Siraj Sheikh

Siraj Sheikh was born in 1973 at Nagpur, as the fourth child to Ramzan Sheikh. Even though he was from a middle class family, it didn’t stop him from winning the race. He had set his ambitions on something bigger. He dreamt big and made that happen. He established the foundation of one of the biggest companies in Central India, ‘Bharat Travel Point Pvt. Ltd.’, ‘Bava Travels Point. Pvt. Ltd.’, ‘BCN Cable’, ‘Bharat Agency’, ‘Lotto World’ and several more companies. If there’s one thing you can say about Siraj Sheikh, it’s that he doesn’t back down.

Early Life

The story of something revolutionary always starts with nothing and there are sayings if you want something in your life you must work for it and give your whole to achieve it. This is the story of a child who sold finger chips at the age of 13 by lending it from known person and made a profit in it without investing any money. He witnessed poverty in early ages of his life. His father worked in Empress Mill who was the only breadwinner of the family. He has faced some tough time with his other siblings to survive. So he made his mind to overcome the difficult situation anyhow and started to focus his vision on business which he wanted to turn it on his favour. He packed popcorn packets and could earn only 5rs for packing more than 500 packets. He had a dream to own the fleets of Buses, Taxis & Luxury cars; he knew the price of his dreams and efforts to make it into reality.

At the age of 13, he entered in the lottery business by selling lottery tickets on a petrol pump to his friends and earning the commission from it. He developed interest in the same field and opened his first shop of lottery in early age of 15 in 1989 on Medical Square, Nagpur. He was always incredibly ambitious and worked actively to achieve his goals.

Many people in the middle class set their sights on easier things to survive, instead of thriving and prospering, but Siraj Sheikh was one of the one who thrived to do more out of his capacity. Although it took a little while for his products to catch on, he didn’t give up on his dreams and his vision for what it could become and that gamble paid off handsomely for him.

In 1993, he opened his new retail shop at Tukdoji Putla, Nagpur of lottery tickets and started his retail counter. He made a fortune to overcome the obstruction coming in his way and paved the way for his next joint venture of TV cable in Nagpur, In 1996, he opened a new company by the name of ‘BCN Cable’ in partnership with his brothers in Central India to cater for cable TV connections which has revolutionized the Television sales in Nagpur.

Lao Tzu said “He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty”. Working hard on your dreams always pays off. In 1997, he got an opportunity of Lottery wholesale Agency for Vidarbha. His work ethics and positive attitude never failed him and he diversified his income as soon as he started. In 1998, he added one more venture in his business in the Media industry (NEWS) by the name of ‘BCN News Channel’, Nagpur. It was the city’s first of its kind News channel which covered local news of the city. Turning from a finger chip seller to one of the most renowned face in the whole city, his story is always an inspiration for others.

The best years of your life are the ones when you own up to your problems and take responsibility. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or any unwanted occasion. You realize that you control your own destiny and you must work hard and it’s the only way. When nature starts to unfold its glory, you will get what you desired.              

Once again, a new feather was waiting for him to put on and he got an opportunity for Online Lottery sale in 2001. The new era begun with a new hope and a new area to explore. He has sought to cultivate a different approach to running a business. He says the ethos of his businesses is to build from the bottom up – taking into account the feedback from all staff, and not just top-down hierarchy.

When his businesses was going on in good direction and started paying off, he again started to multiply his business. In 2007, he started printing newspaper which was basically a Lottery based paper by the name of “Aap Ki Qismat”, where he got overwhelming response from the readers. He has very much contributed in Social activities like Dahihandi, Garbha and other Cultural Events for various seasons. His birthday is now celebrated by various organizations as Festival in Nagpur they arrange for Blood donation camps, Eye check-up camps, Health check-up camps at various place for social causes. He truly loves Mother Nature, and whenever he got a chance to relax from work, he would visit the forest and spend the quality time in nature.

That was the year which came for breakthrough in his life. In 2012, he expanded his wings again and went for an international launch. He opened a New Venture i.e. ‘Bharat Travel Point Pvt Ltd.’ and a brand new office at United Arab Emirates - i.e. Dubai, called as ‘Destination Management Company’, which takes care of the local tourist requirements for UAE. He started extending his offices across Maharashtra, like in Mumbai, Pune, Amravati and multiple branches in Nagpur at Mahalgi Nagar, Sitabuldi and Hanuman Nagar. He added multiple Taxi & Bus services as well. To improve customer services, they are operating an 24 Hours call centre to resolve any query and to help the customer when they needed, which is first of its kind in Central India. It is to provide the constant help whenever you need the most.

One more feather is in the way for him in this year as he launched his dream project of Bus fleet which will be operating from Nagpur to Pune and on many more routes to come in the future. With vision of launching more than 100 buses and multiple offices across India, his passion for work is growing more & more and to make his dreams into reality, he always works hard. He is now extending its wings into Hospitality industry as its first project has opened ‘BTP Inn’, a 15 rooms’ property at Chikhaldara, which is just 500 meters away from the Dream Project of Maharashtra government i.e. ‘Sky Walk’ which will be the world’s longest Sky walk that will boost the tourism in Chikhaldara. Other projects like Destination Wedding Management is his dream, to operate and cater to needs of customers which will be added in his list of companies soon