At Brilliant Read Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week we invited yet another passionate women entrepreneur Godha Bapuji for an exclusive interview with us. Godha is a Leader, Entrepreneur and Founder of Women in Crisis Response. Let’s read more about her incredible journey so far and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Godha:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
Growing up, I had the ambition to become an astrophysicist. The life I was living made me a pragmatist. I do not remember exactly which year, but it was sometime between 88-90. The Iran-Iraq and Kuwait wars destroyed everything my father had dreamed of as he lost his job and pay and could never go back to his normal ambitious self.
We had to sell everything we owned to put together money for his plane tickets to get him back home to India. The toughest thing for me at that age was letting go of my favourite collection of Abba – and Michael Jackson audio cassettes which we sold for 5 rupees or so., it was very hard, but I learnt to let it go and never said a word. As a high schooler at the time, I learnt that life had different plans for me so instead of fighting it, I embraced what was being thrown at me and made the best out of it, I made a pact with a hope that my time will come.
When the going got tough I was sent away to my grandparents and for that, I am eternally indebted to my chachu and my grandparents who received me and supported me from my 14th year of life onwards. I completed school, and with a renewed hope to get into Aeronautics, studied Computer Science and Engineering diploma with Electronics and Physics, but soon realised that we were too poor and opportunities lacking where I lived, so I was forced to give up that ambition, again.
I compromised with Computer Sciences instead and joined my Master’s program – dropped out from that too because I could not afford the fee. I took on my first formal stint in 1995 without pay and worked in another before I finally took a paying job in 1996. I yearned to go to Oxford University to study physics but of course, that was just a dream just as it is for any other youth stuck in poverty. With the work ethics taught by my grandfather, I learned to be satisfied with what I had and do best with that.
So, I worked extremely hard and learnt many skills over the years in IT industry as a Software Engineer/Analyst/Programmer etc., I loved Unix operating systems a lot because they reminded me of the black and blue computer screens at NASA and it became my strength as a field of work.
I really enjoyed exploring how operating systems internals worked. Reverse Engineering, and troubleshooting errors become my technical strengths but I made sure I was not boxed in as a “Tester” because in those days vertical and horizontal mobility was very hard if you got boxed in into a particular “job role” as you would literally be stuck in that role pretty much anywhere you moved without an opportunity to do other things you may be good at.
This is one of the biggest challenges that I think organisations must learn to overcome so that youth can really explore different jobs without being stereotyped and be able to learn transdisciplinary skillsets.
After the Y2K, I moved into secure programming and later into what we now mostly call cybersecurity and remained in that field ever since. Given my interest in systems, and my comfort with simplifying complex things, I always looked at things from a root cause perspective be it technical or technological systems or sociocultural systems.
In a similar light, to dismantle what Economists and Sociologists call structural violence we need to look at the system and understand the different moving parts and how they interact. I constantly keep thinking of ideas to solve sticky problems and that may have ultimately paved my path to founding a social enterprise with a focus in these areas.
Those few events of my life that I mentioned earlier, made me who I am today. Taking initiatives and risks was always an integral part of my growing up in poverty and hardships. I was mostly a quiet girl as I always reflected on what was going on in our lives, I tried to always make sense of the situations and break down complex systems trying to understand the root cause to find a way out.
In 2014, I happened to read about this Japanese concept of “Ikigai” of living your life to the fullest, so I started contemplating more actively. In 2016, a few personal things and a few political events in the US pushed me to reconsider my life, I jokingly call it my mid-life crisis, and I decided to go back to school and finish my degree.
Harvard University has one of the best adult continuing education programs I know of and that is where I got my new liberal arts degree in Economics and Government and a Graduate Certificate in International Security. I studied courses that helped me to find answers to all those questions I had been accumulating since my childhood. I studied religion, international relations, sociology, global health, anthropology, economics, policymaking, humanities etc., This is where the seeds for Women in Crisis Response was planted. As I wrote my papers for my courses, I created diagrams and a framework that helped me give a two- dimensional form to the abstract ideas in my head.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Initiative and Risk – these are two keywords we find when we search for the dictionary meaning of the word “Entrepreneur”, so in my opinion, anyone who embraces these two aspects is an entrepreneur. Thousands of people in India take the initiative and the risk to come and realise their dreams in Mumbai.
Many more migrate interstate to urban areas or bigger cities in hopes of opportunities –My father was one such person – he was ambitious – he came to Mumbai from Bangalore to realise his potential and his dreams and he did, unfortunately, circumstances changed, and he could not catch up.
In March 2020 I founded the initial ideas of what is now Women in Crisis Response and in July I made it official that I was going to make this my life’s mission choosing not to return to the comfortable corporate life I lived before I took a break to study at Harvard. It was a big opportunity cost for me, but I felt it was a calculated risk I had to take to make a substantial change in the status quo.
I could have gone back to my corporate life and earned more money with the new degree from one of the prestigious universities in the world but chose not to and to instead focus on being a direct part of the solution to some of the problems I faced and witnessed growing up.
‘Women in Crisis Response’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?
It is sort of a take on “Damsels in distress”, seriously! I love to study risks and how humans undertake them and behave, and so I studied some behavioural sciences, and since I came from a cybersecurity background and understand incident management well, wanted to study this deeply as a field so took crisis management as part of my degree at Harvard – the phrase “crisis Response comes from this and of course “women” indicates that the mission revolves primarily around women and around the youth, but overall at WiCR we look at all genders across the spectrum as part of our context in building social resilience and capacity.
WiCR is a social enterprise with a mission to build resilient and secure communities by design by focusing on ensuring human security at the grassroots. It is an innovation and ideas incubator for socioeconomic development for the future, and a policy action lab.
Based on the unique framework and a problem-solving model I created, I provide internship and fellowship opportunities, and in the future hope to provide scholarships and other micro-lending facilities to those in need, but this is not an aid. I believe in building capacity and always say this to my interns – as a metaphor, “we are the plumbers fixing the pipe so that we are not just mopping the floor with the broken faucet on.” We do policy, and technology innovation as needed to build this resiliency but focus on the root causes more. We think like social scientists and work as engineers.
There are thousands of brilliant reports, papers, articles etc., already out there on the internet today, so we do not want to simply publish more of that – instead, we take what is out there and teach people how to implement those at the grassroots – we focus on learning from what exists, improvising and we focus on praxis. My interns/members are asked to bring in a problem they personally care about and learn the tools and techniques to transform that into a solution for others.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Pretty much like any global work/business, digital tools are an important part of our work. It is not easy sometimes to completely trust on something that you cannot see, but we have to. I have a phased strategy based on the pandemic which means I will add on parts of my business in phases just like councils and governments are opening lockdowns in phases.
This is all coming from my security and risk management background and now crisis management lessons. Think big, take baby steps, but keep moving, is my mantra. Having seen how much life can throw a googly at us – I know life is real, so business expectations and goal setting must match it.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
It is hard I will not lie or try to paint an ideological picture. Keeping yourself self-motivated is tough and not everyone can naturally do it. It depends on how resilient you are internally.
But yes, I prioritize my time, keep it simple, and by that, I do not mean elevator pitches, I mean literally simple with clear communication, interactions with team members, genuine connection with their purpose and challenges and at the end of it I always keep my mission and purpose very clearly in front of me.
I have established my thresholds for quality, integrity, quantity, failures, and disappointments, so I never get dejected or even if I do, I pick up the pieces very quickly and move on.
In your opinion, what is more necessary: An idea or a good team for a successful startup?
I think we need both – I remember some Aesop/Panchatantra fables growing up and always remember this scenario, would you rather have a pride of lions led by a fox or a herd of sheep lead by a lion? I would say neither. I expect everyone to manage and lead themselves with of course nudges along the way which we all need. So, at WiCR, I have banished the role of a “team lead” or “manager”.
I think a true leader is self-motivated and self-driven and knows how to prioritize and manage time. They continuously learn and are not afraid to ask for help. They are ambitious but pragmatic, and humble.
I refrain from too much brand marketing as I want my ambassadors to speak for themselves. Their quality of work will be their brand and in turn, it will speak for WiCR. My hope is to create capacity for future lifestyle, which means I must nurture the leaders in my members today. Their identity and experiences as individuals are unique and precious as it is what makes WiCR, a social enterprise truly special by design. Finally, patience, focus, pragmatism, a growth mindset, and a keen eye for passionate people with a purpose and in the case of WiCR, I also look for humility.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I’ve learned not compare myself to other successful women who seem to have it all together. Invariably, things are not always as they seem, and no one has it all together and that sometimes in life you may be alone on the right path, but you still must go on whilst being open to learning from your surroundings.
The especially important fact it is to embrace change because, at any given time, you will need to shift strategies due to circumstances beyond your control.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
~ Being genuine.
~ Constantly learning.
~ Practice more, preach less.
Stop trying to be a leader, Life is a journey, I may have seen a place before, so if you happen to be going on the same path, then come with me we can go together!
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
Getting the right opportunity and performing to the best of your capability when you get that opportunity. To get that opportunity, I present myself as a brand. I prepare myself to give my best shot at each opportunity that comes my way, and sometimes you have to create those opportunities.
Overall, keeping the big picture in the horizon, build the path as you go – this has always worked for me.
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
I think being genuine and true to myself and a strong moral compass has worked well for me so far.
Most importantly, and secondly, I never compared myself with anybody – I know my self-worth and am self-motivated, so I keep my head straight and keep moving.
Lastly, I would say ambition makes us entrepreneurial; experience makes us pragmatic; learning makes us humble, and humility makes us successful but success can mean different things to different people.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
Life is too precious and fragile to be wasted. I always say to my teenage daughter what I learnt early in life – the difference between something and nothing is just a moment. I feel that as a human being on the earth I am not here to simply eat, live, and die.
I want to be useful and be deserving of this special life – and I remember the hardships I faced as a little girl, as a youth and as a woman, as an “immigrant” in my own country having lived in the different states of India, and outside, so I want to make sure I am contributing towards eliminating those barriers instead of being a bystander and a commentator.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
It is okay to be sceptical but never self-doubt yourself. It is okay to ask for help but never fails to lift another person when they need help. It is okay to fail, but not to erase history and forget to learn lessons from them. Take calculated risks, start small, be flexible, pause, reflect, and recalibrate your dreams as you need but keep the focus on the ultimate thing that must truly matter in life.
Be bold and diversify your interest groups. Like a tree that sheds its dead leaves in the fall and brings new ones in spring, we must be ready to peel off our old layers of self and be ready to embrace our new self and accordingly choose our groups where we spend time with. Build networks of support groups, learn, and share without inhibitions.
We are not in a race; we are in a journey and everybody takes their path and their own time – so enjoy the ride with others on that part and move on as needed. Let go of the past, focus on the present and keep your eyes on the horizon. These are all the things I always do, so I am sharing these here. Your lessons may be different, feel free to pay it forward and share it with others.
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.
