It is visible that much may have been achieved, but inequalities persist
in the field of business, politics, health and education, art and entertainment, and violence towards woman is also one of the relevant issues worldwide which is discouraging women to take 24×7 jobs
Journey as an entrepreneur
Born and bought up in Banaras, I did my graduation in Computer Science from Amravati University in 1989. A small town like that had limited scope for a BTech engineer, so I relocated to Delhi with hopes to make a better future. I started my career with a Delhi based IT company as a service and support engineer where I learnt the repairing of motherboard, hard disk drives, monitors, etc. I also learnt and did Unix installation. Life took its turn in 1991, when I was approached by my engineering college mate, Alok Gupta, who is also my life partner to join this startup company Cache Systems.
The first few months were difficult but within six months the company started getting some big clients and that boosted my confidence. In 1994, Cache began its stint as a corporate reseller for both HP and IBM. Following which it branched into two companies Cache Digitech, that handled the services side, and Cache Technologies, which was a reseller company.
Cache’s big break came in 1996, when it gained access into education segment and bagged several customers including Ghaziabad-based Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Krishna Engineering College, IMS Engineering College and Advanced Institute of Management (AIM).
Customer-relationship was my forte and I forged a strong bond with the institutes. It was a time when HCL machines were preferred. I managed to convince them to buy IBM Machines at premium. Also, with the help of the IBM team we set up IBM labs at all these institutes which gave further fillip to our IBM business.
For 17 years, from 2001 to 2018, the company’s growth has been almost 10 folds. FY2013-15 was very bad for us and we struggled to survive as we took some wrong business calls. It took lots of effort to bring back our business on track. FY2013 – 16 the business was all time low and our turnover dropped to ` 38 cr. We had gone through a rough phase and worked very hard to bring our business on track and now again we have reached at ` 58 cr and can foresee good revenue by 2020, which will be more than ` 100 cr.
Despite all the success, I still believe that my journey has just begun. I have started on a new journey to make Cache one of the most respected IT companies with best of breed system integration and services skill-sets.
Women in IT – a rare breed?
In the IT industry, it has been very unfortunate that women are not coming forward and starting their setup in SI as this is a very demanding, challenging with 24×7 accessibility, women think that this is not
the area to work.
There is a need for a more gender sensitive and equitable society. It is visible that much may have been achieved, but inequalities persist in the field of business, politics, health and education, art & entertainment, and violence towards woman is also one of the relevant issues worldwide which is discouraging women to take 24×7 jobs.
We no longer live in the times where brutal force is supreme. Technology has opened the doors for women and I foresee the world where the entire business will be driven on IQ, EQ & LQ and women are
perfect in this.
Work-life balance
I love to travel and spend quality time with my friends and two daughters. Reading books gives her immense pleasure. I am committed to the cause of Digital India and Skill India.
Life ahead
With more than 20 years of hands-on experience, I am one of the few women entrepreneurs in the IT solutions and services space. I am also the CEO of CIO Digital Foundation (CIDIF), an NGO.
