I Returned to India: Creating 100+ Jobs as a Successful Entrepreneur

3:58 Go through the sadness in the in India when it is that at least you know go take care of your loved ones but in U.S it is always Under Pressure so that is one thing that also triggered us to you know move back to India yeah yeah for sure as you said yeah you know even you have a friends and you have been living in abroad for a few years it's still not as easy as it is in India when you have like an extended you know bigger family and it's a little bit more flexible than it is in us which is much more structured from Monday to Friday even though the friends are willing to help they are busy with their own daily lives so which makes it much more difficult yeah I think you know I think most of people can correlate to like you know even it could be like a simple sickness you you both you both parents are sick with cold for example the kids are by themselves when they're young you know nobody could take care of them or I know people can definitely correlate to that yeah that's right that's right cool so it sounds like you

4:58 Always have this in mind of returning back to India and being in India you know since beginning from the get-go and there are some trigger points that kind of solidified your plan to relocate back to India that's right and yeah go ahead please no the trigger points are the the first thing was the hospitalization part and the second thing was you know Missing the family right so whenever you you want to spend time with good once not every time your friends are available you know but when it comes to family you can just go sit with your family talk Chit Chat and come back and yeah it was there were a few good moments in the US where yes we had good time with our friends where we used to go for trips yeah you know family trips and you know we used to all take take a home together and live together and cook together that was a good thing but that's not possible in India but

6:00 Still you keep missing your family you can't be as you know free with your family I mean you cannot be asked me as you are with your family when you are with your friends you have certain limitations and certain things that you need to take care of yeah definitely so if you can talk a little bit about I think you know your decision to move back to India to the actual moving day are there any Logistics or planning that you want to highlight or because you have always planned to be in India maybe you are already thinking along those lines whether it's on the financial side investment side or anything like that you know from a career or whatever or anything that you can share from a decision to actual move like any Logistics any anything that you went through that you want to bring up to the audience yeah so a few things I just wanted to let you know and I'm sure a lot of our teams also relate to this all right when I was when we were in the US

7:01 I was always skeptical about you know coming back to India and you know in the US I was working I have my own identity career but still I had to you know Rush up to my son's school to pick him up and he was at in a daycare and there was always a pressure that okay there's a work then they have you have to come home wash your dishes now you know take care of your household chores and then again go back to work there were you know meetings at the end of the day again so the the whole week was a lot of pressure and sometimes over the weekends it used to spread where you know there were calls and meetings during you know if there are there is any launch a production man channel you have to extend your weekend as well so there's those were a few things that were difficult to handle but when it came back to we move in back to India I always had a question in mind whether I'll find a right job

8:02 Whether I'll be able to you know take care of my son in the same way that I was living in Railways because in the in the US you'll find a good daycare which has like one is to eight ratio first you know teacher and student but India you find the school set to crowded so and the second thing is having a career having someone taking care of your son when once they come home and it is really some parents some parents feel terrified even to send the kid to a school in India in a bus in a school bus even I was little but as we moved back to India I realized that people in India are more understanding in the U.S I didn't even know who was my neighbor you know it was really scary there was one neighbor who was living and then one day a police you know a few constables came in and police people came in and they were checking the home there was a domestic violence case they were

9:03 Mexicans I guess so yeah it was really scary for us we didn't even know who they were right so in India it is not like that you can just inform your neighbor and let them know and they'll take care of you things if even if you are late from the office a couple of times but that is something that I observed that in India it is really cool to handle few things where you can't depend on someone in the US where another very important thing I realized is if you make a small mistake in the US your entire India reflects there you know you need to be very careful in how you handle yourself how you you know carry yourself in the U.S region but in India it is like your home country now you this you can do as per the culture whatever the society is and how you are requested how you are expected to yeah but in India you are in U.S you can't follow the same right so there are certain things there is a lot of

10:04 Difference and I found it took it took honestly it took three four years for me to you know adjust to the Indian culture and environment back but now I feel really good really happy taking care of my family today I live with my parents mindless my you know my husband my son we all live together and it's really wonderful part of it it is in U.S I can't take everyone to U.S and then we can live there it's not possible even if I have a green card and citizenship it's not possible right so no no thank you for sharing that candid conversations right I think how busy our lives are you know the career taking care of the family completing the chores you know that can lead to the weekends it's a little bit in a fast pace you know trying to you know get the things done and it's great to hear I mean you know such a big family like your parents your in-laws and everybody staying together you know it's definitely not feasible if you're

11:05 Not living in India for sure so yeah honestly to be frank right I should really thank my parents and Allah sir you know adjusting I I have been with us together for the last six months okay I did not hear a single Factor adjusting with each other yeah my mom-in-law gives all the flowers in the morning my mother does does the Puja with those classroom and I really I appreciate and I thank God for this kind of family okay we all are able to survive and live together maybe we should have another episode to talk about how you you are able to manage these Dynamics in the family because that would be interesting topic for somebody there yeah it's it's it's good maybe let's maybe dive a little bit into you know the conversation that you mentioned earlier I think you know you are working in U.S and when you're trying to move back to India you would like to have the same flexibility in terms of taking care of

12:06 The family but still continue to work and and so on so maybe you can talk a little bit of how you approach that have you started applying for jobs or have you thought about doing something maybe you can shed some light in terms of how you plan to do about how you did you know from a career transition yeah that's an interesting question thank you for asking English so when we relocated to us my son was like seven months old and he he was he was very and he was just learning to work and then I I was I was struggling to have an identity because I was working in India before my marriage I had to quit because of you know getting married getting relocated and then I definitely wanted to have a career for myself and I was searching for it took one year for me to just search for a job which you know which could give me a little bit of flexibility where I could take care of my son was you know seven eight months

13:07 Old then and also support my husband with with all the you know household personal but I also I there was a burning desire to have an identity for myself and I was looking for a remote opportunity it's a flexible remote opportunity which which could you know help me with all these things all I could find was a day job where I had to leave my 18 by the by then it was like my son was 18 months old and I had to leave him in a daycare and go to work it was really painful for me and it was very a lot of pressure was there to to balance everything so when I discussed this issue with other women I understood that women typically made two choices one is to go through the same pain that I was going through where they also left their kids at daycare and you know who went to work by 3 30 everyone was packing their backs and then you know go to their daycares and pick up the kids and then the second

14:08 Set of women they made a choice to forget their careers forget an identity and take care of the family ah that is where it triggered for me that why not women have flexible work opportunity because when we graduated of course graduated we were eagerly competing with men we used to do night outs we used to you know our vision was to get 75 percent 80 distinctions in our studies as well but why should that change the you know Dynamics after marriage after you know after you relocate with your husband after you change your family why should it change why should it matter that is how I had a very strong Vision that if I am creating something I should help my community I should help my group of women who are falling in the same bucket like me who have you know big degrees like postgraduate graduate graduate and engineering graduate and different other you know educational domains but they

15:11 They have they have left they are left with no choice but to just take care of the family some people are really in a dire situation where they don't even find a remote opportunities so that is how it triggered like if I'm going to do something yes I'll do it for my community where Community a tribe of women who are like me and who are looking for an identity and also have flexibility for themselves that is how I started my company Cloud portal in the year 2014 once I relocated to India that is when I collaborated with one of my friends she used to work for me from Bangalore and I was working from Hyderabad and we created this company with a vision of creating employment for women in technology space and remote working opportunities focusing more and more working opportunities the even the idea of remote working was in 2010 between 2011 and 12 when I was working in the US there were moments where I

16:11 Used to work from home because my son was not feeling well or there the the you know the climate was very hot there were some reasons because of which I used to work from home couple of you know a few months for a few days something like that the I understood that yes with technology it is possible to work remotely now how do I take this technology technology support to make sure that I built a tribe of women who can work from their comfort of their homes yeah so that is how I started in 2014 however honestly speaking till 2019 I was not able to create a platform for women it was a very you know gender neutral we used to have men women we used to work but in 2019 I really felt very sad because I was not able to meet the Casper which I started it was I was not able to train more women into the workspace or in the technology because I come to my chemical engineering

17:11 Background yeah I always had to depend on other people other women other trainers to coach my women Workforce that is how I diverted or deviated more towards Marketing sales and customer support which does not demand women to work from office because we don't have a secure encrypted data to work on it is more like you keep marketing a particular product service or solution for a particular client and you don't have to really sit at sit in the office where the servers are located where the encrypted data is there so you don't have that kind of a requirement so that's where we started training more women into marketing sales and customer support today we have like 100 plus team members and 70 percent of our women are working from across India I have one person who is a freelancer working from Uganda from Uganda and one one of my team members working from Saudi as well so this is how my team is spread I would really be glad to add more women into my

18:12 Team I'm really looking forward to a lot of opportunities where I can bring in more women who can build their careers build their identities for themselves and at the same time take care of their family and work from home at the Comfort yeah that's how I'm looking I just wanted to say congratulations I mean it's not a easy thing you know especially what you have to go through and you're trying to solve for the community right I think the group of women who might be in the same boat whoever it could be I think you know you just wanted to have that flexible flexible work Style with an identity for themselves and able to build a team for 100 people I mean I just have to say you know congratulations and Applause for that I think it's not a small feast and and having the people from all around the world you know with your vision and Mission to help them out so yeah so I I'll tell you how my woman work was

19:13 Also work okay there are few people like me when I wake up at 4 30 in the morning wow and five o'clock is where we we check our emails there are four or five team members who wake up early and we check from 5 to 7 30 we are Lot 10 from 7 30 to 9 30 we it is a family time we'll take care of our family send lunch boxes whatever we have to prepare we'll prepare again we re-log in at 10 10 30. from 10 30 to 3 30 is our office time and we we do all the office work 3 30 to 5 30 it skips time that is where kids return from school and then we have to take care of them give them some time and from 5 5 30 we re-log in till seven o'clock people so there are few women who you know created this kind of work work timing schedule so they support the work they support their family and also take care of the basic chores that are that they have to so I I really am glad because there are few women who keep texting me early morning and I keep replying to them and

20:15 There are few women who work late in the night you know they take up after their kids are asleep they work till 12 o'clock and I really respect them because I am not an idol but I am a early morning person so yeah so we give them time even when they are on a vacation we don't we make sure that we are not disturbing them and yeah that's really how we work and I really would like to thank all those women who are passionate basically passionate to build their identity yeah there are there are women who took us sabbatical for seven eight years and they were rejected by many companies because they had a long break in their candidates but those are the women who find solace in our company because we we encourage those women we train them back into work of course we train them on where they are where where their strengths lie and that's how we bring them back into the workforce no definitely I think again kudos to what you're doing and you know creating that environment to bring the people who are

21:17 Passionate and who wants to you know get back to the career or you know and still have the flexible schedule and providing that kind of opportunities is not easy and thank you for doing that yeah from the bottom thank you so much thank you so much yeah so I think since you have been living in India for almost I think since 2014 it's I think getting close to nine years so if people are looking for you know somebody who might be working in India like you know from and when they're trying to transition to India either on a career transition or like starting a a new business are there any insights that you would give to those aspirant brittanese if it's like a business right I mean you know there are things that you have to go through or anything that you give as an advice of people who are thinking along those lines you mean people who are in the US and they are trying to relocate yeah so yeah

22:18 So people who are abroad and who are planning to relocate to India from a career transition or from career to business transition or anything like that so based on your experience so in your case you have changed you know transition from a professional career to like an entrepreneur trying to help these women right I think but you have also worked with other people other women in this in this area or maybe based on your interaction with other companies or working in the you know in a professional way in India any advice for people who are transitioning from abroad to India from a career-wise or from like setting up their own business anything that you can share of one so especially if there are if if we have women or even men who want to you know relocate back to India so I have seen many who are who are contemplating who are still in retirement for four years five years and then they are not sure whether whether

23:22 They can afford the same lifestyle that they are affording in U.S or in other you know abroad and if they can afford the same lifestyle in India that is the main concern that many people have seen have raised so what I understood is yes it will take honestly speaking it will take time for you to adjust when you come back to India it is not that everything will be as smooth as possible in the first on the first day the moment you learn it won't look like this that is for sure you have to get yours used to seeing a lot of people okay and you have to get used to see seeing a lot of traffic issues especially that was one concern that I always had that people in U.S follow so much of Lane discipline why don't we in India yeah India is crowded so yeah you can't expect everyone to be disciplined so the these are small issues which can be ignored if you are looking at a

24:24 Greater purpose of taking care of your you know elderly parents and you are relocating because of that or if you really want to come back to India and you want your children to follow Indian culture and Indian traditions and you want to teach them and you have taken a decision or you are still contemplating on tracking the decision yes India is the place where it's going to be big next big thing it did take time for me I'm telling honestly that it took four years for me to you know getting adjusted and it's certainly going to take time for you as well but yes if you are still thinking but 10 years back it was very difficult there was no 2G 3G in India so working from home was was a nightmare it was very rare but now I don't see any difficulty because 5G is coming in 4G is already there you can connect from any part of the part of India the entire India is connected to a network and I don't see any difference in working from India or any part of the

25:24 World you know the working part yes you will have good number of opportunities you will have good number of you know people to work with in India the second part is people typically when we come back to India we are always concerned about the schools right whether our kids get adjusted to the schools honestly speaking if your kid is less than six years of age he would be forgetting his U.S life in three to four months he will get adjusted but you just have to give them the flexibility give them the time to get adjusted okay we can't force them to go to school yes if they don't like to go to school probably you may want to use other means like you know and in in Sanskrit they have some so you may have to use all these means to make sure that they they are surviving for performance after that they'll get adjusted that is for sure so that is how it is if you are looking for good schools there are good schools

26:26 In India there are international schools there are international curriculums and yet the India is now not what it was 10 years back it has grown it has you know evolved over time and yeah India is now the G20 you know it it hits the G20 so it's really growing growing very well so if you are making a decision and still contemplating I think it is the time you have to come back if you are looking at it don't hesitate thinking of anything else like you won't get opportunities or do if you if you are kids get adjusted everything will fall in place if you are coming back you just have to take the first step to come back sure so I know I think you kind of touched about this point a couple of times so it took you about four years to adjust right I think after moving back to maybe you can give one or two examples like the things that took took you longer and just so that people can correlate I think or and and and as you said India has come along a long way

27:28 In the last 10 years so you know those same things might not be applicable what it could be applicable in 2014 in 2023 for example so maybe you can highlight you know some of the things that you have to go through for the adjustment and do you see the same concerns if somebody is concerned to move in 2023 2024 for example I think that would be a help that would be helpful to the audience or the future as friends yeah certainly yeah so I when we relocated to India work from home was not a not an option there was no choice we had to go to office and work and take care of the kids then the school bus used to arrive and then I used to feel very bad because I used to travel from high tech City to Crooked Valley picked my son and my son was more interested into tennis now I had to take him from kukatpally to go in Pali for his tennis coaching yeah and you know traveling through the traffic and coming home and then taking this kid and then helping him pursue his area of Interest it was really annoying and

28:28 Tough in the U.S if you see I mean in any other country abroad you say the traffic is very smooth yes you get stuck in traffic sometimes but yes at least the traffic is smooth you have other flexibility so that is something that was bothering me a lot but if you are able to afford the same Financial things in India your drive your your life will be much smoother second thing is specifically for women we have a challenge with you know early morning we have to wake up you have to do cooking we have to take care of the lunch boxes for for the entire family if you have two kids you have a husband you have to take care of four lunch boxes that you have to make now if your kids have choice where they don't want to eat certain things probably you end up doing a little bit more of work but the beauty in India is you can hire Meats okay you can hire help who can help you with the cooking you can help you with your dishes and all where in the U.S you

29:30 Have to do everything by yourself you can't and or in any part of the world right it's very difficult to hire a help and it takes up half of your salary whereas in India you can afford to make and create an employment for someone who is in need right so that is one part which I really loved it because four years till four years I did not have image so I had to cook everything I had to make sure that my family is well fed at least during the luncheon it was a tough call then then we had a cook who joined us in 2015-16 and that's where things went on a little smoother yeah if you want to drive in traffic in in the US you don't have any other choice but to sit in front of your steering and waiting for the traffic to get cleared but in India you can have a driver for yourself you can a good driver is like 18 to 20 000 you can afford a good driver who can take care of your VR commute your kids commute and your

30:31 Entire family is commute and you will create an opportunity for one person more right so this is how you can make your life flexible with when you are in India but yeah if you are abroad you may not be able to afford all this yeah yeah for sure so is there any topic that we haven't covered that you want to bring up to the audience you know related to anyone thinking about moving back to India anything that we haven't covered that you want to contact convey yeah so I yeah one thing I have like whenever I meet I do have friends in the US who who still say they want to come back to India but they are not sure when and their kids are fast growing up and there were few friends so when we when I was working in the US I when I used to ask them why you are not relocating to India they used to say now my kids don't like to go back to India and there the India is too crowded they don't like they don't they are happy

31:33 Here so you know that's how most of the people are stuck most of the people at least of my age are stuck making a decision whether to come back or to stay back so honestly I would say don't think if you are looking to come back just come back don't ask anyone because everyone's experience is different I have seen people who keep asking everyone how is it when you come back to India is it very difficult to get registered in a very easy easy to get registered can I find this can I find this so honestly speaking you will find everything you will not find much of a difference after six months you will just be happy coming back to India stay in your own country and there are communities in India where you can find high level living as well you can see the same culture as in the U.S or in any part of the world but the only thing that that stops you from coming

32:33 Back is you nobody is stopping you it is only you your mindset that is stopping because you have all the doubts in your mind which which which which are not factual okay which are just imaginary and you just imagine that kids may not like it you may just imagine that it may be difficult but honestly speaking if you come back and stay for one year or two years you will get registered and you will feel happy about it that's all I could say yeah I mean again you know everybody's experience is different and sometimes you know you could get confused but again this is a big decision and sometimes people think a lot overthink and some of the advice I have heard is like you know spend some time in India so it's not you're not coming as a tourist you know maybe try to be here for two three months living by yourself to feel the ecosystem and make a decision I think you don't have to delay that decision process for unknown fear

33:34 Factors which might not be factored yeah that's right that's right and certainly we are always Bound by these fears and we are not sure we imagine things which are not even there and yeah that that makes the decision difficult yeah yeah that's great so thank you very much before we jump on to rapid4 I just wanted to say I know thanks for your time and you know sharing your story so we have like a quick four questions that we ask all our guests so the first one is surprise thing after you return to India my son left the school oh okay yeah and what's your favorite travel destination in India okay and a favorite Indian dish or a restaurant I am a vegetarian paneer anything on paneer is good and then the favorite part of living in India

34:35 By living with my mom and father-in-law my mother and father are in one place one home that's definitely one more episode to capture you know how you've managed that but it's definitely would be intriguing to the people so with that said you know thank you very much for taking your time and sharing your story and especially you know congratulations and kudos to what you have done in terms of empowering women to have their own identity with at the same time having the flexibility to manage you know the family commitments or what not so really you know congratulate on that and then I would like to have you tell the audience how they can reach out to you because somebody might be interested to know more about you know how you are helping other women or maybe they might have other questions so how can they reach out to you they can always send out an email to me and my email address that is collusive gmail.com

35:38 Great so I think that's all folks for today once again thank you very much prashanti for taking the time and sharing your story and have a great day thank you so much thank you for having me on the show I would like to thank all the audience for saying watching this video please take a decision and yes if you want to stay back please stay back if you want to come back please come back thank you so much thanks thank you all for joining us on this insightful journey of Desi Return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow days editors thank you once again and until next time may your day silent journey be filled with joy growth and endless

36:38 Possibilities