At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community of entrepreneurs, investors, management students and aspiring entrepreneurs. This week we invited seasoned entrepreneur Bitan Ghosh for an interview with us. He is a proven business leader and has successfully built and scaled technology businesses. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Usin Technologies. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Bitan:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am an Entrepreneur, Tech Enthusiast, and Digital Nomad born and brought up the city of Kolkata. After completing my schooling, I relocated to Bhubaneswar where I did my BTech in Civil Engineering from KIIT University. After a brief stint of two years in the Middle East, I came back to India and pursued my MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). During the final years of my Masters, I founded two tech start-ups, Usin Technologies, and Orphius Technologies. I did my certification in Digital Transformation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
During the early days of my career, I saw the surge of technology around me, especially in the field of IOT, and thought of the impact it can make back in India. The two start-ups I manage mainly deals with developing technologies for Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Governance.”
Nowadays, I also advise Start-ups and Entrepreneurs in Digital Transformation. I believe the path to diversity is through entrepreneurship and not employment. It is eminent that everyone has ideas, but the challenge is going from idea to launching a new business and from that to grow into a successful one.
Problem within the community is that there are knowledge gaps and the fact that people just need some help to bring their ideas to reality. Me and my team are present in a dedicated manner to being a resource for entrepreneurs and our company is dedicated to giving entrepreneurs the resources and support they need to become successful.”
I am also on board several other organisations as Advisor and Director where I try my best to create change which impacts the overall growth in a positive way.
How is your start-up impacting the society?
Usin Technologies is creating an impact upon the society in two ways:
1 – Product Innovation
Creating solutions which directly impact the society. Be it through technology innovations, IOT Projects, e-Governance, etc.
2 – Usin Academy
When it comes to giving back, we do not need to look far for inspiration. Providing shade and comfort to all without discrimination, being home for birds and more, giving out life-sustaining oxygen – there is a lot we can learn from the humble tree. Giving back is one of them and something that we, at Usin, strive to do.
At Usin Academy, we expand the potential of technology to benefit not just businesses, but societies as well. Our philosophy is rooted in ‘giving back’ to the society by leveraging “technology expertise”, our strategic asset. We have created this initiative to empower students with knowledge about the Technologies of Tomorrow. Our aim is to empower 1 million students by 2030.
With more than 65% of the population below the age of 35, our mission is to upskill the youth of India with the knowledge of technologies like Blockchain, Machine Learning, Data Science to Digital Marketing. We would like to help in India’s growth potential.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
There are a couple of reasons why I left my high paying job to come back to India and start off my own.
1 – Even though I got my dream job along with the highest package in college during my BTech placements and got placed abroad, I always felt something missing. I wanted to do something more, something different. I basically wanted to understand my Ikigai. I wanted to build new technologies which will directly benefit society and understood quickly that I will just be a part of the herd if I continue to be employed by someone else.
2 – I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Both my parents excel in their respective field and has been an inspiration for me right from my childhood. Thus, instead of pursuing a job after my MBA I went ahead pursuing my dream and founded both the companies in my final year and started developing solutions with real-life applications.
You are the Managing Director of ‘Usin Technologies’ such a unique name. Our audience wants to know what kind of problem are you solving with the help of your start-up?
We at Usin Technologies, deal with clients by developing solutions that help them manage their businesses in a better way using the power of data. Our main aim is to empower companies with world-class technology at an affordable cost. We understand the need for integrating data science into the core of every business and we try our best to do that.
Our aim is to be a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation. Usin is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients’ opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms.”
We consider it our responsibility to make people feel at home in the future, no matter how technology-enabled it becomes. So, we are committed to helping to solve some of humankind’s most difficult challenges in a way that is beneficial and comfortable for people through the work we do, and through investing in training people around the world in the digital skills that will be needed to do that work.
Put simply, we help clients get digital done at scale and speed — the scale needed to transform their complex organizations to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities the latest technologies make possible, and the speed expected by their customers, partners and owners.
Industries we work with:
1 – Banking, Financial Services and Insurance
2 – Communications, Media and Technology
3 – Travel, Transportation and Hospitality
4 – Healthcare and Lifesciences
5 – Public Services
6 – Manufacturing
7 – Energy, Resources and Utilities
8 – Retail, Consumer Goods and Distribution
Our expertise includes:
1 – Consulting
2 – Business Operations Solutions
3 – Analytics and Insights
4 – Conversational Experiences
5 – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
6 – Blockchain
7 – Internet of Things (IoT)
8 – Cloud Apps, Microservices and API
9 – Cyber Security
10 – Cloud Infrastructure
11 – Enterprise Applications
12 – Training Services
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Our entire development team has been shifted to work from home. We have helped them set up high-speed internet connectivity as well along with the required hardware. We at Usin Technologies are using collaboration tools like Slack to monitor workflows and interact between teams on a regular basis. We are also getting connected with each other using video conferencing tools. We have noticed a rise in productivity, enthusiasm, and availability while employees are getting less stressed as they get to work from the comfort of their home. On the other hand, coordination at times faces a challenge because of connectivity issues. We feel that the biggest challenge our team is facing is the lack of proper internet connectivity. But on the other hand, our customer support has received a lot of applause from clients because of the decrease in issue resolving time.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I always try to make sure that I empower the right people for the right work. This way I do not feel overburdened with work that leads to stress. In my free time, I try to travel, spend time with my family, and try to maintain my work-life balance as much as possible. Travelling helps me clear my mind and focus on issues that need my attention.
I would say that I get motivated seeing my parents work tirelessly in their respective fields and that drives me to go on despite all the challenges.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
In my opinion leaders of the future need to be adaptive and more open to change. The following may be the necessary traits that will always be required to become a good leader:
1 – Self-management
2 – Strategic action taker
3 – Effective communicator
4 – Accountable
5 – Responsible
6 – Persistence
7 – Setting clear goals
8 – Futuristic vision
9 – Creative and innovative
10 – Team player
11 – Create a long-lasting relationship
12 – Be agile
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
One thing I would say that helped me and my company grow is the ability to listen to our customers. We believe that customers are not interested in products but in getting their problems resolved.
The more we listen to them, the problems they face in their business, the more efficiently and effectively we can resolve them. We believe that we are capable to do that and it is the only reason for our growth.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: an idea or a good team for a successful start-up?
In my opinion, it should be a mix of both. You just cannot go ahead with an idea jotted down on a piece of paper without like-minded people working on it.
I have seen companies with very innovative ideas with niche market segment fail just because they lacked proper team spirit in them.”
To be successful, you should team up with co-founders who share your vision behind the idea and you also need to hire the right people for the right position so that it gets implemented in a proper way.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
I would like aspiring entrepreneurs to understand that Success does not come overnight. Thus, they need to have patience, trust their idea and dream big. The set of advice I would like to share with them are:
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
