Kailash Katkar

Kailash Katkar (born November 1, 1966) is a first-generation Indian entrepreneur and founder of Quick Heal Technologies
Early life
Kailash Katkar was born into a Maharashtrian family in a small village at Rahimatpur, Maharashtra and grew up in Pune. His father was a machine setter in electricals company Philips in Pune and his mother was a homemaker. In 1985, having barely managed to complete his matriculation, He took up a job at a local radio and calculator repair shop in a bid to supplement his Family Income. He relied on his interest in technical matters and learnt to repair the then popular office gadgets such as Facit adding machines, desktop electric calculators and ledger posting machines.
Entrepreneurial career
In 1990 Kailash Katkar finally decided to take and entrepreneurial leap and started his own calculator repair shop with an initial seed capital of Rs 15,000 from his savings, leased a small 100 sq ft office in Pune and started a one-man venture. In the first year he had a decent income of 45,000 in those times, but was not really satisfied with the pace and the progress that he was making. He decided to upgrade his skills from Calculator repairing and started reading and attending short computer courses around 1991-92.
Feeling confident enough, he decided to start his new venture known as CAT Computer Services in 1993 while continuing with his calculator repair shop. In September 1993, He managed to breach the corporate domain by winning the annual maintenance contract for New India Insurance, followed by another group a month later. In the first year of inception he managed to generate a turnover of Rs 1 lakh.
Around this time, his younger brother, Sanjay Katkar, who was studying computer engineering in Pune, began writing software programs. On his insistence, he started developing a basic model of antivirus software for CAT Computer Services. In those days, the people involved in computer maintenance faced this problem and he realized that there would be plenty of takers for cheap and simple computer security solutions.
Sanjay Katkar appointed some software developers in the following years and came out with a more advanced version of the software. In the year 2002, the business had grown to a point where they could afford to buy an office space of 2,000 sq ft in Pune for Rs. 25 lakhs. Their first branch opened in Nashik a year later and they quickly started opening other several other branches across India. By 2005-2006, they had gone beyond anti-virus solutions and also started focusing on increasing computer speed, mobile security and gateway level protection. In the year 2007, they renamed their company Quick Heal Technologies and by 2010 expanded their footprint internationally and opened their sales offices in Japan and the US.
Awards and Achievements
2009
On 29 July 2009 ‘'Entrepreneurs International Honors'’ for significant achievement as a first generation entrepreneur.
‘GS Parkhe Industrial Merit Award 2009’ awarded by MCCIA (The Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture).
2011
SME Channel’s Achiever’s Award 2011.
2012
Felicitated with Maxell Award for Maharashtra Corporate Excellence - in the category of Innovation by Maharashtra Chief Minister Hon’ble Shri. Prithviraj Chavan.
Army Institute of Technology's (AIT) 'Young Entrepreneurs' Award, which recognizes young entrepreneurs who stand out from the crowd for their unique entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and exceptional progress.
Brands Academy Entrepreneurship Excellence Award being recognized as "Entrepreneur of the Year in IT Security ".

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