RANI PARUCHURI: Hi, I am Rani Paruchuri,
and this is my first ever talk on camera.
Thanks to Google for this opportunity.
I am not an engineer, but architected software products.
I am not a trained insurance professional,
but designed insurance systems.
I had never been to business school, but, as a CEO,
I am running my own company, which
I started eight years back.
These are, in short, my achievements.
How did I get here?
Let me tell you my long story in short.
My determination to achieve something
had started by seeing my uneducated mother go
through hardships due to the sudden death of my father
when I was 11 years old.
My education was supported by my uncle,
who admitted me in computer science education in 1989.
My love towards computers started
when I saw output of my first basic language program, which
was addition of two numbers.
In fact, I copied the program from my friend.
At the age of 22, as a married woman and a mother of a child,
I started my first business for desktop publishing, [INAUDIBLE]
Computers, in my living room.
My first owned computer was 80286,
whose speed is I can start the system, clean my [INAUDIBLE]
and come back, it would have booted up.
I started my business, but did not
have the required skills for designing.
I taught myself tools like Pagemaker, CorelDraw,
to design brochures, business cards, books, et cetera.
Learning any new technology those days was a humongous
effort, only available sources were books and help manuals.
Unlike now, where we are flooded with thousands
of videos, forums, even with source code directly.
I expanded my business from DTP into IT training and taught
hundreds of students and professionals in various
technologies, like COBOL, Pascal, C, C++, Java, SQL,
PeopleSoft, SCAP, and the list continued.
At the age of 33, I left my secure job with Intel
to pursue my dream of building a product-based software company,
and started Dream Tekis software with my brother
and other partners.
I built my first product with great passion
by putting all my experience in place,
but failed miserably in marketing
it, as I depended on a partner company for marketing.
The future became uncertain, but I never gave up,
waited for the opportunity, came to know
that there is a need for a good insurance system.
But I was totally new to insurance, other
than having a couple of policies and paying the premiums only
due to the force of an agent.
All the while, I taught myself technologies,
but for the first time, I taught myself insurance domain
and designed world class life insurance product, Soham Life.
This time, I did not take a chance with marketing.
I traveled across the globe and marketed my products.
I was told by our local partners they
had never come across a woman tech CEO traveling
to Africa for business.
Probably, I was the first one.
In past eight years, every Dream Tekis employee
have shared the same dream as ours, and built Soham products.
Today, Dream Tekis is trading with international clients
from seven different countries whose insurance business runs
on Soham systems.
I'm proud and privileged to build products
with the tag of "Made in India."
My dreams and aspirations continue.
So what got me here is sheer determination
to achieve something in life.
I would like to take this opportunity
to tell all the women out there, if you
are determined to achieve, nothing can stop you.
Neither marriage, nor technology, or circumstances.
Turn every adversity into an opportunity,
and never give up until you succeed.
Keep going.
Thank you.
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