praveen panicker

“Has anyone heard about a place called KARUKACHAL, not likely? It is a beautiful village in Kottayam district in Kerala, the name karukachal originated from two Malayalam words karuka (a type of grass) & chal (a small stream). In 1960 a planter started his life in this beautiful village with his wife and daughter. 9 yrs later a boy was born in their family and they called him by the name Praveen and that’s me.”

Let me share with you a few more details about myself.

I did my schooling in NSS School, Karukachal & Sree Vidhyadhi Raja VdhyaBhavan ,Kottayam and was in a hostel until Xth.

When I was in class 9 I got the first shock in my life that my father passed away. That changed my approach towards life I became more responsible and independent. My sister was married then and brother in law who is a doctor has been a great support for me. His advice and guidance helped me in many situations. I took up engineering as my profession and joined in NSS college of Engineering Palakkad in the year 1986 and passed out as a Mechanical Engineer in 1990.Those are four wonderful years.

After Engineering it was not as easy as I thought to get a job. I got the first break after 6 months in Meat products of India a Meat processing unit as Maintenance Engineer. It was not a challenging job hence I decided to move out. I always have a positive attitude towards my life right from child hood and strong faith in God. With that I went to Chennai hoping to find some thing better.

I have struggled in the beginning. Finally, in 1993 I got a job in Sales and Marketing which I liked and I am continuing in the same field for the last 17 years. Though I changed the companies thrice I did not change the field. During this period I have done a course in Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Loyola College, Chennai.

I got married to Meera in the year 2003. She is a post graduate in Physics. After a year we were blessed with a son Viswanath.

Ten years in Advani Oerlikon a No.1 company in India manufacturing Welding products has given me lot of experience, gained confidence & good exposure by meeting with big clients, closing big deals etc. but the job became monotonous.

I got an offer from Yemen and was about to take up but in the last moment I denied. I was very upset on the decision I have taken thinking I have missed a great opportunity that too when I was looking for a change. Again I applied the same principle of positive thinking and believed something better will be there for me. Very soon I got this offer from Bahwan Engineering and when I came to this wonderful land I realized that my decision was right.

My first visit to Muscat was my first overseas travel and it was a memorable one for me. I was so excited when HR manager of Bahwan called me to attend the second interview in Muscat. I came here on a Thursday morning attended the interview, went out in the afternoon for shopping in Lulu, bought some gift for my wife and called her from the telephone booth in front of Lulu and returned to Chennai in the night. Those memories are still fresh. It was a great feeling, next day when I was sitting in my Chennai office thinking yesterday the same time I was in a foreign country.

I joined Bahwan Engineering Company in the Mechanical Products division to handle Welding products in 2005. I joined as a Sr. Sales Engineer and I became Sales Manager last year. When I joined we had only ESAB brand welding products. Now we have three more allied products /brands in our product mix to form our welding products division and last year our division has done double the business from 2005. I have a small team to take care of various products in the Sultanate of Oman. I am confident that by the grace of God and with the support of my team we will excel in our business and expand our division to greater heights.

My wife is working in Indian school Muscat as a teacher and our son is in class 1 in the same school.

2009 October 9 was a sad day for me. My Mother passed away and it was a big shock again from which I have not fully recovered. But we must accept realities and life has to go on.

I never make big plans for the future. According to Winston Churchill “Attitude is a little thing but it makes a big difference” I am very confident that I will be able to make my life meaningful with my positive attitude, hard work, and faith in God

Some of my articles and speeches

Commitment