Achal Bakeri could have taken an easier way out if he wanted.

After all, he is the heir to one of India’s oldest real estate companies, the Rs109-crore ($16 million) Bakeri Group. But as a young MBA graduate returning from the US in 1986, the then 26-year-old Bakeri had other plans.

“I felt I wasn’t adding much value to the real estate business,” Bakeri, now 56, said. “There was already a well-established structure and hierarchy in place in the real estate business while I wanted to challenge myself.”

So, he set forth on his own journey.

Borrowing Rs700,000 from his father in 1988, Bakeri went on to build a business that had few takers back then: air coolers. These machines are cheap and less power-consuming substitutes for air conditioners (AC) and can be particularly effective during hot and dry Indian summers.

“When I started out, ACs were very expensive and air coolers were huge and ugly. I sensed an opportunity to build something that appealed to buyers,” Bakeri said.

Within a year of its founding, Bakeri’s company, now called Symphony Limited, had hit its stride and began generating profits. Nearly 30 years on, it is the world’s largest air-cooler maker with a market capitalisation of $1.2 billion. Bakeri’s own wealth has swelled to $1.26 billion (as of 2016), making him India’s 74th richest man.

Symphony shareholders, too, have had a great run. The stock has risen by a mind-boggling 91,000% in the past 10 years, from Rs1.30 in 2006 to Rs1,180 as of Dec. 20.

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