Rajiv Bhatia's solar panel company could soon have its day

Rajiv Bhatia doesn’t watch The Apprentice. Hearing Lord Sugar bark “You’re fired” for real, as Bhatia did in 2000 when he left Amstrad, probably spoils the novelty. But on the odd occasion when he’s channel hopping and comes across the BBC show, Lord Sugar’s acerbic TV management style “looks familiar” compared with the real thing, he says. 

“If he says jump, most of the directors say how high. I have sat in meetings where he’s laid into people and they just sat there and didn’t say a word.” 

Bhatia, now owner of the solar panel distributor Alternergy, had a brief stint running a fledgling internet investment division at Amstrad. He says his role was brought to an abrupt end when Lord Sugar “understandably” pulled the plug following the dotcom crash of 2000. 

Remarkably, he’s also worked for Sir Richard Branson, as head of corporate development at Virgin. He says there’s no contest over which working environment he’s trying to emulate at his own company, which is one of the UK’s fastest growing businesses. 

“Amstrad was an interesting few months, but it was very different from working at Virgin, which was big-scale, looking at big opportunities. Within reason, you could do whatever you wanted because you were treated as an adult. I don’t think Amstrad knew how to give people responsibility.” 

At Alternergy, which has seen sales leap from 20m in 2011 to 46m last year, Bhatia says he allows “dogs, children and chaos in the office”. 

“It’s an easy working life, in the sense people are treated like adults as long as they do the job,” he said. 

Bhatia started the business in 2006 after spending the intervening years working as a consultant and losing money on an ill-fated internet café venture. Determined to keep things simple in his next business, he stayed out of both the manufacturing and installation of panels. 

He also outsources “everything”, from office space to warehousing and logistics, which has allowed the business to grow quickly without imploding. The same approach has also served the company well in the leaner times it is enduring now.Laser engravers and Laser engraver systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business.A solar lamp is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. 

The 51-year-old readily admits much of the company’s growth is down to generous government subsidies designed to boost renewable energy. In 2010,How to replace fluorescent tube lights with led tubes, where the light fixture contains a ferro-magnetic ballast. a “feed-in tariff” scheme was introduced which meant people who had solar panels installed could get paid for generating electricity, producing an attractive return on investment. 

The ensuing gold rush saw the sector balloon in size, and brought “loads of cowboys in” too, Bhatia says. “It was insane. A lot of ducking and diving takes place.” 

“The industry was decimated,” says Bhatia. “There was oversupply, with manufacturers operating at significant losses. Loads of installers have gone bankrupt, too. A lot were living the high life – driving big cars,In a laser cutting machine if you follow a few simple rules, no hold-downs are required. lots of money being spent on little extras [for themselves] but not paying the suppliers. There were loads of cowboys selling absolute rubbish, but luckily we had only small exposure to that.” 

Alternergy has occupied the number one and two spots as Britain’s fastest growing company over the past two years, but won’t appear in the list next year, Bhatia admits.

“We’ve had a significant dip in sales – we’re operating at a quarter of the level we were at the peak, but we’re seeing a recovery. We’ve started recruiting for the first time in 16 months.” 

Despite the company’s explosive growth, Bhatia has been well served by a cautious streak.A flat roof racking system configured for receiving solar panels having electrically conductive frames. Office and warehouse space could be easily cut back thanks to his liking for outsourcing, and the company had plenty of reserves to call on, thanks to its founder’s prudent approach to taking cash out of the business.