With a rich experience of 21+ years in leadership, team and organization transformation, I am holding various academic, corporate & partnership positions besides Leading the Strategy & Operations for InventIndia an Award-Winning Global Innovation Company focused on developing Patentable & Meaningful Game Changing Products with businesses across the globe.
Starting from Business Strategies dictated by Research and Innovation, Inventindia covers the full Spectrum of Product Design, Development & Engineering from Concept to Production to Distribution. InventIndia helps organizations including several Fortune 500 companies to design new products, interactive experiences and spaces focused on innovation and invention. Some of the Industry Segments we are actively working in are Medical Devices, FMCG, Telecom, Hospital Furniture, Wearables, Consumer Electronics, Security & Surveillance and Home Appliances to mention just a few.
A Graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10K Women Program from the prestigious IIM, Bangalore & a GS 10K Ambassador from ISB, I am the Director & Co-founder of InventIndia Innovations Pvt. Ltd., a Global Industrial Design and Development Firm. I also am on the Board, serving in capacity of an Executive Director to On2Cook India Pvt Ltd, a StartUp that has raised around ~3 Mn $ at a valuation of 100 crores.
I have held prestigious Honorary & Advisory roles/positions in Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India’s largest trade body, in capacity of Co-Chairperson – Indian Women’s Network; Chairperson – Indian Women’s Network, Gujarat State; Elected State Council Member – Gujarat (for 2 years); Panel Member – MSME Taskforce for Policy & Advocacy; Co Chair – Social Impact TaskForce & Taskforce on StartUps & Innovation. In addition to CII, other bodies include – Extension Services Committee & Patron Member at Ahmedabad Management Association; Patron Member; Mentor at iHUB to name a few.
I am a sought-after industry leader, Mentor, Panelist & a Keynote Speaker. I have been on the Jury of Stevie Awards for Women in Business (USA), Jury member – Global Start Up Awards for SAARC & ASEAN regions.
Where does your interest in business come from – how did you start?
Inspite of a population of 1.4 Billion+, we as a nation are highly dependent on imports rather than exports resulting in a major current Account deficit at the National level in one of the world’s largest consumer-driven economy. Unfortunately, there are no products on global shelves from India which have been designed, developed, tooled, IP protected (PCT & USPTO) and manufactured in India.
Though, we have a great ecosystem for Software development, the hardware Ecosystem never matured and not many ideas get translated from the prototype to a great quality product. This became the genesis of InventIndia which is today an Industry leader focused on filling the gaps that are essentially intellectual property, Certification & Manufacturing & Logistics. Invent is leading by example for others in the Industrial Design Industry to follow an End-to-End Approach to Innovative Product Development.
In 2011, I along with my co-founder Sanandan Sudhir left our high paying jobs to plunge into Entrepreneurship with a vision to put India on the Global Innovation Map.
Ever since, it has been a super challenging and enriching experience. From investing all the life savings in a new business, working from the basement of our house, taking low-cost projects to build a credible portfolio, building a super skilled team, striking a work life balance to taking care of our two little girls along with scaling up the venture to winning several global awards; every moment has been overwhelming.
Once I became an Entrepreneur, there was no looking back ever. Today, I cannot visualize myself as anything but an Entrepreneur.
Give us insights into the major offerings of the company. And, how does the company support people with its offerings and services?
Being a Global Leader in the Innovation space – Invention, Design, Consulting, Strategy, End-to-end services portfolio, InventIndia is:
- Go To Company – for anyone who wants to develop an innovative product Incremental or Disruptive Co-creation, partnerships as well services.
- Complete Value Chain from Concepts to Shelves – Research, Conceptualization, Industrial Design, Engineering, Prototyping, Tooling, Production, Packaging & Branding, Strategy
- Tooling & Production, IP Licensing, Crowdfunding Support Services
- Value creation and Social Impact New product lines having social relevance in the water, energy, clean tech & other sustainable goals.
In line with our mission to put India on the global innovation forefront, we build Global IP & Innovate/Invent to Export to bring more and more wealth to the economy. In addition, we Innovate to meet the growing consumer demands & solve local problems that are very niche to our culture & geography.
What makes your company stand out in the market?
Our Uniqueness lies in Multidisciplinary Cohesive Product Development experience that can translate any idea from any vertical into a WOW product.
- 12+ Industry Verticals Served
- 35+ Design & Business Awards
- 60+ crores of Design Services Export
- 75 + Patents (Granted and Applied For)
- 100 + Team members
- 125 + Clients
- 150 + Projects (http://portfolio.inventindia.com/)
- 500 + Prototyping, Tooling & Production Partners
- 30,000 Sq. ft. + Studio, Workshop & Assembly Line
How do women feel in the male-dominated industry? Have you experienced a different attitude because of gender?
Initially I was invited to all forums related to Women but now thankfully I am on the panels related to Innovation & Technology that are Gender Neutral.
In general, women are motivated and guided to take more nurturing roles and be in sectors such as Health, Education or Banking. Women in technology are yet to reach a critical mass so it does feel different. However, at the end of the day your work matters and once you are in the Chair, it does not know your gender and no stereotype matters.
Who are your clients? How do you keep your clients happy and satisfied?
Till date, InventIndia has designed and developed more than 150+ products for 100+ clients that are at various stages of Prototyping, Tooling, Production, or Commercialization.
InventIndia supports Individual Inventors, Funded Start Ups, Mid-Sized firms, Large organizations, Fortune Companies focused on developing an incremental or disruptive product (Primary Focus: India, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, UAE). InventIndia works towards creating value for the customer at each stage of the Product Development Cycle right from the Idea, Patent, Conceptualization, Industrial design, Engineering, Prototyping, Tooling, Production, assembly, Branding & Packaging & Distribution.
About 80 – 85% of ideas fail to be translated into products and around 30 – 45% of new products fail to deliver meaningful financial returns. This typically happens due to a number of reasons, be it poor product, market misfit, failure to understand customer needs, quality control, poor user experience, sloppy implementation, unsatisfactory features, design issues, or probably in the first place unable to troubleshoot the problems encountered in shaping the idea into product.
Thus, for a successful product launch, it becomes very essential to connect all the dots across the product development value chain requiring traits of an inventor, a researcher, a designer, an engineer and an IP expert to introduce a successful Product/Invention or Innovation. Not all the hardware companies aiming to develop a product have the required experts & expertise in-house. Moreover, product development process also demands a robust network of vendors for tooling and production. InventIndia’s 100+ global partners in India, China, Taiwan, Korea & Germany with high tech prototyping and manufacturing facilities ensure reduced lead times and optimized production cycles.
That’s where WE (InventIndia) come into the picture playing a critical role across the product development cycle supporting our clients with our in-house expertise of design, engineering, tooling & manufacturing besides robust network.
How do you achieve a balance between your personal and professional life?
Striving to evolve & learn from every experience, not getting into any small power struggles that do not matter at all in the long run.
Creating the right support systems & processes is a must!
Be unconditionally giving & unconditionally forgiving!
I work long hours. I am a role model for my two daughters. Of course, I have to stretch way beyond to achieve & strike a balance as a daughter, mother, wife & a business woman… We need to wear infinite hats, set the priorities right!
Selecting the right people at home and office, training them well and then trust them with delegation and delivery is the key to having a great core team. Focus on delegation & automation to whatever extent possible.
Besides this, I listen to Spiritual music, read voraciously & love travelling which brings about the much needed balance.
List the awards and milestones won by the company.
InventIndia & Jyoti Sudhir have bagged more than 35+ Global Awards including the most reputed Design & Business Awards:
- Listed amidst the “DGEMS 2023 Select 200 Companies with Global Business Potential” by Forbes India & D Globalist.
- InventIndia has been recognized as India’s best Industrial Design Studio Consecutively for 3 years (2019, 2020 & 2021)
- AIMA – Dr. J. S. Juneja Award for Creativity and Innovation in Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (2021-2022)
- The National Entrepreneurship Award (NEA) by Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship, 2019
- Won the ‘Best Enterprise of the Year (Services)’ award at the MSME India Business Awards
- Most Innovative SME of the year 2021 by Quality Council of India and Arraucus Media Private Limited.
- “Nation Builder” Certificate issued by National Manufacturing Innovations Survey 2021
- National Startup Awards 2020 – Finalist in Industry 4.0 Sector Startups – 3D Printing Category
In addition to the above, there are various Prestigious Design Awards too bagged by InventIndia including but not limited to iF Design Award, Design Intelligence Award (DIA), A’Design Award, International Design Awards (IDA), Asia Design Excellence Awards and like.
As a source of inspiration for many, what would your advice be for women entrepreneurs, who are planning to enter in the business world?
I am a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a colleague, an entrepreneur and above all a woman who has managed to create its own identify in the corporate world. Starting from the basement of my house to a 10,000 Sq ft Office and a 3 Mn+ USD turnover with a skilled team of 100+ Members, 150+ projects, 100+ clients and above all more than 35+ National & International Awards & Honors, it’s been quite a journey.
If I can inspire a few women, to take that first step towards building a career, not worry about societal taboos, not worry about the small talk and have a purposeful and passionate life; I would say it’s been a good life personally.
Professionally, If I can contribute to put India on the global Innovation Map and see the country rising the ranks, I would consider myself successful!
“There are no short cuts to success. Gender does not matter…It is only hard work that will help you reach your goals and earn respect! Know your purpose, be compassionate and focus on the impact. Money will follow!”
