Networking and Technology with Manju and Rajiv Kuchhal

In this episode, Manju and Rajiv Kuchhal share their perspectives with Shiv on:Manju starting her career with TCS and taking a break to take care of kids, then getting into the social sectorRajiv, about how he got into IT accidentallyHow his knowledge of Pascal got him into IT/Telecom work and later, how he got into InfosysLeaving the corporate world about 13 years ago and being active in the startup and social sector spacesHow Manju wanted to have flexibility at work even while in the corporate sector and how the social sector has given her that optionHer ways to encourage women in her team, to get back after a career breakRajiv talks about the opportunities for women in the startup sector, possibly part time as wellVariations in the clarity of work to be done and pressure between corporates and startupsOpportunities to contribute to various aspects beyond just writing codeManju also talks of the need for a support system when working from homeRajiv mentions how some societal attitudes need to change faster, when it comes to men taking a pause or going slow in their careersAbout any differences faced by women in startups and social sectorAbout encouraging women and enabling them to get back to work, while respecting their freedom to to not re-enter the corporate lifeSupport groups that can help women in transition Manju Kuchhal has nearly 20 years of experience in area of technology. For last 8+ years she has been associated with Dhwani Foundation which works towards providing technology solutions to NGOs. She is currently Trustee of Dhwani Foundation. At Dhwani she works with NGOs in identifying the areas where technology can help their operations, engages with relevant technology solution providers and help them with implementation of such solutions. Before that she worked with Tata Consultancy Services in their software division.Rajiv is an active angel investor and mentor to multiple startups in the social enterprise and technology space. He is an Advisor and Board Member of many such companies. Rajiv spent more than 2 decades in IT/BPO industry, mainly with Infosys group. He led Infosys’ foray into telecom and product engineering services space in early ’90s. He became one of the youngest Business Head and Management Council members at Infosys. He led Infosys’ foray into BPO as a founding team member of Progeon (now Infosys BPO). He was Chief Operating Officer of OnMobile and was part of senior management team instrumental in helping OnMobile scale as an organisation and consolidate its market leadership.