As one of the seven children born in a Patna-based family of limited means, I had a hard time growing up. So, in 1971, while pursuing a degree in political science, I picked a part-time job as a trainee reporter at a publication called Searchlight, in an attempt to supplement the family income. As part of my job, I had to cover the Indo-Pak conflict, and in the process, stayed with the Bihar Regiment at a border post. This is where I made friends with the army personnel, who helped breathe life into my entrepreneurial venture—Security and Intelligence Services (SIS)—two years on.Before this, I had to complete my graduation and file stories as a full-time reporter with Searchlight. In 1973, deeply influenced by Jayprakash Narayan and his political activism, I openly advocated his ideas. As a result, I got into trouble with the company management and was asked to resign. As part of the severance package, I was given two months’ salary, which came to around Rs 250. I had no idea what to do, but then a friend, who was in the construction business, informed me that he was looking for former armymen to guard his project site. When I told him that I knew some soldiers who would be able to help, he suggested that I form a company and handle all such work for him.Recognising the potential of the idea, I leased a small garage in Patna with my severance pay and set up SIS in February 1974 when I was 23 years old. The next step was to scout for manpower. I met my contacts in the Bihar Regiment and took the details of retired personnel. I got in touch with them and convinced them to join my venture.In those days, private security agencies were unheard of, and since these people were idle after retirement, they agreed to work with me. I employed 14 ex-army men as private security guards and met my friend’s requirement, for which he paid me nearly Rs 400 per person, per month.Before long, more job offers poured in. Employees are the biggest brand ambassadors for any business, and if they are happy, they will generate more business for you through word-of-mouth publicity. I ensured that my employees enjoyed good working conditions. By the end of the first year of operations, I had employed 250-300 people and had a turnover of over Rs 1 lakh.In the early 1980s, as the business grew, we began facing problems in getting trained manpower. The solution was to train the staff ourselves, for which we needed space.In 1982, one of our clients, Durga Cements, decided to abandon its commercial project at Garhwa in Jharkhand and sell the 10,000 sq ft building. We were keen to buy it, but lacked funds. Thankfully, the client suggested that I pay the required Rs 3 lakh over a period of three years and gave me the option of adjusting the money with the security fee. We took up the offer and set up the residential training academy for guards.The next hurdle was getting trained officials to take care of the guards. So, in 1988, we opened a new division in the training academy for graduate officers. Till date, we have trained nearly 2 lakh security guards and 1,500 graduate officers. In 2005, when the turnover was nearly Rs 25 crore, we decided to expand our footprint across the country.From 14 offices, we grew to 52. We also launched cash management services in the same year; since many banks were bullish about their ATM expansion during this period, we grabbed the opportunity.The next milestone came three years later, when we learnt that Australia’s largest security agency, Chubb Security , was up for sale. Its revenue was nearly four times that of ours, but we still decided to take a chance and buy it. The size of the deal was around $300 million. We had to sell 14% of our stake to D E Shaw , the New York-based hedge fund, to partly fund the acquisition. In the bargain, we became the first Indian multinational in the security services industry.Around this time, we also diversified into other verticals, such as housekeeping and electronic security systems. In August 2011, we signed a joint venture with Terminix, the world leader in pest management, to form one of India’s largest pest control services company.Three months prior to this, we had a joint venture with Prosegur , South America’s largest security services provider, to form one of India’s biggest cash management services company. This was the first strategic foreign investment in India’s cash management space. Today, we have 72,000 employees in 104 branches, including eight offices in Australia. Among our 3,000-odd corporate clients are industry majors like Tata Steel ICICI Bank and Idea Cellular . Our consolidated turnover in 2012-13 was Rs 2,743 crore and we have been growing at nearly 35% year-on-year in India.(As told to Amit Shanbaug).