From $60 to $1 Billion: Ajit Prabhu’s Purpose-Driven Journey

In our lat­est inter­view, I sat down with Ajit Prab­hu, CEO and Co-Founder of Quest Glob­al, to talk about his jour­ney from arriv­ing in the U.S. to lead­ing a glob­al engi­neer­ing powerhouse.

Ajit’s sto­ry is full of hard-earned wis­dom, deep pur­pose, and the kind of qui­et deter­mi­na­tion that builds com­pa­nies to last. From his ear­ly days solv­ing prob­lems at GE to build­ing a bil­lion-dol­lar busi­ness root­ed in learn­ing and resilience, his per­spec­tive is both inspir­ing and refresh­ing­ly grounded.

In this first blog from our con­ver­sa­tion, we explore where it all began — and the pur­pose that’s still dri­ving him today.

Some sto­ries don’t start with big dreams — they start with sim­ple needs.

Ajit Prab­hu came to the U.S. with just $60 and a deter­mi­na­tion to learn. After earn­ing his degrees through schol­ar­ships and teach­ing assist­ant­ships, he want­ed to fly his par­ents over for a vis­it — but couldn’t afford the plane tick­ets. So, he applied for a sum­mer intern­ship at GE, hop­ing to earn enough to cov­er the cost.

That intern­ship would change everything.

Once inside GE’s R&D lab, Ajit found him­self sur­round­ed by world-class engi­neers solv­ing incred­i­bly com­plex prob­lems. He was instant­ly hooked.

Watch the clip: Ajit talks about his ear­ly days, GE, and the desire to solve diverse engi­neer­ing challenges.

Root­ed in Problem-Solving

Ajit didn’t set out to build a bil­lion-dol­lar com­pa­ny. He set out to solve inter­est­ing prob­lems — and build a life around learn­ing. That became the DNA of Quest Global.

Today, Quest oper­ates in aero­space, med­ical, auto­mo­tive, and more, with over 21,000 employ­ees, 84 glob­al deliv­ery cen­ters and 18 coun­tries. But Ajit’s focus is still the same: work with clients to solve the hard­est engi­neer­ing chal­lenges in the world.

Long Game Thinking

That ini­tial strug­gle to buy a plane tick­et for his par­ents plant­ed a seed — one that grew slow­ly, and inten­tion­al­ly. Ajit didn’t fol­low the fast-track mod­el. He focused on doing great work, learn­ing deeply, and build­ing sys­tems that last.

Watch the clip: Ajit shares how neces­si­ty shaped his mind­set and approach to business.

A Qui­et Lesson

Ajit’s jour­ney is a reminder that resilience, curios­i­ty, and pur­pose go a long way. Espe­cial­ly when you’re not chas­ing a quick win — but build­ing some­thing that will last.

Watch the full inter­view below:

Chal­lenge

• What’s one real, prac­ti­cal need in your life or work right now — some­thing that could push you to take action, learn fast, and build long-term value?

Resources

• Lead­ing Through Chal­leng­ing Times
• The Two Con­flict­ing Roles of a CEO
• “Think Time” is the Only Way to Become More Strategic