The head of The Argon Company doesn’t have degrees from top schools hanging on his wall. Vaishali Dake’s merit enters the office with her.
Every day, the Argon Company in Bombaya cloud solutions provider, receives requests for IT services (website design, digital marketing, mobile app development) from Pune and other geographies. Dake says the company has completed 450 projects in 11 countries. “When I hire staff, I’m very fortunate to have good people who keep the operation running smoothly,” Dake says. Share credit as passionately as you perform quality checks.
His is a firm voice, of someone who knows his path and follows his mind. “There was no guidance when I was growing up in a chawl. Yeh bhi dream nahin tha ki kuch banna hai life mein (I didn’t even think I had to become something in life). “If I saw a teacher, I would think about being a teacher,” she says.
Dake was born in a poor neighborhood of Mumbai, the eldest of three brothers. Her father died when she was seven years old and her mother made a living selling flowers. “I used to buy flowers from the wholesale market in Dadar, tie them on gajra, veni and strings, and sell them. We had to become responsible early on. I took care of my younger sister and brother. My mother didn’t know that I had to go to school because she had no education in her childhood. My neighbor, whom I called aunt, took me to government school and enrolled me there,” says Dake.
The school was modest, but Dake prospered. No matter what the teachers taught, she achieved it. Dake won first place every year throughout his school years. “My friends at school got tutoring or good clothes, even a little fashion. But we made do with whatever my mother could get; everything she earned she spent on us. She managed to give me money for my computer classes. She managed to pay my tuition until graduation,” Dake remembers.
After graduating in commerce from Acharya College, Chembur, Dake joined the University of Mumbai. “I studied correspondence courses because at that time I went to clinics to work as a trainer to supplement the family income,” he adds.
Dake received offers to work as a domestic help and cleaner, but now she knew she wanted to do bigger things: she wanted to join a company. It was her determination and focus that impressed Argon management, and they brought her on board as an intern in 2003. “Within a few weeks, she came to me and told me she wanted to go into graphics. Since she had graduated in commerce, we offered her accounts. She started doing accounts and, my God, it was amazing,” says a member of Argon’s leadership team.
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“As an intern, they used to offer me Rs 1,000, which I spent entirely on my trip,” he says. To his eager eyes, everything in Argon was a step toward a better life. There were “good opportunities to learn everywhere.” He began working in finance, human resources and administration. “I used to work with all departments, including the technical design team, the website development team, and whoever was building an app. I liked coming to the office instead of sitting at home,” she says. Dake used to arrive around 10 in the morning and leave late at night, “because once you take on a responsibility, you can’t skip it.” “You have to focus and find solutions,” he says.
At that time, Argon was going through a critical phase in which a closure was even looming. Dake approached management with a simple offer: let her lead the teams. “Until then I was working only as an employee, not as a decision-maker. I had no experience in IT,” she says. Dake is among the forces that changed the company, although he says it was the “good technical people, as well as the administrative and human resources people and all the good people.”
“He took over the company when it was barely profitable, and over the last six or seven years, he’s made it enormously profitable. He’s done a really good job,” says one company insider.
It is not based on technical knowledge, but on guaranteeing excellence.
Dake’s leadership is not based on technical knowledge. He has a thirst for knowledge and has learned about domain hosting and website building, among other things, but Dake’s winning edge came from making sure clients got what they wanted. “My approach with the team has always been to drive the approach that customers want. I ask the team to carry out an activity to the level of customer satisfaction. I may feel that a design looks good or that the application does not meet the customer’s purpose. We run the operation based on what the customers want; we understand their requirements and deliver them. After delivery, if the customer needs support, we are there. We have more than 650 satisfied customers,” he says.
A large portion of clients come through word-of-mouth referrals.
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Argon’s policy has been to hire young people from weaker socio-economic backgrounds. The workplace is open and equal. “Vaishali has created an atmosphere in the company full of respect and friendship. No one tries to protect their job. Everyone helps each other,” says a colleague.
Today, Dake, 45, has a higher salary and her family, which includes her husband and son, lives well. “I have a very simple lifestyle, including my choice of clothing,” Dake says.
Dake still takes the train and doesn’t leave until work is done.