There were not many women in IT when I started out, I guess it was a time of evolution in the business world. I believe that by keeping our desires into consideration, we have the choice to break the hurdles and interrupt the circle that comes along and dominates us to discover new ways of working
Journey as an entrepreneur
From a fashion stylist-turned-entrepreneur, my tryst with IT has been very exciting and joyful. Today it has been a good 23 years of One Network Consulting since it was formed. The journey so far has been very fruitful and we are evolving with the technological shifts. With the support of my family and my core team lead, Shailesh Kanolkar, Head – Technical, we have been growing 100 per cent year-on-year and have set up our subsidiary in UAE and in London. In fact, my two daughters, Aakanksha Makhija, Head – Sales and Alliances and Simran Makhija, Head – Finance and Services have come on board at One Network. With the next generation coming in along with their academic excellence and fresh perspective, I am hopeful that we should be able to take our business to the next level and be of better service to the industry and also gain the customers’ faith as a trusted transformation partner.
Being the daughter of a lawyer, my father has been a guiding light for me. With my family’s support, I could face all the challenges before me. Largely, the trust of our OEMs has enabled us in our business growth. Today we are focused on distribution, system integration and managed services covering networking, security, mobility, public cloud, Unified Communication, datacentre and IoT being our newest passion. Over the years we have built strong alliances with brands like Palo Alto Networks, Riverbed, Cisco, Aruba, Juniper, MultiTech, Nexus, Symantec, Sophos and CheckPoint in major verticals likes healthcare, manufacturing, BFSI, hospitality, IT/ITeS.
Role model
When it comes to the IT industry, a generic impression is that of a male dominated industry. Well of course there are many male entrepreneurs, but there are some fantastic and sharp-minded female entrepreneurs too. I would not say there is any specific role model in my professional journey, but the values my parents have given me definitely plays a very big role in my work ethic.
Work-life balance
I would say that there never is an ideal work-life balance because the balance is always shifting depending on what phase of life we are in. Women are often given the message that you can’t have it all. You can have it all; just not at the same time. As your life changes, your priorities change, so it’s about reprioritising and making shifts to your focus.
Women in IT – a rare breed ?
There were not many women in IT when I started out, I guess it was a time of evolution in the business world. I believe that by keeping our desires into consideration, we have the choice to break the hurdles and interrupt the circle that comes along and dominates us to discover new ways of working.
It is important to be aware of the self-imposed obstacles that could be holding us back. My message for budding entrepreneurs – take risks, both in career and life, to achieve what you want. Build your network of mentors to help guide and support you.
Life ahead
These past few years the growth of One Network Consulting has been very organic and progressive. Digital transformation is the trend we intend to follow as we would like to articulate the value of digital technologies in our customers infrastructure in the near future. Navigating the waters of change, separating reality from hype is our immediate goal. We would like to help our customers not only to understand what digital technologies their organisation should use but also how to implement multiple disruptive technologies holistically and get the most out of them. The bigger picture approach to technology demands industry vision and superior communication skills to drive IT into the heart of the corporate mission. We hope to give our best.
