By Dhrumil Dhakan Hailing from a lower-middle-class joint family based in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, Milind Khamkar’s forefathers established themselves in Mumbai quite early. The life of the Group CIO of Super-Max is built on closely knit connections and trust that also formed a great part of his childhood.
Khamkar had an early interest in academics, particularly in physics, in which he graduated, with a Bachelor’s degree. With aspirations of achieving a respectable professional career, he started looking for opportunities that would assist him in fulfilling these dreams. With invaluable guidance from his father’s friend, also a mentor to him, Khamkar decided on continuing his tryst with education by pursuing a diploma course in Computer Science from the Mumbai University.
This proved to be an exciting adventure for him as he went on to make lifelong friends with his batchmates, along with achieving the second rank in the course that would help him with his future career. His one-year stint became a memorable highlight of his student life, which he would continue to cherish for years to come.
Khamkar started his vast career from humble beginnings, as a Junior Programmer at a business software company that he worked at with 6-7 other people. Seeing that this firm would not be much helpful for his ambition, he shifted to a consultancy firm, focusing on integrated software for the banking industry.
This was a wise decision for him, as it enabled him to obtain the vital exposure needed in the commercial industry. At a time when computer technology was still new to the industry, he assisted in implementing computerized banking software for co-operative banks.
With the advent of new and complicated technology, along with the implementation of banking software, there was a mixed reaction from those using the tech which helped Milind learn how to deal with the crowd and the workings of change management.
After learning the ropes of implementing computer software in the banking industry, Khamkar took a big risk and entered the construction industry, joining the Lok group as a Group leader, which helped him gain perspective of managing financial accounting systems.
“Being a science graduate and getting exposed to the balance sheet was a different learning, it was a great experience in terms of learning the commercial language of the game,” Khamka said on his transition from the world of banking software to learning financial management. After his tryst with the construction business and learning the tricks of financial accounting, Khamkar took a big leap and entered the pharma world with Roussel India Ltd.
“I was instrumental in automating the distribution system for Roussel,” he adds on his role as Assistant Manager at Roussel. Traveling and exploring the market was a big part of automating the distribution system, which enabled Khamkar to get exposed to all sorts of people, enlarging his worldview. “We had around 20+ consignment agencies across India, so I traveled a lot to various locations and was able to see the variety of mindset and culture by geography.”
Khamkar also managed to complete his Masters in Financial Management at the same time, at the age of 26. Speaking about his time managing a job and his studies, Khamkar quotes, “It was a busy life because in the morning, I had to go to the office and in the evening I’d attend the classes. Learning and working were happening together for me.”
If that wasn’t enough, he managed to get experience on an entrepreneurial level during his studies for a Master’s degree. “You are the master of your effort and the entrepreneurial spirit, you should decide how much you should claim for your efforts” he explains the difference between working as an entrepreneur and at a job.
“That Junoon(spirit) is still there, when it will happen or how it will happen, I have not thought at this point of time” Khamkar states, on whether he sees himself as an entrepreneur in the near future.
Moving into the IT function
His first exposure in heading an IT function came with Abbott Laboratories as an MIS Manager. He prides himself on his ability to bring order from chaos, which was his key contribution to the company, which wanted to set itself in the country at a time when the whole system was a mess. This entailed fulfilling many responsibilities during his time at Abbott, as a designer, decision-maker, and implementation. As MIS Manager, Milind managed to learn all the aspects of being a CIO, which was not known as CIO back then.
After a 6 year stint with Abbott Laboratories, Khamkar shifted to Sanofi as a Senior Director, where he would sharpen his skills of achieving order from chaos, by heading the IT division of the firm. “Conquering the chaos is the tagline of my life,” Milind says proudly on his role at Sanofi.
As the world was preparing for Y2K during the turn of the century in 1999, Khamkar got married to his wife, a law professional. He credits the time between 2002-04 to be a fantastic time in his career as well as his personal life, as he expanded his family. During his 12 year stint with Sanofi, Khamkar overlooked multiple mergers, acquisitions, relocations & consolidations as it was a revolutionary time for the pharma industry.
Speaking of his 23 years long association with the pharma industry, Khamkar said, “I was one of the longest maiden tenures CIO or the IT head in the pharma, at that point of time” which he says is a huge achievement for himself and is helping him and his career even today.
Not wanting to get confined to one industry, Khamkar contemplated a change in the industry and got the opportunity to shift to Super-Max, a Global Indian blade manufacturer, in 2015 and continues to work there as the Group CIO
Leading the IT department of multinational companies during a time when the world did not know how to deal with automation and computation, is what he considers to be a big challenge in his career. “So what was happening was a rollercoaster ride” He sums up the situation he faced during his early career. Milind recalls that, during that time, companies with computerized programs were not appreciated enough, as it led to people losing their jobs.
“It was a passionate time and perseverance helped me a lot” Milind speaks on the early stages of his career which involved days and night working, without counting any hours. One would only get the weekend off, which meant that they were practically living at the office.
Literary connoisseur
While he is in a much better position in his career now as a Group CIO, Khamkar likes to spend his personal time with his two daughters. He might not like moving around too much but manages to take a vacation every now and then, whenever he & his family get the time. He also likes exploring new food joints in the city, every weekend. Cooking may not be his forte but enjoying coastal, especially seafood, cuisine sure is.
Khamkar is also a big fan of reading, his interests lying in the wide range of management books and the vastness of old Marathi literature which include stories and poems. Shriman Yogi by Ranjit Desai being one of his favorites in the literature department. The evergreen nature of old Bollywood music is also something that has caught his interest.
“I love to see the happiness on my user’s face after every automation” Khamkar states when asked about his motto in life. Customer satisfaction and spending time with his family are the things that have inspired him the most throughout his personal and professional life. “That’s my happiness…it gives me the fulfillment…that I have done something that has helped somebody.”
