Kalle says, ``I saw 23-year-olds with purple hair, red hair and rings in their noses doing it! If they could do it so could I and I just decided to take the plunge.'' And a plunge it was, one where he sunk all his savings and loans.

Kalle has the skills to find and retain highly qualified, if quirky, employees, a majority of them between 25 and 35 years old. For instance, when he employed his first two professionals, he paid them more than what he paid himself. Today, he has 120 employees, each of whom is listed in his `Book of Responsibility,' that he started initially with just the names of his wife Aruna, his two sons and his parents.

There was also a time when he went asking area banks for a mere Canadian $70,000 and was refused by all but one. Now those same banks are begging for his investments while he remains loyal to the one that trusted him. When Kalle sold Pathway to Optel Communications last July, it fetched him somewhere between $13-19 million. Optel provides local and long-distance telephone services across Ontario and Quebec. Last year, Pathway had revenues of $4.4 million. This year, Kalle expects to earn three times as much. And by year end, Pathway hopes to expand to all major cities in Canada.

Some might call him the ideal employer - Kalle distributed 10 per cent of his earnings from the Pathway sale to his employees. He has no rules for when an employee comes and goes or if a new employee suddenly taking sick leave loses does not lose pay. Kalle says it is hard to determine how to create a sustainable and happy work culture. Asked if he controlled his employees, he retorts, ``Are you crazy. If I try to control - these guys will eat me up. You can't control Super Stars!'' At the same time, he notes, ``I've had employees I should have fired,'' but did not because of their family situations. ``You have to look at it as a whole, a sum.''

Keep an eye on Kalle. Sources said he is waiting for his contractual obligations to Optel to be over in another six months and is set to launch another start-up, an Internet Web site relation one this time. (IANS)Kalle drives himself as much as he does others. Two months ago, he went on a strict exercise regimen losing 30 pounds. And he started learning Mandarin - ``I've wanted to do that all my life.'' But when he can, he tries to relax. An avid fly-fishing enthusiast, Kalle goes around the world for the sport. And he just bought himself a Porsche, his third car after the two Mercedes he already owns.

-- (IANS)