R K Nair

Article by Dhanya Radhakrishnan, Christ University, HOSD 2014

RK Nair was born on the 13^th of December in the year 1952 in Kothakulangara, a village in Kerala, India. He was born to Panangattu Iswara Pillai and Kamalakshiamma and has an elder sister. He lost his father when he was only 2 years old and was raised entirely by his 22 year old mother and sister.

His early education was in St. Joseph School, Angamali where he was among the most disciplined students in class. Since he was well aware of their financial conditions at home, he put his heart and soul into his education and did not have the time to spend making friends or hanging around in school. Because of which, he did not have many friends during his schooling years. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Sree Sankara College, Kalady. He would take tuitions for school and college students to earn his college fees.

Ever since he was a young boy, he has always been fond of uniforms. Thus, after completing his graduation, he announced to his family that he intended to join the army. This was heavily opposed by his mother. This incident forced him to leave his house and run away to Bombay to find his calling in 1973. He did several odd jobs in the first couple of months to settle down and finally got himself a job as a salesman in a Printing Press. As a graduate in physics, he had no idea about paper or about printing. His manager, Mr. Sadasivan Nair, a well-wisher, encouraged him to pursue a diploma course in printing technology. He completed the diploma course in 1975 with a gold medal and a first rank. Soon after, he tried to get a passport as he wanted to work outside India. He finally got his chance in 1979 when he got a free visa.

He landed in Dubai on the 30^th of august in 1979. After walking around in Dubai holding on to his CV, he finally found a small printing press, International Printing Press. At the time, the press had only 4-5 machinery and they were in need of a sales executive. With his support and guidance, this printing press grew and is now one of the best printing presses in the United Arab Emirates.

He married Jayasree on 30th September 1986 and has 2 beautiful college going daughters. According to them, he has always been supportive of their choices and career choices. Though he was never able to get support or care from his father, he made sure that he did his best for his children. Though as a child he was never able to travel around the world and see places, he made sure his children had that opportunity and took them on several tours whenever he could.

RK Nair grew with the press and is now the General Manager of this printing press which now has  more than 200 workers, 5 offset machines, 15 binding machines, 7 finishing machines, 5 pre-press designing machines and so on. He started an Advertising firm in Dubai along with the Managing Director from International Printing Press called Albanna Advertising.

He has received several awards for his dedication and contribution to the printing industry. He recently received an award for the longest stay in Dubai and subsequent contribution to its economy by the Indian Business and Professional Council. He received a gold medal for his  business achievements in Dubai in 2013. Under his guidance, the company has received three gold medals for magazine printing, broucher printing and poster printing, two silver medals for their annual report and invitation cards and a bronze medal for posters.

Because of all this experience and knowledge he has gained from the press, he started one on his own digital printing press with complete modern machineries and equipment in Kochi, Kerala called Eprint. He firmly believes that hard work and dedication can help you reach anywhere in life and this can be seen reflected from the events of his life.