Rural Revival Exploration
How one global mega-business management software company is using rural areas to harvest success
We may live and work in a rural area here in Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Darlington counties, but that doesn’t mean we’re lacking in the opportunity to stay connected to the high-tech world.
In fact, local businesses, like COUNTY.COOL, have recently linked in with Zoho, an international business management software company originally based in India, and now, with a U.S. location in Austin, Texas.
Raju Vegesna, who has worked at Zoho since 2000, says, however, things are getting expensive in metro areas like this; they formerly had locations in California and New Jersey. Which is why they’re looking to expand their footprint into more rural areas… good news for our community.
That, and, according to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu in a Forbes India interview, the mega-company is looking to bring a “cross-fertilization of ideas. Once some high-earning people come in, they bring in good and bad habits.”
Good habits, like mentoring and coaching, is what Vembu hopes those from the city can bring to rural, local youth.
“I see other companies can take inspiration from this, too,” says Vegesna, “setting up offices, where the quality of life is important when we pick a location. And that includes affordability of housing costs.”
Vegesna, who has been with the company for 20-plus years, has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and quickly climbed the corporate ladder within Zoho. He now handles business management here in the states, calling his unofficial job title: chief evangelist.
What exactly is Zoho? The company provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and more than 40 apps to more than 50 million users worldwide. The latest app, called Zoho Remotely, was launched as a solution to conducting business during the pandemic. The Software as a Service (SaaS) firm also offers online accounting, human resource and inventory management, and more. Customer privacy is a priority, which is especially important when Zoho’s customer portfolio includes those of the likes of Amazon, Facebook, HP, Netflix, and more. In 2019, Forbes valued Vembu’s 88 percent stake at $1.83 billion.
And, again, as part of Vembu’s vision, who also comes from a rural background, the success of Zoho is proof that a world-class, software-based business doesn’t have to be run in urban headquarters, it could potentially be run in communities like Society Hill, Cheraw, Bennettsville, Darlington, and Hartsville. According to Vegesna, Zoho firmly believes in training its employees within rural towns and villages across the globe, starting with kids right out of high school without the traditional college degree and educating them in-house.
In 2004, Zoho University, today known as Zoho Schools, was founded to train students with the right skillsets and abilities. Better than that, it’s free, with students paid a stipend over the two-year course.
“The people that we attracted were the ones who otherwise wouldn’t have the economic or financial means,” says Vegesna, “So, we said, ‘Why don’t we provide that opportunity?’ … This is called uprooting to reach real talent and educating them to go with educated people. …”
Today, 875 are students are proud products of Zoho Schools out of the company’s 9,300 total employees. In Austin, Vegesna also says employees showed an interest in growing their own fruits and vegetables with a farm on campus.
“We started with two beds in February 2020, prior to the pandemic, and now, fast-forward to today, and we have about 70 beds,” he says. “The goal is to provide organic produce for all of the employees, so it becomes a better campus.”
COUNTY founder and creator of four local brands, reports currently using seven of Zoho’s products to handle its business and relationships. As Zoho looks to expand with more locations in the U.S., maybe it will consider our rural slice of land as one of their new hubs.
For more information and updates on Zoho, visit https://www.zohocorp.com/.
