Pooraan Jaiswal, Entero Healthcare was born and brought up in Mumbai. Growing up in a chawl, Jaiswal had a difficult childhood. “In those days, completing a primary education was a big achievement for the kids like us brought up in chawl. Most of the parents of chawl kids only wanted their kids to complete the basic education, so that their kids can do the daily calculation and manage house chores, but my Late father had a bigger plan for me. He kept telling me, “Only education can change the world, and if you don’t study, you will die in a chawl only struggling for daily needs.”
Jaiswal studied in a government school. He says, “In my school days, we used to struggle for water and electricity a lot, we had to get up early in the morning to make sure we could collect enough water which used to come only between 4-6 AM in our area. But this problem helped me to complete my studies early in the morning itself and hardly faced any problem due to lack of electricity at night. That’s when I learned to turn obstacles into opportunities. All thanks to my visionary father.”
After completing primary education, getting into college for higher studies was like winning a war in those days too for Jaiswal, especially since students from vernacular medium schools were treated like refugees in the English medium college. “The racism and ragging aren’t new in the colleges. In my time too, the seniors used to bully new students a lot. Half of the vernacular medium students used to drop college because of insults done by seniors in those days. But my father supported me a lot sailing through these times, he kept telling me to ignore the comments and remain focused on my studies.”
His father was a government employee, and his mother was a homemaker. They wanted him to become a doctor. But, unfortunately, when Jaiswal was in college, his father suddenly passed away. “My father’s demise broke all my dreams in a day, before I could understand what happened, he was declared dead in the hospital within 24 hours of admission. Not only did I lose the support system, but our family got into another trouble- a financial crisis, as my father was the only bread earning person in our family. This taught me another lesson in my life, no relatives will help you if you and your family are going through tough times. That day I decided not to talk to any of my relatives ever again.”
In 2019, Jaiswal completed his PhD from Marymount University, Virginia, USA. He completed his Bachelors in Mathematics from Mumbai University in 2001 and Masters in Technology from Manipal University in 2011. Jaiswal says, in school, he wasn’t a bookworm but he was good in his studies. He enjoyed reading, especially sci-fi magazines which he used to buy from second-hand book shops. “I used to get 100 out of 100 many times in many subjects but never studied like donkeys. Reading has been my hobby since my school days, I used to read a lot, be it course material or other interesting subjects like sci-fi magazines. In those days sci-fi magazines used to come at a cost, so I used to buy them from second-hand book shops in return for old magazines.”
Looking back at his college days, Jaiswal says that once his mentor told him that he needs to start wearing a suit and tie while presenting as it will help in future. “That time I couldn’t wear the suit because I didn’t have enough money at that time, and till date, I haven’t worn a suit in front of the audience irrespective of I am a keynote speaker or panellist or moderator. Not that I can’t afford to buy a suit, but I don’t want people to judge me by my clothes.”
After completing his education, Jaiswal worked as an Insurance agent for 2 years. “Getting a first job wasn’t easy in those days, wherever I applied for a software engineer job, the companies used to ask for experience first. Being jobless for months was frustrating especially due to the family financial situation wasn’t good. Every passing day was adding extra pressure to life. But then my brother suggested becoming an insurance agent.” So, he went for IRDA training for 2 weeks to learn the tips and tricks of the insurance sector. After completing the certification, when he went into the market, not many people responded. Jaiswal says, that’s when he learnt the first lesson in his professional life, that was- “you will not get anything easily, as it used to look like in books”.
Jaiswal always wanted to make a career in IT, but due to no professional IT experience, he couldn’t get into the IT field and landed up a sales job. After spending a good number of years in sales, he started loving the sales job, as he was earning more than what he had expected. But one day, he got an opportunity to work at an IT firm.
“One day, while I was sitting at my client’s office selling, he encountered a technical glitch. I asked him to let me check his office desktop, he first hesitated and even said, only technical experts of level 2 engineering can solve it, who will come after 2 days of holiday. As it was a month-end, my target was more important for me than anything else. The deal could affect my incentives a lot. I again asked him to give me one chance to check the issue and luckily I was able to solve his problem and complete my deal. The next day, when I went to his office to submit the receipt of payment, he asked me to refer an IT engineer, as his IT engineer who was supposed to come after 2 days, didn’t turn up. I told him, can I try for the post, he said, you can try but you will not get the same salary, as you don’t have experience. This was again a tough call, either carry one with my high earning sales job or sacrifice the money and start my dream job in IT. I asked my mother and elder brothers, they all supported my choice of getting into the IT field, especially my elder brother, as he was the one, who supported me a lot after I lost my father suddenly when I was in college.”
Jaiswal has been in the IT industry for more than 22 years. But for him, it still feels like he is a newcomer, as technology keeps on changing every day. Sharing his experience in the industry, he says “When I started my career in IT field, IT was more of hardware and less of software, as the time passed, the role of hardware started decreasing and role of software started increasing, though I am programmer, the programming languages are changing faster than before. Hardware can easily be replaced, but when it comes to software one has to go through proper planning and release cycles and it requires more money as it takes more time. Getting approval for hardware investments are always easy for IT people as they buy tangible goods, but getting approval for software improvements are always hardware, as most of the time boards are unable to understand the ROI from software upgrades. I had to learn the business, present my software upgrade cases along with ROI calculation to get the required funding from the board. This taught me one more important lesson, you can’t run IT without understanding the business, ROI, profits and losses.”
Jaiswal says that he doesn’t have any regrets because he takes life as it comes. He believes in Bhagwat Gita shloka – “Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani” which means – You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. He believes that you can achieve anything in your life if you are dedicated, focused and hard-working. Jaiswal says, for the future, a very big plan is in the process, but at the moment he is focusing on building the best healthcare infrastructure for India.
