Coffee, Tea or IT: Saga of a girl from Northeast

Bijeta Thapa

With a bag full of dreams and ambitions and an uncharted destiny I came to Delhi in 2002. There was a fire in the heart to make it big. However, the mind was directionless. I was just a graduate from North Eastern Hill University.

To attain the highest level of education and clear UPSC exams in order to get some state government job is a common dream of youths in Darjeeling. However, there is no challenge and freedom in a career steeped in the slush of red-tapism and corruption.

The right type of career for me was in the corporate world, and not to be wasted in the heaps of files gathering dust in some odd government office room with a creaky wooden chair, but to be built and preserved in e-files of IT sector and BPO units.

I completed my post-graduation in business administration, while pursing my career with Shaf Broadcast Pvt. Ltd as a trainee project coordinator.

The Gorkhas from Darjeeling are famous for their bravery on the battlefield and hard work in civilian life. The women of our hills are as enterprising as men. The less educated women are seen toiling in the tea gardens of Darjeeling picking leaves. The educated women of Darjeeling have yet to find a place in the corporate world, having to remain satisfied with a government job.

As a struggling marketing professional, doing rounds of corporate offices in Gurgaon, I chanced upon meeting an entrepreneur from Belgium who was exploring the possibility of outsourcing his business to India. We clicked instantly and Tony Vangelabbeek, the promoter of PMC bvba and I decided to float Genesis Textware last year. Our firm deals in human resource consultancy, prepress including artwork production, data processing services, web maintenance outsourcing and system integration to its customers worldwide.

I can say with confidence that woman executives have equal skills and ability to carry out tasks as their male counterparts. In corporate etiquette, however, women executives far excel men.

(Ms. Thapa, 25, is Manager - Communications, Genesis Textware, Gurgaon)