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Global IndianstoryMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella’s success comes from empathy

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s success comes from empathy

Written by: Amrita Priya

(June 18, 2022) Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, the American multinational company is well known for leading with empathy. Ironically, it was lack of empathy that had nearly cost him the chance to join the organisation 30 years back. After a full day of interviews with various engineering leaders who tested his intellectual capabilities, Nadella had met the last interviewer of the selection process. Instead of giving him an engineering problem, coding scenario or grilling about his education and experiences the interviewer had asked him; what would he do if he sees a crying baby lying on a street.

“I’ll call 911,” was Nadella’s reply. The interviewer was certainly not satisfied and pointed out that Nadella needs to build empathy, as the first thing that would be required in such a scenario is to pick up the baby. “Somehow, I got the job but Richard’s (interviewer’s) words have remained with me to this day. Little did I know then that I would soon learn empathy in a deeply personal way,” writes Nadella in his memoir Hit Refresh. The bestseller has a warm foreword by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Global Indian turns it spotlight on the inspirational success story of the Indian-origin CEO who lives in Bellevue, Washington.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Writing about empathy in his memoir, Nadella remarks

“This unique quality will become even more valuable in a world where the torrent of technology will disrupt the status quo like never before.”

Joining Microsoft at the age of 25 after a short stint at Sun Microsystems, Satya Nadella climbed up the ladder to become the third CEO of the organisation in 2014. To work for a company filled with people who believe they were on a mission to change the world, was his reason to join the organisation in 1992. He never regretted his decision in the last three decades!

Making the best of what life had in store

Satya Nadella had been a good student but not an extraordinary one. “I was not academically that great. I didn’t go to the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IITs),” he mentions while informing in his memoir that he flunked its entrance exam. So, he went on to study at Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) instead. The young Nadella wanted to study computer science, but was not able to get into the stream. So, he instead took up electrical engineering with the hunch that it would help him get closer to computers and software. Fortuitously his hunch was right!

Microsoft past and current CEOs: Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer on Nadella’s first day as CEO

Today, the man who was conferred Padma Bhushan in 2022, is an inspiration to millions. His journey is a strong testament that if one makes the best of what has come one’s way, keep the passion alive for achievements, never let die the dream; then reaching where one intends to be is not impossible.

Leading with purpose

Reminiscing about his organization’s larger purpose Nadella writes:

“Microsoft has always been at its best when it commits personal passion to a broader purpose. Windows Office, Xbox, Surface, our servers and Microsoft Cloud – all of these products have become digital platforms upon which individuals and organizations can build their own dreams.”

Nadella has aligned himself well with his organization’s outlook putting the alchemy of purpose, innovation and empathy at the centre of all that he pursues – from the products that his team launches, the new markets that they enter to the employees, customers and partners they work with.

Childhood passions – cricket and computers

Nadella was born in Hyderabad in a Telugu family. His mother, Prabhavati Yugandhar, was a Sanskrit professor. As a kid, Satya was mesmerised by the charms of cricketers who hailed from the city, and wanted to be a professional cricketer. His father, Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar, an IAS officer, however was not keen on Satya playing cricket instead of focussing on his studies. Incidentally, Satya too, struggled to hone his skills in the game beyond a certain level.

So, the junior Nadella started working on a passion that came second on list after cricket – computers. Little did he know that his second-best choice would make him number one in life! Interestingly, the top CEO who is still obsessed with cricket attributes many of his leadership qualities to lessons that he learned as a cricket player.

Satya Nadella enjoying the game of cricket

A 15-year-old Nadella discovered that computer software is one of the most malleable resources after his father gifted him a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer kit from Bangkok. The youngster realised that he can achieve multiple things with just a few lines of code.

By 1980s, Nadella was already good at writing BASIC code. After completing his B Tech, he headed to United States in 1988 to pursue his master’s degree in computer science at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. This journey that he made from New Delhi to Chicago on his 21st birthday paved his way to becoming the CEO of one of the world’s largest companies.

A family man

The IT administrator of his family, Nadella has always been particular that technology for entertainment should be limited. As a father of three he has always been negotiating on how many movies, what kind of video games and the likes with his children.

Satya Nadella with his wife, Anu and son, late Zain Nadella

His life changed forever with the birth of his first born, Zain who passed away in February 2022. Zain was born weighing just three pounds, was visually impaired, and had limited communication capabilities. He had been suffering from severe cerebral palsy. This has had a profound influence on lives of both Satya and his wife, Anu. Since his birth, the couple have been leading, thinking and relating to people – all with empathy.

“Ideas excite me. Empathy grounds and centres me” – Satya Nadella

The father who never expected to grapple with such harsh turn of fate, cherishes every moment of his fatherhood nevertheless. The couple who are also childhood friends has been successful in keeping their private life, pretty private.

Life’s lessons transferred to good business decisions

The man who never conducts business as usual, makes use of life’s experiences as raw material for transformation. Many features of Microsoft products have been designed keeping in mind the ease of use by the differently abled for example the company’s new app, Seeing AI, helps people with visual impairment. “They can hold up their phone and it’ll ‘see’ people — interpret their emotions, interpret a menu, cook with a recipe, go grocery shopping, read labels or help them walk into a conference room with confidence ” remarked Satya Nadella in one of his interviews.

Do you know?

Satya Nadella’s full name is Satya Narayana Nadella
At six, he lost his sister, who was just five-and-half months old
Satya Nadella studied in Hyderabad Public School (HPS). His father wanted him to do his 11th and 12th from an international school in Bangkok. However, Nadella did not budge because he loved HPS too much.
Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe, Ajay Singh Banga, CEO of Master Card, Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal are all alumni of HPS, Nadella’s school – a fact that he cherishes.
Years after passing out of Manipal Institute of Technology, Nadella rented a house in Sunnyvale, California with eight of his classmates from the institute, who happened to be there at the same time working in California. Together they recreated their dorm experience from college.
He gave up his Green Card (permanent residency) and went back to H1B (temporary professional worker status), in the initial days of his marriage because his newly-wedded wife’s visa was rejected. Those days visa waitlist for spouses of permanent residents used to be five or more years, while the H1B enabled spouses to stay in US while their husbands or wives were working there.

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Published on 18, Jun 2022

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Sutanu Sur: Taking India’s soft power to the world through music

(January 8, 2023) “Learning tabla from such a young age made me so good at Maths that I became an engineer,” tabla player Sutanu Sur joked, as he did a demonstration with the instrument before joining the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra in concert. Sutanu has been living in Fox Valley, in Wisconsin, USA, for nearly a decade and learning the tabla for well over three, part of a small but thriving Indian diaspora a few hours North of Chicago. His audience that night was almost completely American and many were seeing a tabla for the first time. Sutanu, a software engineer by profession, performs whenever he gets the chance, he is keen to have a proactive role in taking Indian music to the world. Although Indian music culture is well-showcased in the larger cities, the same cannot be said of the smaller suburban towns, where the diaspora is notably smaller. “Indian classical music concerts happen in the big cities. I live three hours from Chicago, in a town where everything is available, including a prestigious concert hall. But there is hardly any focus on Indian music," Sutanu tells Global Indian. [caption id="attachment_33665" align="aligncenter" width="340"] Sutanu Sur[/caption] Sutanu is determined to

caption id="attachment_33665" align="aligncenter" width="340"] Sutanu Sur[/caption]

Sutanu is determined to do his bit, performing as much as he can, talking about his craft and speaking to the media. The Indian diaspora in this little corner of American suburbia is small but active – in 2010, they even built the region’s first Hindu temple, there is a Sikh temple and the nearest Bengali Association (Bengali Cultural Society of Milwaukee) that hosts its Durga Puja celebrations every year is two hours away.

Performing with the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra

Last year, the internationally renowned conductor and pedagogue, Dr Kevin Sütterlin, who had become the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra conductor, decided on a more multicultural theme for their concert in October 2022. He picked a piece by Reena Esmail, whose compositions are rooted in Indian classical music traditions and fused with Western music and instruments. The piece, however, needed a tabla player.

"Kevin considers himself a global citizen and is interested in different cultures and forms of music," Sutanu says, as he recalls how this collaboration happened. "He chose the Esmail piece because he wanted to show a blend of cultures. They decided to include the tabla section without knowing how hard it would be to find a tabla player." By then, Sutanu had performed in several concerts in the area and Sütterlin tracked him down. "It was the first time I received the scores of a composition," Sutanu smiles.

The concept was so novel to the audience that Sutanu had to start out with a demonstration. What's more, the orchestra had managed only three rehearsals with their tabla player. "They are world class musicians who could adapt to the different kinds of compositions and the nature of the instrument," Sutanu explains.

Early talent

Growing up in a suburb some 50 kilometres outside Kolkata, Sutanu showed an interest in the tabla in his family home from a very young age. His parents noticed and fixed up lessons with a teacher. He learned for 12 years, under Pandit Sukumar Moitra. He performed even as a child, taking part in competitions and winning nearly all of them. "The tabla was my main focus then. I was doing my riyaz for six to eight hours a day." Even his academics became second priority, until class 10. "I was really good at Maths and got into Jadavpur University," Sutanu says. "I studied engineering and continued to play the tabla."

When Sutanu moved out to Fox Valley to work, around a decade ago, there weren’t too many Indians around. “Nobody really focused on presenting Indian culture to the community,” he says. He began performing with IndUS of Fox Valley organization, which is dedicated to promoting Indian culture. “I have been performing there for the last seven years,” he says.

A tabla player joining a symphony orchestra is rare and Sutanu takes pride in it, "as an Indian," he says. "The audience was surprised to learn all the nuances of the tabla. The only way to promote something to is to get people to learn about it," he says.

An ambassador of India's soft power

Sutanu continues to train, now with Pandit Swapan Choudhury, who has launched a digital library of resources for tabla players around the world. “Music has its own language, it’s a great way to communicate,” Sutanu says. “I have never played alongside a clarinet before and I don’t think Dr Bruce Danz has played any Indian songs before. But he was adapting and so was I, it’s a communication that happens through music. That’s why it plays such an immense role in connecting people and cultures from around the globe.”

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Chef Chintan Pandya: The game changer who has altered the way America consumes Indian food

With a firm belief in serving food cooked in its original form, Chintan Pandya is the creative mind behind four very successful restaurants, including one that won a Michelin star. (August 27, 2023) A chat with Chintan Pandya, Chef Partner at Unapologetic Foods and the brain behind Dhamaka, the Indian restaurant in New York, reveals that he is one of life’s straight shooters. Retaining the candour that is a trademark of the Gujarati community he comes from, growing up in Mumbai – where no one has time for anything except straight talk – and then finding his life’s calling after moving to the US, he has truly transferred the integrity of his beliefs into the food he serves. [caption id="attachment_44258" align="aligncenter" width="544"] Chef Chintan Pandya.[/caption] Explosions of Flavour In these days of political correctness, Chintan prefers to be honest. He says, “I speak the truth and I don’t believe in sugar coating anything.” In the hospitality business, where keeping customers happy is of prime importance, does this approach work? Apparently, it does. Dhamaka, meaning explosion, the Indian restaurant launched by Chintan and his business partner Roni Mazumdar, with whom he set up their company called Unapologetic Foods, is serving little-known

of prime importance, does this approach work? Apparently, it does. Dhamaka, meaning explosion, the Indian restaurant launched by Chintan and his business partner Roni Mazumdar, with whom he set up their company called Unapologetic Foods, is serving little-known Indian dishes from states like Meghalaya, Bihar and Nagaland among others, to huge success. What’s more, the dishes are cooked in their original style, with no tweaking, even being served in the containers they are cooked in.

His other restaurant, Semma, serving micro-regional South Indian cuisine, headed by Head Chef Vijay Kumar, was awarded a Michelin star within a year of its opening. And, Adda, his restaurant serving classic Indian and street food, is the only one in his bouquet of brands that serves naan and butter chicken. Rowdy Rooster, serving Indian style fried chicken among other things, is also making its mark, Masalawala serving Bengali food is popular and Kebabwala, serving grilled meats and kebabs like you get in India is on the anvil.

And oh, he is also the first Indian from New York, the third person of colour, and the first Indian cooking ethnic Indian food to win the prestigious James Beard Award in the culinary field last year. Not bad for someone who doesn’t believe in compromising his culinary skills now, is it?

So, how has Chintan quite literally, caused a dhamaka in the US with his food which is spicy, rich with little known masalas, and includes ingredients like pig’s tails and dishes like Champaran Meat and Nalli Biryani on the menu? With a generous smattering of Hindi phrases interspersed, he says, “I have always questioned the norm and looked for the logic behind it. Yeh aisa kyun hai? I also asked the same questions about the Indian food served in the US.” He doesn’t have anything complimentary to say about the butter and cream laden, bland versions of desi food that was and is perhaps still being served in several places. “Sticking to my beliefs has caused me a lot of setbacks in the past. But I knew what I wanted and that was to cook Indian food as close to its original recipe.”

[caption id="attachment_43913" align="aligncenter" width="578"] Chef Chintan Pandya | Global Indian Chef Chintan Pandya with Chef Vijay Kumar and Roni Mazumdar[/caption]

Unapologetically Indian

Incidentally, he adds that the only complaints he has ever received about his food, few and far between as they are, have come from Indian Americans. The local people of different heritage who dine here relish his creations. “When an Indian American complained about my biryani, and asked me to change it, I refused. I respectfully told him that we have sold over 4000 biryanis so far. If I get only two or three complaints about it, I am not going to change it. You are welcome to eat at the place you say makes it better.”

Dhamaka has some dishes you would not even find in India. The tag line says Unapologetic Indian and the menu is a veritable culinary map of India. Kolambi and Kekda Bhaath, from the Konkan region is a rice dish cooked with crab and tiger prawns; Champaran Meat is mutton cooked Bihari style and the Rajasthani Khargosh is rabbit cooked the way hunters in Rajasthan would. The last dish is a sellout because they only cook one rabbit per day.

The integrity Chintan displays in his thought process is echoed in his food. Nothing but the best ingredients are used. He says, “I always look at the end product. It could be the most expensive ingredient if I compare it to others, but it has to be the best.” Speaking of the best, another star bestseller at Dhamaka is the Methi Paneer. In fact, Chintan has been known to declare that he will pay anyone who can procure paneer better than what is made in-house at Dhamaka. What is the secret of his paneer? He says, “We buy the entire high fat milk produced for the day from one guy and he only has a limited quantity. We make our own paneer with that milk. If there is any leftover from the main course, we use some to make Chenna Poda, the Odia dessert.”

It is this dedication to being authentic that in fact prevents Chintan from serving some classic Gujarati food, the food he grew up eating, and perhaps knows best. He says, “We do serve Methi na Gota and Makkai Panki, among others, but because I can’t get fresh green garlic here, I cannot serve Undhiyu (a traditional Gujarati dish that is a medley of winter vegetables, steamed muthias etc.). It is also why I cannot serve dhoklas because I am yet to achieve the level of perfection – which my mother’s dhoklas have. And though I have replicated the Mumbai pav, I think it is still mediocre by comparison to the original,” he says candidly.

Chef Chintan Pandya | Global Indian

Simple and Authentic

Personally, Chintan loves working with all green leafies and pure ghee is the fat used to cook all the food. He says, “When I make Saag Paneer, it doesn’t only mean spinach. Saag for us means all the green leafy vegetables, even the ones we get here. As for ghee, we use insane amounts of it to cook our food. I don’t believe in all that drama of dry ice and other such tricks; and I don’t create any new dish. I simply prefer to serve the best version of a dish. I like to keep food as simple or as complicated it is, so long as it is original.”

Speaking of simple, Chintan doesn’t eat at his restaurants, but carries food from home. “My lunch box is usually boiled moong or boiled chana, some fruits and a protein bar. Even as a family, we don’t eat out much,” he says.

However, he reveals that his favourite dishes served at his restaurants include the Gunpowder Dosa at Semma, Paneer Tikka at Dhamaka, Dahi Batata Puri at Adda, Biyerbarri Fish Fry at Masalawala and Vada Pav at Rowdy Rooster. His favourite comfort food though is khichdi and chhaas or buttermilk.

Another practical touch is the fact that there is no fancy serveware used at Dhamaka. Food is served in steel plates and the glasses are standard fare from Ikea. Chintan believes in letting his food do the talking. And talking it is, with Dhamaka having a waiting list of 400-500 people wanting a reservation every day.

With all this success under his chef’s hat; other chefs in the US, following his trajectory of serving authentic Indian food, with chillies and all the other bells and whistles, how does Chintan stay grounded? There is that brutal honesty again. “We as Indians celebrate too much. There are chefs who have achieved far more accolades than we can think of. My goal is to reach that level. I am happy with what I have achieved, but I wonder how will I get there?”

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A post shared by Roni Mazumdar (@roni.mazumdar)

And the reason he is so confident about his talent is the setbacks he has faced in the past. “People only see the success; they don’t see the blunders that came first. But I am not scared of failure; when you have nothing to lose, you are free to do what you believe in.” And because of this very attitude, the Global Indian is happy that more chefs are following the trend he has set. “More is good, we should take everyone with us as we do better.”

Busy with several assignments besides creating new menus, Chintan Pandya is also toying with the idea of a cookbook that he plans to launch soon. We are sure it will be nothing but an original compilation.

Chef Chintan Pandya eats at:

Rezdora and Don Angie for authentic Italian
Wus Wonton for Pan Asian
Kailash Parbat for Indian street food
Ayada Thai for Thai food
Spice Symphony for Indian Chinese

Follow Chef Chintan Pandya on Instagram

Meet Leena Pishe Thomas, the UN-invited speaker who works at mitigating climate change

(December 3, 2021) Sustainability campaigner Leena Pishe Thomas was the star speaker at the recently concluded World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) event at Geneva. As founder, Global Business Inroads, Leena was invited to speak about the role of IP in sustainable development and taking green innovation to international markets. Quite the expert on leveraging technology to provide sustainable solutions to mitigate climate change, adopt renewable energy sources, and life sciences, this wasn’t the first time Leena spoke at a UN event. Her first was at the Global Solutions Summit in 2018 in New York. [embed]https://twitter.com/leenapishe/status/1463002058370564102?s=20[/embed] What got Leena interested in this field? “Back in1990-2000, there were some truly innovative energy efficient solutions available – but not in India. That got me thinking - I was intrigued why there was no knowledge or action, considering for centuries, we had been following sustainable living practices. Why weren’t we developing sustainable technology?” she questioned. That led her towards sustainable solutions. Today, she is an expert working with governments and private entities the world over — the European Commission, US government, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka, apart from with some UN agencies. Her work includes cross border innovation collaboration between startups in Europe and India; facilitating collaboration for digital transformation, lead

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Today, she is an expert working with governments and private entities the world over — the European Commission, US government, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka, apart from with some UN agencies. Her work includes cross border innovation collaboration between startups in Europe and India; facilitating collaboration for digital transformation, lead green change and biodiversity projects. “Some of our biggest achievements have been in the spheres of biodiversity and landscape restoration projects in India as well as working with communities here to help digital access to set up sustainable processes for agro forestry product processing,” explains the girl, who was born into a family of entrepreneurs.

Starting in an industry at a time when sustainable business was almost unheard of in India, today, she is a regular face at UN events, introducing various stakeholders to the need to scale technology to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Incidentally, she had appeared on BBC on these topics as well.

From Bengaluru to the world

The quintessential Bengaluru girl, chose to study science till high school before switching to a degree in history and economics at Lady Shriram College, Delhi. Determined, she even considered IAS. However, after graduation, she married her then boyfriend, Shibu Thomas. “I gave up an admission for post-graduation in the US, chose marriage,” she tells Global Indian.

Leena was 23 then, and she continued to study and work. International business fascinated her as did environment goals. She landed her first job with the Indo French Chamber of Commerce and Industry and also got her MBA from ICFAI, Hyderabad through distance education. Within a few months of marriage, Leena started up with SNL (1999) which focused on international business and environment technology at age 24. Shibu, then a restaurateur, became her angel investor.

[caption id="attachment_17130" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Global Indian Leena Pishe Thomas Leena at the WIPO event in Geneva[/caption]

Around this time, Leena also began consulting with the Alliance to Save Energy for United States Agency for International Development (USAID), working with state governments in India to transition to energy efficient solutions to cut costs. “We helped local municipalities work towards energy efficiency for municipal water utilities and streetlights,” she says, adding, “This was probably one of the most impactful projects we worked on as until then local governments didn’t have measures to ensure energy efficiency.”

She could have it all

In 2005, when Leena had her second daughter, she shut SNL and took a 1.5 year sabbatical. Her next role was with the Clinton Foundation, and it turned her perspective towards using technology for climate change mitigation. She was instrumental in starting and establishing Clinton Climate Initiative programmes in India. “I worked with the Foundation from 2007 to 2009 and it was everything I believed in. Motherhood also changed me in a big way. My ideas became clearer, and I became confident. It’s what gave me the push to launch GBI in 2009,” says Leena.

Incidentally, there was a time after her wedding when she had contemplated giving up her career altogether. “I’ve always been very family-oriented and didn’t mind putting my career on the back burner. It wasn’t easy juggling the kids, a home and a career,” she smiles, adding, “That’s when Shibu stepped in and convinced me to continue working. He showed me that I could have it all.”

Global Indian Leena Pishe Thomas

Winds of change

Setting up GBI with her own income, she turned the spotlight on her expertise. “The company has been focusing on discover (discover technology to showcase methods to the community), develop (develop new green tech), develop and then deploy this technology into the market,” explains Leena, adding, “I began GBI as a private sector company to make it a way of life, not just something that governments have to implement.”

She feels that sustainable living is two pronged: environmentally-friendly and lasting, and that electric vehicles are going to define the next decade for the world and India. “The focus is going to be on green mobility in the years to come. India is coming up with a lot of homegrown innovation in the EV sector. When GBI detected this trend five years ago, we began to support innovators working in the space.” GBI has now developed and launched an online portal for technology collaboration – www.globaltechinterface.com too.

On the path to success

Today, 12 years since its inception, GBI is a company that is scaled for growth. Two years ago, in 2019, they began going international, setting up offices in Europe, US and UK and project teams in Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Shibu, her husband, who co-founded GBI, is actively involved in managing the business aspect of GBI and focuses on the company’s international expansion.

[caption id="attachment_17131" align="aligncenter" width="606"] Global Indian Leena Pishe Thomas Leena and Shibu at GBI's Europe office in Bulgaria[/caption]

For Leena, her entrepreneurial instinct stems from her upbringing. Her grandfather Pishe Narayan Rao, who was orphaned early in life, would sell safety pins on the footpath in Bengaluru’s MG Road to survive. “He worked his way up, and soon set up his first store at that same spot. Today, PN Rao Suits is well-known across the country, and has branches in several cities,” she adds. Her father and mother too led by example. “My mother opened several doors for me, and encouraged me to try so many things. It helped me build the resilience to do a lot in a day and make it count,” says Leena, who loves to unwind after a long day by cooking and watching global cinema on OTT platforms.

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Priyank Patel: President awardee brewing inclusion and celebrating diversity at ‘Nukkad’

(July 26, 2024) Entrepreneur Priyank Patel was honoured with the National Award for ‘Best Employer for Person with Disabilities’ in 2019 by the then President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. In 2020, he received the Helen Keller award from Mindtree and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People. After completing his degree in electronics and communications engineering, Priyank worked a 9-to-5 job for a few years, first in Delhi and then in Pune. Although life was going well - just as one dreams - it felt as if something was missing. This led him to start Nukkad Tea Café, which not only positively transformed the lives of people from marginalised communities whom he employed but also enhanced his own satisfaction with life. Nukkad Tea Café, with several branches in Raipur and Bhilai, employs hearing-impaired people, transgender individuals, dwarfs, people with intellectual disabilities, trafficking survivors and more. Through his venture Priyank has been able to convey a succinct message that everyone is integral to the society, even those often overlooked. By giving people with special needs a chance to prove themselves, his cafes manage to deliver a thought-provoking message in a happy ambience without compromising on the quality

. By giving people with special needs a chance to prove themselves, his cafes manage to deliver a thought-provoking message in a happy ambience without compromising on the quality of the service. “Over the last 11 years, leading this venture has deeply transformed me both personally and professionally,” Priyank tells Global Indian.

[caption id="attachment_53126" align="aligncenter" width="510"] Indian Entrepreneur | Priyank Patel | Global Indian Priyank Patel with Nukkad team[/caption]

The entrepreneur is expanding both the scale of the venture and its reach to marginalised communities. “We have already opened our vacancies for HIV-positive youth in existing branches and plan to work with elderly citizens in a full-blown cafe model in the coming months,” he informs.

The story of transition

Before venturing into social entrepreneurship, Priyank who has always been inclined towards giving back, spent a few hours on weekends volunteering for NGOs while working as an engineer. How am I helping society?” is a question that always kept ringing in his head.

During this time, he learned about the India Fellow Program, which annually selects 25 young people from across the nation to equip them to drive change.

The program includes training, mentorship, reflections, and hands-on work experience with grassroots organisations addressing social issues. For Priyank, who was primarily associated with the IT sector, being selected from numerous applicants across the country was a significant milestone.

[caption id="attachment_53139" align="aligncenter" width="522"] Indian Entrepreneur | Priyank Patel | Global Indian Priyank receiving award from President of India, Ram Nath Kovind in 2019[/caption]

Once he joined the program, he was sent to a village in Maharashtra's Ambegaon Taluka for a few days as part of a rural immersion exercise. “While walking through the village, a man invited me to his hut and introduced me to his young son, who was lying paralysed on a cot. The man explained that his son, once a talented cricket player, had suffered a sports injury during a district championship. Despite their best efforts, the doctors said there was nothing more they could do.” The old man asked if Priyank could help in any way.

It was a heart-wrenching situation for Priyank, as he felt helpless to even provide hope. This experience further sparked his desire to help people in need.

Empowerment through employment

Inspired by the experiences of his fellowship, Priyank gained an understanding that every member of a lower-income family needs to contribute financially. He realised that physically challenged members often become a burden to their families. This led him to come up with the idea of starting Nukkad Tea Café to provide job opportunities for physically challenged individuals.

“Government job options are limited and reserved, while the private sector offers few opportunities to these individuals.” To create a momentum for change, he started Nukkad Café in 2013 hoping that more people in the private sector would be encouraged to create such opportunities.

In the past 11 years, Nukkad Tea Café branches have focused on empowering families with physically challenged members from different marginalised communities, providing them with employment opportunities, and creating a space for their growth and integration.

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A post shared by Priyank Patel (@nukkadwalapriyank)

Breaking barriers

For his social venture, Priyank specifically chose the idea of a café, because he believes that it’s a place where people spend leisure time and are open to considering other aspects of society. His goal was to drive-in the point in a happy and comfortable environment, where people with disabilities and marginalised communities could be integrated. “The setup of a café allows people to learn about, appreciate, and understand that the kind of people serving them are capable, and should be given a chance,” he says.

This approach also helps build self-respect for the individuals of marginalised communities and enhances their credibility in society, he believes. He is happy that his idea has yielded success.

When he was opening a branch in Bhilai, while employing the transgender community, Priyank was slightly doubtful of them being accepted by the customers. However, he was happy to find that young people embraced the transgender members and sought to understand their stories, as they had not mingled with such people before. Creating a space for such interactions was satisfying for the entrepreneur. "We never thought trans people could be so loving," they remarked. Their reaction boosted the entrepreneur’s confidence and he went ahead and employed people with down syndrome, and trafficking survivors.

Making the model work

Priyank employs several strategies that contribute to the success of his unique business model at his cafés. Firstly, he emphasises the learning of sign language by all staff, regardless of hearing ability, to ensure seamless communication.

“Even kitchen staff are expected to grasp sign language within six months of joining. The menu card for customers includes codes in sign language, enabling them to order easily when served by deaf staff.”

“We have introduced a Buddy Training program where the senior employees assist the new joiners to understand the culture and work ethics of Nukkad while being accountable for the learning and growth of the new employee,” Priyank tells adding. “I myself have enrolled in the DEIA Catalyst program to be more efficient in developing Nukkad as an all-inclusive work space for PwDs and marginalised community members.

Indian Entrepreneur | Priyank Patel | Global Indian

His employees work in a warm, welcoming environment and since they enjoy what they do, there are low attrition rates. “As there are limited job opportunities and chances to prove their capabilities, our staff exhibit great zeal, loyalty, and a strong desire to build a positive reputation for themselves and people like them,” the entrepreneur says.

Starting from one outlet, Nukkad Tea Café is now a chain of four cafes – three in Raipur and one in Bhilai. Giving employment to more than 70 members of the marginalised community Priyank is working with the mission to let people know that those who are born special are skilled enough, and their skills should not go in vain.

New initiatives

Since creating a sense of sympathy cannot lead to continued business growth, to make the business model successful Priyank and his team regularly curate interesting events at their cafés so that the customers remain tempted to walk-in again and again.

Priyank has been exploring more avenues for people to engage with Nukkad and has started a coworking space within a cafe in Raipur. “We encourage freelancers, artists and others to avail a co-creative work space which is available on daily, weekly and monthly rental basis,” he says.

[caption id="attachment_53133" align="aligncenter" width="571"] Indian Entrepreneur | Priyank Patel | Global Indian Priyank Patel and guests at a Nukkad event[/caption]

He is also developing a recently popular business model, the asset-light QSR model, which focuses on a limited but fast-selling menu while employing PwDs. “With Nukkad's branding and expertise, we are certain it will attain success,” the entrepreneur remarks.

By creating employment for marginalised communities, Priyank Patel is not just giving them an opportunity to earn a living, but also self-respect and identity. He is also reducing barriers between the marginalised segments and the larger society.

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Reading Time: 5 mins

Ashok Aliseril: UK-based engineer who built a plane in his backyard and now travels the world

(September 23, 2022) Freedom is magical, and it was in this very quest for enchantment that Essex-resident Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan decided to build a four-seater airplane in his backyard in Billericay during the lockdown - to fly around the world at his convenience. What began with watching planes pass by in the skies above took the shape of curiosity to try his hand at the same. Years later, Ashok took his first flying lesson to the Isle of Wight in a microlight. It got him hooked, so much so that he thought of building a four-seater plane to take his family on adventures. "The sense of freedom that anytime the weather is good, we can go out anywhere without having to worry about airline tickets is exhilarating," Ashok tells Global Indian. Ashok and his wife Abhilasha began this labour of love together. It took them two years to come to fruition with 1600 hours of meticulous effort and £160,000. While Ashok sat through painstakingly long hours to work on his plane after wrapping up his regular shift (7 am to 3 pm) at work, Abhilasha dealt with the complicated paperwork. When asked if she was initially sold on the idea

) at work, Abhilasha dealt with the complicated paperwork. When asked if she was initially sold on the idea of building an airplane, the 35-year-old says, "I was fully onboard with the build as brand new 4-seater aircraft cost £1 million upwards. And we didn't have money straightaway to buy a share in an already built airplane."

[caption id="attachment_29678" align="aligncenter" width="688"] Ashok Aliseril | Engineer | Global Indian Ashok and Abhilasha Aliseril with their daughters at the hangar (Photo courtesy: Ashok and Abhilasha Aliseril)[/caption]

Building a plane sounded like the perfect idea as the Aliserils were "saving a fortune" by not paying for their kids' nursery fees and cutting down on commuting expenses. They even put their grocery expenses on credit cards to reserve as much as they could from their salaries. However, Abhilasha's only concern was "the time it will take and whether we will be able to do it whilst working full time and having the children at home during the lockdown." Nevertheless, the family pulled it off with minor challenges and took their first trip to the Isle of Wight which was an "emotional yet positive" experience for Aliserils, who are now the proud owners of G-DIYA, named after their youngest daughter.

For the love of planes

While growing up in Alappuzha in Kerala, Ashok loved taking things apart and later reassembling them. This passion led him to pursue mechanical engineering at Palakkad Engineering College in Kerala, which ignited in him a passion for automobile engineering which he ended up pursuing at the University of Hertfordshire, UK in 2006. Now an engineer with Ford, he met Abhilasha, a data analyst, online and the two tied the knot in 2011. Over the years, he did work on some cars in the driveways but it was the light aircraft in the sky that intrigued him. And when the couple moved to Billericay in 2013, he would often find himself immensely distracted by the planes, which always looked "liberating." However, work and the birth of their first daughter, Tara, kept him too occupied to go forward with the plan of exploring the opportunity of learning to fly, until Abhilasha gifted him a 30-minute flying experience.

[caption id="attachment_29679" align="aligncenter" width="724"] Engineer | Ashok Aliseril | Global Indian G-DIYA, a four-seater built by Ashok Aliseril (Photo courtesy: Ashok and Abhilasha Aliseril)[/caption]

"I used to look at the skies during the weekends gazing at the aircrafts flying above. My first flight was a 30-minute trial lesson and in the second, which was along with the instructor, we took off and landed at the Isle of Wight. It was the sense of freedom that came with just being able to take off, got me hooked," adds the 39-year-old. In no time, he applied for a standard Europe-wide pilot’s license which requires 45 hours of flying time.

The real deal

However, the anticipation of taking his wife and two daughters on adventures was nipped in the bud as Ashok could only find two-seaters, while the four-seaters available were either obsolete or very expensive. That's when Ashok decided to build a plane, and he zeroed in on Sling TSi. "Jabiru J430, Vans RV10, and Sling TSi were the three options that could be done in the UK as a home built. Obviously, there are options that you can buy outright but they are really old aircraft and if you want to buy something new, you have to fork out quite a bit of money," he explains.

[caption id="attachment_29695" align="aligncenter" width="694"] Ashok Aliseril Sling TSi in the making (Photo courtesy: Ashok and Abhilasha Aliseril)[/caption]

He first saw the Sling TSi (a four-seater) listed on the Light Aircraft Association website, "but the model wasn't available in the UK or anywhere in Europe. So, I had to go to South Africa to test fly one." Impressed with its functioning, Ashok was moreover amazed by its making - with two fuel tanks that hold 88 liters of the petrol, the kind people put in their cars, and burns around 20 liters an hour. Ashok was sold. Fresh off the plane from Johannesburg, he ordered the plane's £3,500 tail kit, and in between started building a hangar in his spacious backyard with the help of friends and £700.

Building with love

Around the same time, the lockdown was announced in the UK in 2020, and Aliserils were left to build the plane on their own. He was working with a seven-part kit that came with instructions for assembling on DropBox and all the while, he did as much research as he could, even referring to YouTube videos. After the tail, the wings arrived, and with the help of their six-year-old daughter, Tara, who helped with unpacking, Ashok was able to build the plane in two years. But with constant delays in the arrival of kits due to Covid, Ashok had to deal with his share of challenges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7TpYTTaAfo

"The biggest challenges were mostly psychological - looking at the scale of the project, you sometimes times think that it is never going to finish. But you need to make a little bit of meaningful progress each day to reach your goal," he says, adding, "Project management is another big part of it as you get these individual kits and there will be parts that are damaged or not matching or on back order, so you start on the job but you cannot finish it until you get the next part. Logistics and project management are a big aspect of this built."

Off to see the world

After months of working on his labour of love, Ashok started the engine of the plane for the first time in June 2021, and it was in February 2022 that G-DIYA finally made it to the skies. Calling the first trip to Isle of Wight an exhilarating experience, Abhilasha adds, "The girls were also able to see what we have achieved so, that they can get involved with aviation early on their lives. It’s something Ashok and I didn't have when we were younger as childhood was very different back in the 80s."

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A post shared by Abhilasha Aliseril (@fly_home_or_away)

The Aliserils have already been to Manchester, Skegness and the Isle of Wight in the UK and France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Czech Republic in Europe on G-DIYA, are in love with the freedom. "The freedom and independence to take off wherever you want, as long as it’s well within the distance, of course, makes it all worth it," signs off Abhilasha.

Video courtesy: SlingUK

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Reading Time: 6 min