Why I Chose Public Service After Building Businesses

People often ask me: "Why politics? You had successful businesses, financial security, and impact through education. Why enter the messy world of public service?"

The answer lies in my journey. When I was a daily wage laborer, working long hours under the sun, I didn't dream of building companies. I dreamed of survival. But even then, I noticed something: the systems that were supposed to help people like me were broken, not because of lack of resources, but because of lack of will and vision.

When I built Talent Academy and later Wayvida, I realized that private enterprise, no matter how mission-driven, has limits. I could help thousands, even millions, but the systemic changes needed to transform Kerala required more. They required policy. They required governance. They required someone willing to enter the arena.

I entered politics not despite my business background, but because of it. Running a business teaches you accountability. Every rupee spent has to show results. Every decision has consequences. This is the mindset I bring to public service—a focus on outcomes, not optics.

Critics will say that politics corrupts, that the system cannot be changed from within. I understand their cynicism; I have felt it myself. But I have also seen what happens when good people stay away from politics. The vacuum is filled by those with less noble intentions.

My commitment is simple: to use whatever platform I have—political, entrepreneurial, cultural—to serve the people who gave me everything. The daily wage workers who taught me dignity of labor. The teachers who believed in an over-aged student returning to school. The young entrepreneurs who remind me of myself thirty years ago.

This is not about power. It is about purpose. And that purpose was set the day I decided that my success meant nothing if it wasn't used to lift others.