TOI tracks journey of Samuel Timothy, director of Gokulpeth-based WinAir Aviation that would be taking over 79% stake in Trujet in a Rs200Cr deal
Nagpur: The latest Rs Rs 200 crore stake sale in Trujet (Turbo Megha Airways Private Limited), which has created a buzz in aviation sector, has a Nagpur connect. WinAir Aviation, the company that would be taking over 79% stake in Trujet, has its registered office at a home in the bylanes of Gokulpeth. The deal will also help Trujet tide over financial crisis.
WinAir’s director Samuel Timothy, 33, had started his career as ‘gospel DJ’ over a decade ago playing Christian religious music in the city, before shifting to Mumbai. In between, he worked at a FM radio station here.
He was also CEO in Pinnacle Celebrity, a firm in Mumbai. As the pandemic hit show business, the firm shut down and Samuel came down to Nagpur during lockdown thinking what to do next.
He says WinAir was incorporated a year ago. The idea was to start a new airlines under the banner. Samuel accepts that the growth was fast even to his own expectations. On his net worth, he says a detailed statement would be released soon.
In 2014, he shifted out of Nagpur. A soft-spoken Samuel says the turning point came when he bagged a contract to carry out earth work for Mopa Airport in Goa after which there was no looking back. This was a Rs Rs 50 crore (approximately) assignment.
For the Mopa deal, Samuel says he got funding from some of his silent partners. “The Trujet venture is being funded by Aaryans Group which in turn has got foreign investment,” he says while attributing his growth to the association with Aaryans Group.
Samuel has done his schooling from Indira Convent and graduation from Hislop College. His residence-cum registered office is a modest place at the Mata Mandir lane of Gokulpeth. His father Ranjan Timothy runs a legal consultancy business. As Samuel is not in the city, his father made a phone call to him for TOI.
“Most of the work happens from Goa, Hyderabad and Pune. Currently, I am at Goa,” he told TOI. “We are soon going to have an office at Nagpur and a site has been identified at Manish Nagar,” he says.
“After the takeover, the company plans to add more aircraft to the fleet taking it to 20 from four at present. We are in a position to lease or even buy planes,” he says.
For Samule, there was always a plan to start a career in aviation and Trujet already had a running business. “Trujet has over 110 stations under the government’s UDAAN scheme. With the enhanced fleet Winair will be covering all the stations,” he says.
On Aryaans group, he says it is based in Pune and run by Manohar and Smita Jagtap. Its website says the company is into businesses ranging from sugar manufacturing, real estate entertainment to petroleum. The company was incorporated in 2013. In November 2021, it managed to get FDI and the fund has been cleared for utilization by the departments concerned, says the website.
26/05/22 Shishir Arya/Times of India
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