What led to starting up a tech venture in Kangra valley?

There is something very different about growing up in the mountains. For me, having lived all of my childhood and adolescent years in Dharamshala, it’s almost as if the towering Himalayan ranges are an inseparable part of my life. And when I am away from the landscape, I carry them with me.  

Despite this unexplainable bond with our land, most of us ‘pahadis’- as we are commonly referred to – end up migrating to the cities for ‘good’ education, career and more importantly a ‘better life’.

We grow up listening to stories of people who’ve made it big after moving to the cities and are constantly led to believe – if you wish to become successful, you must leave. And like so many before me, I too followed suit. A good part of my professional education and career was spent in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi.

But clearly I wasn’t cut out for the city life or I’d rather put it as I couldn’t see myself living away from the mountains. Life around the mountains is pleasant in so many ways. The beautiful environs, cleaner surroundings, good air and water, helpful people, and a calm, peaceful life. What is life without these?

The mountains are calling and I must go

The lure of a big paycheck can be hard to beat, nevertheless even during my college days, I used to constantly wonder about the need to move away from a place so beautiful for the sake of a job. The two questions constantly on my mind were – Why aren’t there any opportunities for us to do well professionally and live a decent life in places like Himachal? What can I do about it?

Just fresh out of college, life in the early 20s is confusing enough yet this seemed like a worthy adventure to pursue. Friends from engineering college and later management school would remember our conversations about this dream.  At this juncture, I had decided that I will find a way to move back. How? Well, this was something I had not figured out fully then.

First steps towards building a career in the mountains

In 2007, after completing my PG diploma in rural management, I took up an assignment as an ICT4D (Information and Communications Technologies for Development) consultant in Himachal. The role involved rolling out 3000+ e-Governance kiosks (Common Service Centers) across the state.

The main purpose of these centers is to provide government services to people in rural areas. To me this assignment was more than a job, it allowed me to travel across the state which is something that I enjoyed thoroughly. The project ended after 3 years, but moving out of Himachal was not an option I wanted to exercise.

The beginning of an entrepreneurial journey

By then it was clear to me that I had to start up on my own in this very place. Though I wasn’t very sure of how things would pan out, I was absolutely determined to embark on this journey without worrying too much about the destination. Meanwhile, I had gotten married to Shilpa, my longtime girlfriend, who stood by me through this decision. Finally, in 2011, we decided to take the plunge. Since I had experience in the IT consulting domain, we decided to start a venture in IT services. When deciding on the location to set up our venture, we looked at several places across Himachal to finally zero-in on Dharamshala, headquarters of district Kangra in Himachal. The fact that Dharamshala is my hometown definitely played a part, that aside the decision was driven purely by business considerations.

How Dharamshala happened?

The city has a very cosmopolitan outlook and, being host to His Holiness the Dalai Lama it has a significant population of expats giving the place a global feel. Infrastructure-wise, it has the only functional airport in the state and is well connected by road to important cities such as Chandigarh, Amritsar and Delhi. Overnight train services from Pathankot are an added plus.

The many educational institutions present in the city ensure a steady stream of talent, while the verdant valleys inspire many others to make it their home. In hindsight, the decision seems to have paid off for us with the town being upgraded to a municipal corporation and making it to the Indian government’s flagship Smart Cities Mission.

7 years and counting

It has been more than 7 years since we moved here. The small ‘big’ idea with which we came here has sustained itself despite all the challenges and given us quite a few sweet triumphs. We hired locals with little experience of IT services who are now delivering best-in-class technology services to clients across the globe.

Our start-up has created more than 100+ IT jobs in this city. We have diversified into other businesses. It may sound boastful but we have actually taken internet services to regions where nobody wants to go. Besides business, I am actively involved in the revival of the Kangra miniature art tradition and initiatives such as setting up the Global Shapers hub of the World Economic Forum for leadership development and social engagement of the youth in the city, among others. Conducted workshops on technology, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship and personality development for thousands of students over these years.

More recently I have joined the board of governors at Catalyst, a business incubator at IIT Mandi. My goal is to help more entrepreneurs in our state, to take their ideas to reality. Meanwhile, I have also had the opportunity to travel internationally to gain exposure and network to raise resources for our venture and the causes I support. Another high in this journey was being selected for the Professional Fellowship, last October, sponsored by the US State Department.

The best part about the decision to base our start-up in Dharamshala is that we have managed to do all this at a place where people either run away from or go to take a break from work!