Since October 2020, Soumya Dinesh has been Managing Director and Co-Founder of Atula Technologies – a Buckinghamshire based business specialising in bespoke software solutions for SMEs. Having launched the business with her late husband Dinesh Ramanan four years ago, Soumya is now heading the company. However, Soumya’s background hasn’t always been in tech, having started out delivering flowers across Bengaluru in India. She talks to SME Today.
“Growing up I excelled academically and despite my initial interest in aviation, I went on to study finance at Pondicherry University, in India, where I grew up. This allowed me to springboard into one of the biggest accounting firms in the world – where, at the time, I was one of the very few women in the company. I was one of the trendsetters for my peers and the opportunity opened the doors to so many experiences, particularly before the internet. While I enjoyed my time in finance, I came to realise it wasn’t my passion, so at 22 I decided to take the reins of an at-home flower delivery company based around my parent’s flower shop in Bangalore.
The concept of ordering flowers over the phone and having them arrive at your door is something we take for granted these days. However just three decades ago this blew the minds of my peers. It led to tremendous growth for the florist shop, which originally was a single unit on one high street. We became the most well-known florist in India for several years, with our delivery and branding being seen nationwide.
This feat did not come without its challenges, and it took a great deal of faith in myself and the process before the floristry service picked up. Nothing can quite prepare you for going into business, but understanding the sector, customer experience and culture will provide you with the foundation blocks to work around. Numbers were also a big consideration for me going into this, with the long-term growth predictions showing an upward trajectory.
Soon after taking on the business we saw the beginnings of the internet. Being new to everyone, it created a very forgivable environment and myself, like many, learnt business through taking risks. When the time came to sell the business, we were valued higher because of the wide network I had built across the country.
Waving goodbye to India, I moved to the UK with my husband Dinesh and retrained in IT. I worked with the likes of Lloyd’s TSB and SONY Corporation. It is here that I unknowingly started my next business venture, with a little bit of cocoa, milk and butter.
An interest in how to make chocolates saw me taking in dozens for my work colleagues to sample as I sought to get rid of my creations. These went down a treat and before I knew it, I was making chocolates on request. My skills were appreciated by many, and I began to charge for the orders. Just weeks after starting to make chocolates, it had spiralled into Cherish Chocolates, the name I went on to give to my business. My chocolates were sold up and down the country and I later found out that my husband Dinesh had secretly entered them into the Great Taste Awards. This came with the news that several of my flavours had been given the coveted award.
Cherish Chocolates taught me a great deal of patience and perseverance, with an urge to not give up. These qualities are essential in business, and you should exhaust all avenues before hanging up the towel. If the research and numbers show the business is viable, you should give it your all.
With the business accelerating and my children growing up fast, I felt the need to press pause on chocolates and focus on my family, who had seen me spend every waking minute mixing up my home-made delicacies. It was a very tough decision, but my priority has always been my family, and I could see my two sons growing up quickly.
In 2020 as with many other people, we had time during the pandemic to ponder on next steps in life. This saw Dinesh and I bring our IT knowledge and business experience together. Since launching, it has been a rollercoaster and earlier this year my husband and business partner Dinesh died suddenly. This threw our family and business world up in the air and led me to take up the reins by myself of Atula Technologies. While things are very different now, the company has exciting plans for growth.
Being resilient in the face of adversity can be a real challenge. Life can be tough, but you must build the courage and strength to start over after a setback, no matter how big or small.
Now I spend my days overseeing a team of developers and designers while managing the regular communication with clients. From taking briefs, understanding client’s needs and applying my technical knowledge, no two days are the same. What I love the most is that we have been a huge part of our client’s success and growth. It is a very hands-on role.
My career has not been without its challenges and as a young woman in India, I had no idea that I would be here heading up Atula Technologies and watching other companies flourish with our help. We strive to make business owners lives easier by developing bespoke software to suit their needs.
If I could give a business owner or entrepreneur five pieces of advice, they would be:
- Have faith in yourself and trust the process. If you truly believe you can do something you are halfway there. It is about setting the wheels in motion and acquiring the skills and knowledge to do so.
- Be prepared. Understand the business sector, customer expectations and culture. And be clear on the numbers involved.
- Be patient. Tangible outcomes take time. It is important to track, measure, evaluate and plan to ensure success.
- Be resilient. Resilience and perseverance are important to handle life’s hurdles. Often when we are faced with the biggest challenges, taking some time out to reset is one of the most empowering things to do.
- Network! Put yourself out there and meet people. Having a network of people you know, like and trust can create a ripple effect as you support them and vice versa.”