Manish Sharma is a co-founder of Printo, India’s first, branded retail chain for print and document services. The flagship store opened in 2006 and there are now multiple outlets across the cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad, offering everything from business cards and brochures to personalised party invitations and mugs with family pictures on. It was when the company transferred Manish to London that he decided to do an MBA. “I had wanted to feed my interest in economics for some time and the MBA seemed the best route,” says Manish.

He wanted to do a one-year course at a high profile European university and was accepted at both Oxford and Cambridge. He chose Oxford for its balance of historical distinction and contemporary energy. “The school was steeped in history but had a huge contemporary angle to it, which I found both comforting and exciting,” he says.

One of Printo’s lead investors is Sequoia Capital (the money behind companies like Google and Oracle). In the mid-term, Printo aims to have some 250 stores nationwide (present in every large and mid size city) with long-term potential for the company to grow across India and into other developing world markets. “There are a lot of very brilliant entrepreneurs out there and I think it speaks volumes that Sequoia have invested in us,” says Manish. “This is a fairly universal model. It would work anywhere that small businesses and individual consumers need this service and if we serve them well, we’ve got a winning proposition in any part of the world.”

 After completing his MBA, Manish was the only Indian student from his class to return to India. “I wanted to use my technology skills but do something more human, more tangible. So I looked at retail and there are many opportunities in India.” While getting himself up and running in India, Manish was struck by how hard it was to get day-to-day printing needs fulfilled professionally. “It was an excruciating process,” he says. “And I realised there was a gap in the market.” It’s now three years since Manish and his partner drove down from Bombay with suitcases and a mattress and literally set up their first shop.

Now, with 10 stores under his belt and more in the pipeline Manish sees the MBA as an integral part of his progress. “During my time at Oxford, my financial planning improved dramatically and this showed clearly in my business plan,” he says. “And crucially, when I went out to raise capital, the Oxford name lent a lot of credibility to the project and made the whole process a good deal easier.”