Often, we hear in fairytales of a pauper becoming a prince and living happily ever after. Even though it sounds too good to be true, some miracles come around when hard work is sown on the ground. This is a tale of 42-year-old Nitin Godse, a young entrepreneur who made it big through sheer hard work.

Godse hails from a poor farming family of Akole village in Ahmednagar district. He recalls his father earning a meager monthly wage of Rs 400 as a petty laborer and, at one point, losing even that job. With three siblings in the house, he had to support his own education from the primary level working as a salesman at a local store. After his school education, Godse’s financial problems did not allow him to study engineering, so he settled for a BSc degree from Pune University in 1992.

He then started working as supervisor in Orke Industries, which was already a loss-making firm. Since the company was facing closure, he moved to another firm, Technova, as a production technician. However, he realized real growth was not possible without further education. Working through the night to prepare for the entrances, he got selected for IBMA Loni and successfully completed the course in 1994-95. He knew that his objective was far in the distance, but his enthusiasm was strong.

After a long wait, he got a job in an agro-based company called Vishnu Priya Agro Industries which was in the fresh vegetable marketing space. As a farmer’s son, Nitin was instantly attracted to it. He joined the company in 1996 but due to financial crisis, the company had to shut down. But he considered this the final job that he wanted to invest his time in. He learnt the skills needed for his business and started to work his way up before the company shut.

With new-found hope, Nitin started his own business, but the question of funds still remained. Finally, an acquaintance invested Rs 5 lakh in his business and it took off. This also meant days of exhausting work once again. He would get up at 3.30 in the morning to carry heavy loads of vegetables from the market. In the afternoon he would return to the market with the cut vegetables which he would pack himself. In short, he would work from 3.30 am to midnight. With the naivety of a new entrepreneur, he did not receive any share in the company or any profit that he was entitled to and was eventually forced out of his own business.

A dear friend helped him get another job, but with his luck that company shut shop as well. However this three-year stint was when he learned the ropes of the trade and even travelled across India. Nitin finally decided that the time had come to try again and he began his own firm. He laid the foundation of Excel Gas and Equipments on 31 December, 1999, which went into execution of turnkey projects in the field of ultra-high purity gas piping installations. With zero capital in hand the company started on the basis of sheer hard work, skills and hope. However, the company today has a turnover of Rs 14 crore and has 150 employees on its payroll. It is also spreading its wings, raking in money and moving to new territories in the Middle-East as well. The company predicts that by 2020, the turnover will be approximately Rs 500 crore from clients with new plants and investments.

With his labor of love finally paying off, Nitin credits his successful career to the company’s well-trained and experienced professionals and to the family and friends who supported him in times of need. For any new entrepreneur, who has had a hard time setting up, this is a story to read and draw inspiration from. It might sound a little clichéd, but this really is a story of hard work and dedication and a person's rise from rags to riches.