Renowned bridge engineer Madhavrao Bhide built a strong bridge of friendship in Marathi entrepreneurship by establishing Saturday Club Global Trust to inculcate cooperation among Marathi entrepreneurs.
He founded the Saturday Club in the year 2000 with an objective that Marathi youth should dream of 'I will become a businessman, grow the industry, create wealth and help others.'
Madhavrao Bhide's father Nanasaheb was history school teacher and a staunch supporter of Swatantryaveer Savarkar. Bhide published a collection of his father's letters in book form. When he had come to Sangli in 2002, he gave that book to me as a gift. Bhide passed Civil Engineer degree with 74% marks and later became bridge engineer of international status and designed and constructed pre-stressed concrete bridges in the Railway Department.
After getting a job in the railways, he set up the 'Lalit Kala Mandal' to promote the artistic talents of railway employees and their families. Using his vacation, he traveled to important countries like England, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, France, China, Japan etc. and studied railway bridges at his own expense. He completed the Diva-Dombivali-Vasai railway project during his career. For the first time in railway history, a pre-stressed concrete’ bridge was built to extend the Bandra-Khar harbor line to Andheri.
While working in Gujarat, a Gujarati factory owner with an annual turnover of Rs. 200 crores, told him that In his factory clerks, accountant, chemist all are Marathi clever and smart people, but they can't compete with Gujarati in business. Bhide felt it as an insult to Marathi people and decided to quit his job and become an entrepreneur and promote other Marathi people.
At the age of 58, he voluntarily retired from Indian Railways and founded Bhide Associates, which provides valuation and arbitration services for buildings, bridges and factories. Within a few years, Bhide Associates had 15 branches across India. In 1989, he founded the Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers. He set up a platform for the exchange of knowledge and technology, imparting the experience of bridge building to Indian engineers from home and abroad through IIBE.
Bhide founded the Saturn Day Club Global Trust in 2000. To unite Marathi entrepreneurs, Madhavrao took the whole of Maharashtra by storm with the new slogan 'Let's help each other, let's be rich'.
Dyandeep had taken the initiative to set up a branch in Sangli, Miraj in 2002. It was decided at that time to use Mymarathi.com website for his club but I lost contact with him due to going abroad.
After reading the news that Madhavrao Bhide passed away on July 7, 2018 at the age of 86, I gathered information about the Saturday Club. I found Saturday Club website http://scgt.org.in The names of the office bearers of the club are displayed on that website. However, it was noticed that the website is not up to date.
Now Dnyandeep will build a bridge between Madhavrao Bhide's Saturday Club of Marathi Entrepreneurs and Marathi intellectuals working in education, literature and culture.
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