New Delhi, March 2 -- Sathish Kumar T., chairman and managing director of Milky Mist Dairy Food Ltd, is a habitual learner. He keeps a diary, jotting down anything of interest during the day-data, best practice, a new development or even a new word. He then spends two hours or more each night reflecting, diving deeper into what he had noted.

For someone who has not had a formal education-he is a school dropout-and does not believe in consultants, it is this process of learning that has helped him build a sizeable company, one knocking on the doors of an initial public offering (IPO).

"My decision to move away from raw milk to value added products, focus on scale and quality came from this exercise," Kumar told Mint.

Today, Milky Mist i...