Choudhari joined Aksh Technologies 16 years ago, rising steadily through the ranks to reach his current position. “In the early days, I worked as a machine operator. I then rose to director level and am now CEO of the company,” he says.

During his long innings with the company, he has seen and helped the company grow. His most memorable task, in fact, has been transforming Aksh Technologies from a company with a traditionally structured business to one without walls and rules, he says. “In 2010, I read and was inspired by the book Maverick by Ricardo Semler. The book discusses the growth story and analyses the success of the world’s most unusual workplace, Semco, in Brazil. This got me thinking and I was determined to replicate the model and make Aksh Technologies into a transparent organisation run by the people. We started slow and, bit by bit, succeeded in transforming Aksh’s structure into a participative one, where every decision is taken by the people.”

The process entailed educating the employees on budgeting and interpreting monthly financials. It meant encouraging them to set their own targets and evaluate their performance in a neutral and transparent manner. “Currently, Aksh has only three levels of management and all employees create and adhere to their own time schedule,” he says. “This process has not only helped us assemble an outstanding management team but, more importantly, allowed the employees to run the company without any walls and rules.”

Creating an environment of trust and innovation is clearly an important objective for Aksh. “We believe that the organisation’s goal is to ensure that every employee is happy and every achievement, big or small, ought to be celebrated. Our aim is to recognise and nurture young leaders,” he says.

Commenting on sector trends, Choudhari notes that the demand for telecom equipment and optic fibre cable (OFC) will increase multifold. “The growth will be fuelled by government initiatives such as the National Optical Fibre Network project. Private operators will also roll out OFC networks post-spectrum allocation. These factors are expected to churn the business from the second half of 2013 onwards. Fibre-to-the-home technology will take two to three years to catch on in India.”