Rajen Tanwar is from PFM 1996-98. He has more than 26 years of experience in leading organizations across sales, business development, operations management and entrepreneurship in IT, ITES and geospatial businesses. In his current role, he is a part of the senior leadership and ownership team at AABSyS IT, a leading provider of end-to-end GIS, CAD and software services to clients worldwide. He is responsible for driving the overall business and growth strategy and achievement of the operational and financial goals of the company. Rajen has been instrumental in turning around AABSyS IT, catapulting the company to the big league of GIS industry and supporting the company in achieving exponential yet profitable growth.
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role? What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. It has been a highly satisfying and eventful journey. God has been kind. I believe that I have achieved more than I set out for and I feel extremely blessed and humbled.
I was fortunate to be placed in RMSI, a leading GIS company, directly from IIFM campus placements. It was considered a coveted corporate placement at that time since RMSI was a multi-national company in an upcoming IT field and paid reasonably well as per the prevalent standards at that time. To be frank, I as well as my batchmates at IIFM were taken by surprise by my placement. This was because I hardly knew the technicalities of GIS. In fact, I had not even taken the GIS elective during IIFM. I think what went in my favour with the interview panel were my civil engineering background, my personality traits, some of my extra-curricular activities, and my professional sales experience with HCL Infosystems, prior to joining IIFM.
RMSI placement was God-sent and the most important dot that connects me to IIFM to date. After an initial struggle of a few months at RMSI, I think I found my place, passion and professional purpose in life and I was successful in setting up a strong foot in the GIS industry. RMSI was more like a start-up at that time and was led by dynamic Stanford alumni with a great value system. I also got seamlessly aligned with the company ethics and DNA, which in turn helped me get great opportunities, and a lot of independence, and flexibility. I was young, hungry, and agile and this grooming, alignment and right fitment helped me make rapid strides in my professional career. I got the right breaks at the right time and made the most of them.
In my early years at RMSI, I was responsible for sales and business development in the domestic and international markets for the company’s GIS and IT solutions in different verticals. I then headed the Telecom Business Unit, one of the 5 SBUs at RMSI, where I led the global GIS-Telco market initiatives and was instrumental in establishing a worldwide leadership position for RMSI in this business vertical. It was a great inning at RMSI as I rose through the ranks to become part of the core management team, that was eventually involved in the management buy-out (MBO) of the company from its erstwhile owner, RMS Inc.
My long tenure of 15 years at RMSI in techno-commercial roles equipped me with high-quality professional & international GIS business experience, an entrepreneurial streak, practical market development expertise, a profitable operations mindset, exposure to a variety of real-world business scenarios, and loads of contacts and insights in the GIS industry. I then decided to explore an entrepreneurial path in my professional journey. Rather than starting from scratch, I decided to form synergies with AABSyS IT, which was at an early stage of its growth but had strong fundamentals. This synergy worked extremely well and turned out to be the most important milestone in my career. Working closely with the founding Directors, I have been able to make a defining impact on the company’s fortune by helping the company diversify into several new business verticals, adopting best industry practices, creating robust systems and processes, building a strong stakeholder network, effectively reaching out to high-quality markets, and architecting multi-fold growth in the company’s revenues and profits.
Q, What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. I feel blessed and gratified to be able to have control over doing what I want, the way I want and with the people I want. My current role allows me to effectively utilize all my life experiences, business acumen, people connect, and market insights to strategize organizational growth, provide thought leadership, acquire new markets and customers and script innovative business turnaround strategies.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. To be honest, I was completely lost while at IIFM. The course curriculum and the career avenues available at that time were not motivating and exciting for me. IIFM for me was more a place for self-discovery. The people, the experiences, the environment, the challenges, and the situations in IIFM helped me build my character and personality. I also got benefitted from some of the initiatives that I took outside IIFM during my stay at Bhopal. I used to contribute a weekly market research-based column about issues of general concern for MP Chronicle, a reputed English daily of Madhya Pradesh. I also anchored a Film based talk show series “Public Show” for Siti Cable (a part of Zee TV) Bhopal for a limited time. Also, I was passionate about a start-up focused on Eco-Tourism during my 2nd year at IIFM and spent significant time evaluating, discussing and deliberating the idea and business possibilities. I believe these experiences helped me develop an ability to deal with chaos, competition, complexity, infrastructural inadequacies, and insufficient capacities early in life, and helped me become a natural manager, a risk taker and an adaptable problem solver.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. My grandfather, my parents and my uncles had the biggest influence on me. In addition, my small-town upbringing and military school training had a strong influence on shaping my value system. I also had the good fortune of working with some highly accomplished individuals early in my career. I believe these factors have enabled me to develop a result-oriented but low-key, non-abrasive, and empathetic leadership style, helped me succeed in managing people and businesses, and work my way up the corporate ladder.
I always thought that there is more focus on academic writing, research, and consultancy at IIFM. While this pedagogy is great for a section of graduates who aspire for careers in fields such as academia, banking, development management, environment management, conservation, and livelihood however, IIFM also needs to ‘make’ some movers and shakers for the corporate world, graduates who have a risk appetite for high-growth careers in business and leadership that are typical of the top-tier management institutes. I would urge the freshers and IIFM graduates who have the interest and aptitude for such careers to take some early calculated risks in their careers, explore the start-up ecosystem or target the entrepreneurial, revenue-generating and business leadership roles.
Q. What are your favourite memories during your IIFM days?
A. Frankly, my IIFM stay was like a two-year holiday for me at one of the dreamlike destinations. With its hilltop location, natural greenery, scenic views, amazing architecture and modern amenities, one cannot ask for a better campus at that young impressionable age. All I can say is the time that I spent at IIFM was the most stress-free, formative and enjoyable time of my life. I made good friends, gained solid experiences and enjoyed campus life in its totality.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or takeaway from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. As I said, IIFM gave me a foothold in the GIS industry and that is the most important dot that connects me to IIFM. I will forever be indebted to Prof. CS Rathore for his strong support, trust and confidence in me, especially since I had absolutely no credentials in the GIS.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. I have great memories of IIFM and all my batchmates. I was particularly close with Santosh Singh (Dada as we used to call him), Kunal Mangal and Sudipta Dasmohapatra, and I continue to share a strong friendship with them even today. Amongst the faculty, I liked Prof. Rathore, Prof. Biswas and Prof. Pethiya, each for a different reason.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. IIFM days are going to be the best days in their lives. They should remain stress-free and always open to possibilities. My advice to them would be to spend at least equal if not more time on activities and initiatives outside the IIFM curriculum. It may be a start-up idea, a personal passion, a hobby, a volunteering experience, or to learn a different skill (such as digital marketing, finances, or coding), and use this period to discover themselves.
Q. What is your typical day at the office? (We want to know what your day job looks like)
A. I start my day early and spend my early mornings catching up with our international sales staff and partners, from home. The first half of the office is reserved for status update meetings with different teams (sales, support and production teams) every day from our various office locations. In the second half, I am mostly occupied with activities and meetings related to our strategic partnering, business growth, sales and marketing and client acquisition activities. This includes working closely with the sales and marketing teams, our customers and partners, on RFPs and bids, pricing strategies, proposals, contracts, marketing collaterals, and vendor and consulting engagements.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add
A. I am an avid traveler. There is quite a bit of international business travel that I do. I also enjoy exploring off-beat destinations in India and abroad with my family and friends. I am passionate about the cause of affordable quality education for the less privileged communities and I am actively involved with a not-for-profit educational NGO in my native place, Alwar, in Rajasthan.
Q. Favourite Books, movies, authors
A. Honestly, I do not have the discipline to read actual books. However, I read a lot of nonfiction books on Blinkist, a book summarizing app. Some of my recent good reads include Less Doing, More Living by Ari Meisel, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Ikigai by Hector and Garcia and Good to Great by Jim Collins.
I love watching nature, wildlife, and animal documentaries. March of the Penguins and Night on Earth are my favourites.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. I used to regularly hire fresh IIFM graduates at one point, but then it somehow fizzled out. I am not sure whether the GIS industry is the right fitment for the current IIFM graduates, but I will be happy to guide and counsel them. I will also be very open to providing some internship opportunities for students who wish to explore their interests and fitment in the GIS industry.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. I am sorry but I have not kept myself abreast of the recent changes at IIFM.
Q. Any suggestions on whom you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. All my batchmates have done exceptionally well and would have inspirational stories to share. I would recommend profiling everyone who has not already been profiled. I can share a list of all my batchmates with you separately for making it happen.