Ever heard of a man starting his own firm after retirement? Meet 70 year old Lalit Mohan Mathur, the real-life equivalent of Robert De Niro in the movie ‘The Intern’, who formed his own firm, Wipe Hotwire India Thermal Equipment (WHITE), at the ripe old age of 60.
The idea to start his own company arose while Mathur was still working for a company that made specialty wires, and a foreign customer complained about the poor quality of the product. After Mathur retired, he contacted the same customer, sending him samples produced on hand-made machines. The customer, extremely satisfied with the samples as well as the rates offered, decided to import his requirement completely from Mathur.
This encouraged Mathur to launch his own company, and WHITE was incorporated shortly afterwards. Finding financial backing for the business was initially difficult; Mathur applied for a loan with a nationalized bank but was turned down because his age seemed ‘too risky’ an investment! Fortunately, two friends of Mathur’s invested Rs. 12 lakh in the business, and slowly but steadily WHITE grew and expanded. The company reported Rs. 12 crore in the last fiscal.
One would expect the septuagenarian to have his hands full with running his business, but Mathur is also actively involved in giving back to the society by supporting an eye hospital and has ‘adopted’ a primary education school in Neemrana. Clearly, as one popular saying goes, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Featured image source: YourStory
Written by Shikha Pandey
