One of the most intriguing and fascinating creatures of nature is a lightning bug. When the world is lost in the darkness of night, rest of the animal kingdom changes their vision to adjust to the dark. On the other hand, the lightning bug finds a light within to wander with a purpose amidst the darkest times to move forward with untamed and unperturbed passion towards its pursuit. Some human beings are living embodiment of the illustrious path carved by a lightning bug. One such inspiring and fascinating personality in the business world is Rashmi Varma Her curiosity and passion to seek the light as a way of life defy the societal norms of seeking a shelter in dark to inspire people all over the world.
The Journey of an Original Young Mind
Rashmi was born and brought up in the ancient land of India. As she started walking the path of a higher purpose, she was educated simultaneously in the best of both the Eastern and the Western world. She was educated in the best missionary and convent schools in India while learning a more salient education in Yoga, secular principles, the Indian culture through her caring family. It is often said that the truly special ones often carve out their own path through their industrious nature to be successful. Similarly, Rashmi displayed a keen knack for learning about technology through independent scientific experiments at a young age.
At a young age, Rashmi set herself apart by aiming to discover alien life in the universe. Her young mind was overwhelmed by the desire to communicate with other life forms. Consequently, she devoted herself to understanding radio technology to build her own antennas and radios. She would run scientific experiments to understand the inner intricate workings of electrical circuits. Consequently, her naïve mind also led her body towards the receiving end of several electric shocks and a new understanding that the extra-terrestrial life was a dream that was still a billion miles away. However, she probably learned the most important lesson for a child to learn at a young age on her own – Curiosity, passion, and sacrifice are sacrosanct of building a beautiful world within.
When the Lightning Finally Struck
Rashmi was an enthusiastic learner from childhood; however, her journey did not meet with the ultimate destiny until she put in years of hard work. During school, she opted for Music, Literature, Mathematics, and Physics as she was passionate about them. It was only until years later that she was able to apply herself as a telecom engineer to begin her career. Rashmi, driven by her curious mind and natural instincts rose through the corporate ladder quickly. She moved up higher positions in various organizations only to be able to reach a clear understanding of the role of technology in today’s society. It was then that she realized that students in classrooms are lagging behind in development and support from their schools to form a deeper and richer understanding of technology. Her kids were her guiding inspiration. It was then that she decided to venture into entrepreneurship and form her first company – iCode.
iCode brought computer and technology education to K12 space. iCode was a starting point of a long and rewarding journey for Rashmi. She had tasted success after bearing the brunt of learning the crux of technology matters by working in the industry. After iCode, new challenges became the order of the day for Rashmi. Later, she started Ooventiy, a firm offering consulting services to client companies who specialized in the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is a wide area of development as it serves smart cities projects, Industries, Logistics, Healthcare among others. Her expertise in the area and her potential to do something big for the clients did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Ooventiy was quickly acquired and eventually merged with United Softech. Rashmi did not stop with the successful merger of her company. She moved on to combine her childhood dreams with her real understanding of the world. Today, she works on DreamBig project, which takes a look at the knowledge infrastructure we take for granted every day, from a fresh and original perspective.
Lessons Learned and Earned from Experience
Rashmi Varma has learned many things from practical scientific experiments, quality education and the ultimate experience of trials and failures. Today, she has reached the understanding that the business world, and the CEOs driving them, requires different worldviews to be successful. However, there is one common thing that everyone must learn. Rashmi believes that communicating and connecting should be the core values of a company. According to her, it is important for all team members to understand the ‘why’ at every step of their process. Knowing the why builds a real value and output of organization which directly impacts the momentum, and lifts an entire team to a new level. Rashmi also believes that during her past experiences, it was transparency in communication and leading by example that helped her find solutions in the most difficult situations. Similarly, she also finds the organizational Japanese practices of five ‘whys’ very appealing to run an organization and offers solutions to employees as well as clients.
Rashmi has led her life with lessons that are simple and actionable. Through these lessons, she has found immense motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic. She advises young entrepreneurs to build a strong network of experienced mentors to steer and guide their company. After all, there is a lot of value attached to information, but one can be swept away with an ocean of knowledge without the actual experience of learning how to swim. Rashmi is following her own advice to build a great team at work. She hopes to build a product based startup that would serve the world in a meaningful manner. If everything goes according to the plan – the lightning bug would continue to emit light and illuminate a dark road to make the world a better place.