Dipankar Mondal, managing director of Tampa (Florida)-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Acclaris, decided very early on that his goal in life would be to retire. But, as happens very often, the means have become more important than the end. Mondal is still hard at work, though financially he doesn’t need to. And retirement is not looking any closer than it did while at college.

“I come from a family of engineers,” says Mondal. “So, from the very beginning, I was inclined towards the profession. After school I was off to Jadavpur University. In college, computer science was one of my electives and I developed an instant liking for the subject. After passing out, my first job was with Modi Xerox where I worked for a year. I then switched over to ITC as a manager. Life at ITC was relaxed. At the interview I was asked what my goal in life was. I said my goal was to retire. “You have come to the right place,” said one of the panelists.

“At ITC, we were a bunch of 10 people sitting in a room generally enjoying ourselves. But after a point we realised that unless we got out of this relaxed atmosphere, we would all stagnate. I gave myself six months to leave and did exactly that.

“I was considering migrating to Australia when an offer from New Trend, a software company in Orlando, came through. It was a turning point in my career. I took it up, though I didn’t work there for long. Soon, AT&T offered me a job in New Jersey and I went for it. I loved working there but hated New Jersey. It was then that Keane, another big IT house, offered me a job at a place called Dennes in the Rocky Mountains. I love the mountains so it was like a dream come true.

“Before moving out of New Jersey, I decided to go on a holiday. Just as I was about to leave, I got a call from ABR, a big software house in Tampa. They wanted me to join them but I wasn’t very keen. They told me to drop in for a chat during my holiday. Very reluctantly, I did that and eventually ended up signing a job contract with them.

“ABR was then a small company with less than 100 employees and a turnover of around $10 million. In the next six years, it grew to house 1,400 employees and a turnover of $110 million. The credit for this phenomenal growth goes to Jim Macdangold who was the CEO and an extremely dynamic person. Macdangold was my mentor and he gave me many invaluable tips. He would tell me that only passion brings success; so you have to enjoy your work. I have always believed in this.

“Working for ABR was an exhilarating experience. Eventually, the company was sold to Ceridian, the BPO giant. I became their employee but didn’t like functioning in a huge corporation. The time, I felt, was just right to do something different. When I started working, I had set myself a goal that by 40, I should own a company. Financially, I was comfortable and had quite a lot of professional experience. So, in 2001, I finally took the plunge into entrepreneurship.

“I had two major hurdles to cross. First, I didn’t know how to build a sales machine that was so essential for the success of a company. Secondly, I was totally in the dark about the complexities of finance. I looked for like-minded people who would fill up these deficiencies and share my vision as well. We came up with a business plan and started Acclaris in Tampa.

“Then we went around looking for investors. The first name that came to my mind was that of my former boss Jim Macdangold. He wrote me a cheque for a million dollars. It encouraged other investors and within three years our business had really taken off. Our domain area is BPO but we have stayed away from call centres.

“Over the past couple of years we have set up shop in India as well ? Vizag and Calcutta to be specific ? where we have about 200 people working for us at the moment. Acclaris has been growing at a rate of 100 per cent but we have not compromised on the quality of service. My goal is to hold on to this balance.” And, of course, to retire. But that’s unsaid today.