A graduate in mechanical engineering from the Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, Ravi Badwal has always been interested in the telecom sector. “The telecom space was abuzz with activity in the mid-1980s, which is when I forayed into it. At the time, the government played a key role in providing telecom services, from intercoms to EPABX systems,” he recalls.

Badwal began his telecom innings with Supreme Telecommunications in 1984. Thereafter, he moved to Emerson Network Power as vice-president of its telecom business. In this role, Badwal’s areas of purview included telecom product sales, network roll-out and operations and maintenance services. “I was responsible for driving the development, manufacture and launch of digital meters for remote energy metering for telecom operators sharing cell sites. The product was a huge success and we won orders worth billions of rupees for DC Power Solutions,” he says.

After a three-year stint at Emerson, he joined Ubico Networks as chief operating officer. Subsequently, he worked with CityCom Networks and Spectranet.

Now at Viom Networks, he heads the company’s emerging business segment. He is responsible for building and expanding the infrastructure major’s new businesses – active sharing, in-building solutions, distributed antenna systems and government projects. Despite the company wading into uncharted waters, he seems geared up for the role given his experience in building businesses from the ground up. “Since we are building something new, the challenges are multifold and include a competitive business environment. We also have to ensure everyone in the team is aligned towards a common goal,” he says.

Badwal is aiming to ensure that the emerging business segment accounts for 10 per cent of the company’s overall revenues. “We have built up a team and are travelling and holding discussions with customers. We have shortlisted a few lines of business and are examining various options to develop these. We are looking at various means to achieve both organic and inorganic growth,” he says.

Outside of work, Badwal enjoys reading, particularly books on the Indian automobile sector and technology. He also likes watching television, especially Discovery channel. One regret that he has is not learning to swim. “Swimming is one of the easiest exercises one can take up. Unfortunately, that doesn’t hold true for me; I find it difficult,” he laughs.