Alumni Speak: Sonal Gupta

Sonal Gupta graduated from NIT Warangal(then REC Warangal) in 1993 in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Right after this, a journey full of surprises began. She joined the Officer Cadre in the Indian Army and spent 9 long years there. Then she hung up her olive greens and worked with corporates like Bharti, IBM and Oracle. After a decade of successful corporate career, she co-founded Navrang Creations and has been doing wondrously well in her entrepreneurial journey too.

#Thank you for joining NIT Warangal 101 for this interview. I’m pretty certain that it shall be an amazing experience for me and a precious read for our readers. You graduated in 1993 from an esteemed institute. A lucrative corporate sector was awaiting you. But you applied for the army and went ahead to join it. What propelled you to take this courageous step? Further, how did your well-wishers react to this decision and how did you convince them?

After completing Engineering (Electronics & Communication) from NITW, then RECW (in 1993), I was waiting for a job interview call when I came across this ad in the Times of India. Women were being enrolled in the Defense Services in the Officer Cadre. I was really excited and I applied for Corps of Signals since they wanted communication engineers.. As luck would have it I got a call from Services Selection Board (SSB) Allahabad and the ball started rolling. I did my Military training from Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai (then Madras) and got commissioned into the Corps of Signals on 20th Aug 1994. Since then the excitement has never stopped. It has been a great honour and privilege to be a part of the first few batches of Women Offices who have donned the Olive Green uniform for one of the finest Armies of the World.

I come from a services background and hence adventure & excitement have always been in my DNA. And so was the reaction that I received then; my parents & siblings were thrilled with my selection into the Signal Corps of the Indian Army and even neighbors were very excited for a girl from their colony was joining the Army.

#You’ve served the army for 9 years; were one of the first women officers of Corps of Signals. How often did you face gender-based biasing and/or judgements? What is your opinion on gender gap in the country?

Yes, I was amongst the first few women officers of the Corps of Signals (If I remember correctly there were 2 before me). Luckily I never faced gender bias, though there were other challenges. I had excellent superiors who treated me in the same vein as the male officers in my Regiment. I did what any other young officer did, this included setting up of communication lines/equipment with the troops, night duties in the communication centre, surprise check in the jawans barracks, laying optical fibre cable along the streets of Kolkata (then Calcutta), repairing faulty telephone lines amidst heavy Kolkata rains, Parades and physical training to enlist a few. Yes, being a woman in a male dominated bastion was not always easy; you had to prove yourself in order to show that you need no extra privileges.

I have seen 2 war like situations, the first being Operation Kargil (1999) and the second being Operation Parakram(the second major military standoff between India and Pakistan in 2001). I was fortunate to have got a chance to play an active part during the former. As a part of my duty, I covered live updates and did press briefing (being a part of the Army Liaison Cell) about our soldiers who bravely and fearlessly fought the Pakistan Army. During Operation Parakram, I was looking after the communication setup of the Northern Command.

To be really straight in this context, I would say India scores “extremely high” on gender inequality. India crucially needs more focus on women health reforms, physical security & education so as to increase female labour force participation. Today the urban Indian woman is smart & capable of taking her own decisions, thus she needs to be empowered, and encouraged towards higher economic participation.

#Enlighten us (in detail) on what contribution is expected from lady army officers during wars (based on your experiences in Operation Kargil and Operation Parakram).

Very much the same is expected from any Lady Officers (in war) as it is from a male Officer. We have not had an actual war post 1971. Further, women are not inducted in the fighting arms (i.e, Infantry, Artillery & Armoured Corps) of the Indian Army currently. The other supporting Arms (like Signals, Engineers, EME, Supply Corps, Ordnance Corps, Education Corps, JAG branch, Military Intelligence etc.) have their own respective crucial role to play during war/war-like situations wherein each soldier (man or woman) needs to rise to the call of duty. Officers play a major role since they have to lead by example & troops look up to them for guidance & motivation.

#After 9 years of service to the army, you entered the corporate sector and worked with giants like IBM, Oracle and Bharti. What were the major challenges offered by this transition?

After 9 years in The Indian Army I worked with some big names like Bharti Airtel, IBM and Oracle. I managed large Telecommunication projects (both international & domestic), IT & Manufacturing clients and travelled extensively within the country and overseas.

What I learnt from the Corporate Sector:

• The Corporate sector enhanced my learning beyond the Indian sub-continent.
• My horizon broadened in the fields of different advanced technologies, legal & corporate communication, talent acquisition, business sense, overseas planning & marketing being the top ones.

Major Challenges offered by the Corporate world:

• In the Army people are highly disciplined & motivated with no vested interest whereas in the corporate world, people need to be pushed out of their comfort zone .
• In the Corporate world, people grossly misuse the privileges and resources given to them. Most people work for incentives.

Just like some other countries, I wish the youth of India too has at least one year of mandatory military training. This would facilitate to imbibe self-discipline, sense of patriotism & courage to fight wrong.

#You pursued MBA from Delhi University during your posting in New Delhi. Why didn’t you enter the world of business then? Instead you worked with corporates for one long decade. Why then, did you now choose to kick off as an entrepreneur?

I have always been more inclined towards the management side of things hence doing an MBA was always on top of the charts. The forces teach you best about people management, crisis management, procedural planning and other virtuous skills of a management enthusiast. In addition, I wanted to enhance my formal management educational qualification further, understand how large establishments work, their behavioural patterns and feel the case studies around success stories. Actually, the two were not planned for first came the MBA & much later the Entrepreneurial bug. Deep down I always wanted to do something on my own but then things were undecided. I guess each one has his/her calling and so had I.

#Your start-up is serving as a magnifier to village-based craft industries. Why did you choose this sector and why not tech, given that you’re an ECE graduate?

Today there are a whole lot of small tech companies floating around & a good number of them lack the professionalism, in-depth knowledge & capability to deliver. We definitely didn’t want to join the band wagon. There are some big Tech Giants who have all the requisite resources & infrastructure to address technical issues better unless there was some path breaking innovation and very honestly, we didn’t have any such idea/s!

My Co-founder & I truly wanted to take up a cause & address it in a more original & enlightening manner. An amazing fact says that India produces 95% of the world’s handloom and is the 2nd largest employment generator for India (after agriculture, of course). We saw this as an opportunity. Today very few companies guarantee authentic handloom products for most of them procure from middlemen. In the process, the real maker of these products is somewhere lost.

Further, I have always enjoyed traveling to different places, meeting people and exploring new cultures. My father’s transferable job gave me this opportunity and subsequently my own professional life gave fuel to my passion. I have practically seen the whole country and my corporate job took me to quite a few exciting places overseas too (I’m all the more glad about this). My quest for travelling and exploring different cultures has definitely been instrumental; in fact it served as the guiding force to our venture. It gives me an edge over other people who have not had the good fortune of exploring Incredible India.

#Both army and start-ups are known to have fewer females. What similarities and dissimilarities did you observe between the two?

• I guess both, being in the Army & having a start-up have a lot of similarities (irrespective of the gender of the participant). In both the cases it is the fittest, smartest, most equipped (be it with respect to information, resources, data, power, knowledge, technique, strategy, vision etc.) who survives and sustains.
• The difference being that in the Army you can’t afford to go wrong; one mistake & there could be death & destruction. There are no second chances in the Army whereas when it comes to a Start-up, you have the liberty to explore; though in the event of a failure there would be a lot of pain, heart burn, loss of time, money & effort but then you learn from failures & emerge much stronger & smarter!
• Another very relevant difference comes here. The Army follows a strong hierarchical structure. One needs to strictly follow laid down standard operating procedures. Military discipline, Respect for Superiors, Protocol, Timely & properly completion of assigned task, immaculate turnout & code of conduct, loyalty, Integrity, courage, Physical fitness are some of the must-do aspects of day to day Army life with absolutely no short-cuts at all. You overlook anyone & you could lose a limb or life in war. There is a famous saying which accurately explains my point: “The more you sweat in Peace, the less you bleed in War.” When it comes to a start-up, the onus lies on you for there is no one sitting on your head! You need to be self-disciplined, organised, focused, well-connected, a smart worker and up-to-date on what’s happening around. The reins of success lie solely in your hands and you are the master of your destiny!

#How has your life and experience at NIT Warangal helped you in the three distinct phases of your remarkable career?

I had been to a boarding school (Loreto Convent) before I joined RECW. It was a girls school with a much more restricted, protected & controlled environment.

NIT Warangal was a different world altogether. I was on my own, a part of total (inter)national integration (there very few girls during our times though), students from all walks of life, communities, backgrounds and cultures which gifted me with a lot of learning & experience which helped me in the long run.

I was able to fight my own battles, voice my opinions (I was always vociferous).

I became more independent, learnt to take my own decisions (my parents were posted in the North-East, reaching there by train took 2.5 -3 days then, communication was bad, no mobile phones, we used to call our parents on Sundays after 10 p.m., due to one fourth STD rates and there was only one phone booth in the college which used to be jam packed).

I became fearless & tough due to the regular long distance traveling. Flying by air then was a luxury which one could neither dream of nor afford and while traveling to the North-East some patches of the train journey were unsafe & you got absolutely nothing to eat.

I gained thoughtfulness/tactfulness in dealing with people from different regions, cultures and backgrounds. As a fresher in college, I used to have lot of “pangas” (disputes) with the opposite sex (both batch-mates and seniors). I never let anyone bully me!

I made some very good friends for life; one of them is the Co-founder of our venture Navrang and few of them are Angel Investors in the same. What more can one ask for!

#Your profile clearly reflects that you always followed your heart. What kinds of fears arise when one decides not to follow the herd and embark on a self-driven journey? How did you keep yourself motivated despite the setbacks (if any, major or minor) you had? What is your message and advice to the current students?

A follower of heart and soul goes through a lot of turbulence. To do or not to do is a frequent big question. There is always the fear of being left out and/or side-lined as there are a very few people who stand by you. Everyone wants to do something different but is not ready to take the risk thinking too high. Most of us are slaves to our routine jobs, unwilling to change our lifestyles. One needs to sacrifice a lot, work harder & smarter, more often multitask and reduce holidays/recreation time to prove himself/herself.

Very fortunately, the support extended by my family & close friends kept me rooted against all the anomalies. I read inspirational stories about people who excelled under adverse conditions, stayed active, travelled a lot and networked with a lot of quality people who added further value to my life in some way or the other. Long thing short, lots of positivity kept me going.

My message to the current students is:

“Work hard, be a good person & do not get swayed by the lure & glare of the world. Follow your passion! Make this world a better place for self & the generations to come. Never weaken the thought that you alone are the master of your destiny and nobody has the power to upset it until you decide to let them.”