MUMBAI: When a company lists on stock exchanges, it is customary to discuss by how much the paper wealth of the founder — be it Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Reliance Power’s Anil Ambani — has gone up. When microlender Equitas Holdings listed last week, no such thing happened. Founder PN Vasudevan ’s 2.5 per cent in the company is worth just about Rs 120 crore; many bankers’ stock options are worth much more.Such a low holding reflects that the founder either doesn’t have much skin in the game or is not a control freak who would stifle his own firm to just remain in the saddle. It depends on how one looks at it. But the fact that a once jobless man has created an enterprise worth Rs 4,600 crore in less than a decade. Vasudevan, 53 — Vasu to his friends — was not one of those driven by entrepreneurship. His entrepreneurial journey was more by accident.Like many middle-class men from the conservative Chennai neighbourhood, Vasu, the son of a Sanskrit lecturer, took up a job in Cholamandalam Finance run by the marquee business conglomerate, the Murugappa Group . But, his frequent business trips to Mumbai made him admire the work and driving culture of the city. That brought him to Development Credit Bank in Mumbai. It was a satisfying period professionally, but troublesome on a personal level. The pollution from the refinery and the chemical factory in the area where he stayed, along with vehicular emission, made his daughter sick. When doctors gave him an ultimatum, profession took a back seat to his family’s well-being.It was a search for a job all over again in Chennai. As microfinance was the flavour of the season, he knocked on the doors of a few micro lenders, but they suggested Vasu may be better off with his own venture. With no capital in hand, the obvious option was to bet his home despite his family’s opposition. But when former boss M Anandan of Chola and Mugurappa group family members pitched in, the resistance subsided and the venture was born in 2007.How did the business take off? Why did customers throng Equitas? Much before Reserve Bank of India put a cap on lending rates, Equitas set a limit on what it would charge borrowers."People started liking our behaviour," says Vasudevan. "We wouldn’t sit on chairs and disburse loans when borrowers sat on the floor. We also sat on the floor with them." When the tsunami of SKS Microfinance swept away almost every microlender, what did Equitas do? It was also hurt, but it learnt a lesson, on the need to diversify. This led to auto and home loans, which became the foundation for a small bank."He is extremely transparent in whatever he does," says K Ramakrishnan, chief executive of Spark Capital who helped Equitas raise funds in its formative years. "He is among those who don’t complicate life and don’t get carried away by market jargons. He hasn’t forgotten his roots."In a world where everyone seeks a salary hike whatever the company’s performance, Vasu surprised his board with request for a pay cut, inspired by an interview of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy in which he suggested that the top executive’s salary should not be more than 40 times that of the lowest paid in a company.There are billion-dollar companies complaining about 2 per cent profit spend on Corporate Social Responsibility. But years before law made this mandatory, Equitas started setting aside 5 per cent of its profits because its clientele doesn’t have social infrastructure like schools and hospitals. In a way, he weaved charity into business. "If you want to do service, they be an NGO," says Vasudevan. "But you have to depend on others for money. So this model is better."Why does he own so less of the company? "(I have) Never wanted anyone to own more than 15 per cent," he says. "Any investor with a large stake, it (the company’s interest) gets tilted towards his interests."Now that the company has 8,000 employees, how hard does he have to work? Does he have a second-rung leadership? It is process-driven, he says. It may be. But any listed entity has to develop and showcase the second-rung leadership team that would carry the legacy for investors to have faith in its long-term plans.What about his management principle? "I don’t work, and I keep almost half the day free," says Vasu. "If you keep working, you stop thinking. I have to think." Any other thinkers in the company?