EP #35: Sumi Shan - Former Politico & Co-Founder of Agritech Startup (Dunya Habitats)

Sumi Shan (@sumishan1) is a connector, former politico and co-founder/Chief Strategy Officer at agritech start-up Dunya Habitats (@dunyahabitats), which was originally started to help minimize food scarcity issues in Indigenous and refugee communities. In her professional career, Sumi has managed award-winning communication and advocacy campaigns across corporate, government, and non-profit sectors over the last 17+ years. She joins Ara on this week’s episode of The Tamil Creator to discuss topics including her experience as a female Tamil in tech, managing egos while operating a business with family, how she went about building her extensive network and talking about the topic of food scarcity & farmers having become an afterthought in the world we live in.Follow Sumi:- Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sumishan1/) - Twitter (https://twitter.com/sumishan1)Timestamps00:19 - Ara introduces this week’s guest, Sumi Shan03:28 - Running for the Ontario Liberal Candidate Race for Scarborough Rouge Park07:53 - How do you reconcile the role of government versus companies11:42 - Dunya Habits; what it is and what it does18:42 - How the data Dunya Habits provides is beneficial to farmers22:55 - Food scarcity and farmers having become an afterthought28:49 - Self-funding Dunya Habits and overcoming various barriers34:14 - Initially garnering international interest before deciding to set up shop locally38:32 - Doing business with family; managing work frustration and trying to ensure it doesn’t crossover into personal life41:15 - Being a Tamil female in tech44:13 - How Sumi went about building her network48:35 - Where Sumi sees herself and Dunya Habits in the next 3-5 years50:01 - What Sumi is insecure about; fear of failure and fear of success52:08 - Hobbies and interests outside of work; family time, travelling53:21 - The personal legacy Sumi hopes to leave behind54:16 - Creator Confessions57:29 - The Wrap UpIntro MusicProduced And Mixed By:- The Tamil Creator- YanchanWritten By:- Aravinthan Ehamparam- Yanchan Rajmohan         Support the show