VIDEO CALL WIZARD

How a tiny, small town IT firm won a government-sponsored national contest for a secure, scalable video-conferencing solution and became a go-to option for a variety of businesses

- By JEEMON JACOB

Adversity has never been a deterrent for Joy Sebastian, co-founder and CEO of Techgentsia Software Technologies.

Born into a non-literate fisherfolk family in the coastal village of Pathirapally in Alappuzha district, his parents struggled to educate him. But Joy went on to complete his graduation and then a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) in 1999. The job path took him to an IT startup in Kochi that specialised in internet communication solutions. “My life and career were on track, I was married, drawing a decent salary. But then the company shut shop,” recalls Sebastian. That twist of fate came in 2007. “I had a home loan and no money to pay the instalment. I joined a Sharjah-based IT company as a consultant, but that too didn't last long.”