My big break8230;

He's your regular CEO -- button-down shirt, tie, formal trousers, matching socks and black shoes -- the works. Only he runs a company that's...

He8217;s your regular CEO 8212; button-down shirt, tie, formal trousers, matching socks and black shoes 8212; the works. Only he runs a company that8217;s far from regular. Jayant Sharma is the Chairman and MD of Milestone Entertainment P Ltd, which has tied up with EMI Music 8212; the global music giant 8212; for distributing international albums in India. Most people in the country still have no idea of what a music company does. 8220;A lot of my relatives think I own a music store or something. Others ask me if I have a factory that makes cassettes,8221; laughs the 35-year-old Sharma.

But it really isn8217;t a laughing matter, for music today is all about big competition, big risks, and big money. Sharma, for that matter, has been an ideal candidate. 8220;I started working at the age of 20,8221; he recalls. 8220;That was just after I finished my graduation in Commerce.8221; Sharma started his career with the Swastik division of the Sarabhai Group of Companies, and has since sold 8220;almost everything under the sky, from soap to software!8221;

Ask him about his real big break and he says: 8220;It came with setting up Milestone Entertainment with my brother, Rajeev, in 1994. It8217;s a different kick you get from running your own company. For me, it8217;s all the more because it involves something I enjoy.8221; And you can bet he gets his high from his company. From an initial investment of Rs 2 lakh in the original company 8212; which also did events and promotions 8212; Milestone8217;s turnover today is over the Rs 4 crore mark. And all this in the span of just four years.

Sharma, whose father taught at the prestigious Mayo College, Ajmer, but passed away when he was merely 14, remembers how it was imperative for him to start working. 8220;At the time, I was a hard-core field person working in the rural and semi-urban areas. That taught me the workings of Indian distribution systems and how the non-urban markets work8221;.

That knowledge stood him in good stead as he job-hopped to the Gramophone Company of India, more identifiable by its HMV label, literally setting up its Gujarat8217;s distribution network. And that is where he learnt to work the music industry, an experience which came in handy while setting up Milestone. 8220;But I was never as much into music as you8217;d imagine,8221;he reveals. 8220;Rajeev was the musical guy in the family. He was like a walking encyclopaedia of music, especially rock,8221; recalls Sharma.

In fact, Milestone was born under the oddest circumstances. 8220;I was in Nigeria, where I had my own company, and had come down for Rajeev8217;s wedding. The day before the wedding, Rajeev quit his job at GramCo, and it was during the night as we talked on the train to Lucknow, that Milestone was born,8221; he says.

Initially, though, Milestone also dabbled in events, but soon moved out of that segment in order to concentrate on music. As Sharma explains: 8220;It was only diluting our core competency, which was music.8221; So, music it was. And with at least two successful albums under their belt 8212; Annamika8217;s eponymous second album and Junoon8217;s Azaadi 8212; and a third one, Aria, just launched, Jayant can afford to say that he8217;s arrived.