Barber G. Ramesh Babu is different.
Billionaire barber G.Ramesh Babu’s success story is astounding. According to Forbes, he is one of the 140 billionaires in India with over 400 cars, including high-end brands such as Rolls Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, BMW and Audi.
Poor childhood, done all kinds of jobs
Ramesh Babu was born in a poor family in Bengaluru. His father was a barber in a salon on Bridge Road. Ramesh lost his father while he was studying in Class II. After his father’s death, his mother started working as a maid to support the family. The family struggled with everything from clothes, books and fees. Their only income was 40-50 rupees a month. Ramesh Babu and his brother and sister grew up eating only once a day. Unable to make both ends meet, their mother rented out the barbershop for Rs. 5 a day. From the age of 13, Ramesh Babu had been doing various jobs like selling newspapers and supplying milk to support his family. In between, he completed Class X. Later, he decided to run his father’s barbershop to support his family and discontinued his studies. In 1989, he took over the saloon from his uncle. Ramesh Babu made a fresh start in the salon determined to succeed. With the encouragement of his mother, Ramesh Babu joined the Diploma Course in Electronics and successfully completed it. He would open the salon at 6 in the morning, then go to college at 10, come back to the salon in the evening and stay there till midnight. This was his schedule back then. Later in 2004, Ramesh Babu went to Singapore to study Haircut & Hairstyle. He also developed his own methods in hairstyling. He started giving Hairstyle courses. Known as the “Inner Space”, the salon is now home to politicians, military officials, police officers and even Bollywood stars.
Risk-taker:
Ramesh Babu planned to buy a car in 1993. Along with his small savings, he mortgaged his family home to buy a Maruti Omni van. The EMI of the car loan was around Rs. 6800. Whenever he could not pay his EMI with the salon’s monthly income, Ramesh Babu decided to rent his Omni van. So in 1994, he leased the car to Intel Corporation. Thus Ramesh Babu entered the car rental business. Between 1994 and 2004, with the help of the Karnataka State Finance Corporation, Ramesh Babu bought seven more cars and succeeded in the car rental business. In the year 2000, Ramesh Babu received a proposal to buy a model from Mercedes India. All his savings were collected and the rest was raised through a loan from the Karnataka State Finance Corporation Bank. He bought the Mercedes E-Class luxury sedan for Rs 38 lakh. Everyone called it a big mistake. But Ramesh Babu saw it as an opportunity. Ramesh Babu says that if you want to do business, you have to be willing to take risks. In 2011, he bought another luxury car, a Rolls Royce.
Owner of over 400 vehicles
Today, Ramesh Babu’s collection of over 400 vehicles includes mini-buses, vans, vintage cars, Mercedes C, E, S class, Contessa, Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW 5, 6 and 7 series.
He also has a collection of imported Toyota minibuses and Mercedes vans. Ramesh Babu also owns a high-end bike, Suzuki Intruder worth Rs 16 lakh. Today, Ramesh Tours & Travels successfully operates in Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru. It also plans to do business in Vijayawada and Hyderabad.
A man who worships his work
Despite winning many awards and accolades, Ramesh Babu can be still seen cutting hair for Rs 150 at his barbershop on weekend mornings. He made his son and daughters experts in hairstyling. Ramesh Babu’s motto is ‘Work is Worship.’ This success story of an ordinary barber-turned-entrepreneur with extraordinary wealth is sure to inspire you, too.
