Abhijeet Gholap: Victoriously Spearheading Towards Pinnacle with Passion, Desire &Sheer Faith Date:   Wednesday , March 18, 2015 The entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of a wild roller coaster ride that overwhelms especially the first generation entrepreneurs with plethora of novel challenges every day, every hour. Success builds confidence while failures shatter beliefs from within. Only with passion, desire and sheer faith at helm, one can steer their venture towards the pinnacle of success. Renowned for building the vast empire of Optra Group of Companies from ground up by leveraging the aforementioned qualities, Abhijeet Gholap, President & CEO, Optra Systems. Inc, stands tall as an exemplary inspiration for budding techno-preneurs. Built on the pillars of unflappable focus and crystal clear understanding of market, he raised the Pune-based company into one of world�s fastest growing group that encompasses Optra Health, a medical devices company; Devisha Films, an entertainment venture; Optra SCAN, a scientific venture; and Optra Technologies, a Big Data/Cloud solutions provider. Well diversified in these major verticals serving to customers across the globe, his success looks even more impressive with 16 international patents that manifest his thirst for innovation. As evidence for Optra�s tremendous growth, look no further than the innumerable awards and accolades including President Gold Lotus Award, State Award and recognitions as the fastest growing company from Red herring and Deloitte. Much Yearned Innovation At his very first day at IIT-Mumbai, young Abhi imbibed the inspirational speech of Dr. Nag, who emphasized about the values an IIT student can bring to society by creating jobs. Albeit that philosophy sparked his entrepreneurial spirit, the first generation entrepreneur was hesitant to leave his secure and lucrative job. But his resolve strengthened when his soul mate, business partner and wife Dr. Gauri, a genomic scientist, who had immense belief in his capabilities enabled him to overcome a 10 year old job habit. Amalgamating their expertise, the dynamic duo thus founded Bio Imagene in 2002, when microscopy was still optical devoid of IT enablement. They bridged this most anticipated gap by building a digital microscope with intelligent software systems. Subsequently, Abhi authored 11 international patents inventing world�s first enterprise digital pathology system. Initially, Abhi�s lack of entrepreneurial experience, adequate finances, business contacts and fallback mechanism tested his mettle. But he trampled every challenge on path with extreme optimism, tons of patience, deep faith in his beliefs, positive but assertive leadership and a goal-oriented mindset. With a seed funding of $250K, the revolutionary product brought a purchase order for $750K in the first year itself. Abhi wisely invested it in ascending the company with better people and infrastructure. He also acquired two Silicon Valley based companies for inorganic growth before BioImagene got acquired by a leading diagnostic company for $100 million. Abhi today enjoys working with a group of 250 plus creative, intelligent and forward thinking people. Delegating Responsibilities & Macro-Managing With hearty support from the team, Abhi attained a style of leading from the front. He became more optimistic, as he built a knack for identifying and bringing aboard the right talent, many of those who surpass his expertise. Avoiding micro-management and delegating responsibilities with team elevated his tolerance levels. Confident that every person has one area of strength, Abhi believes in identifying that asset and keeps the employee motivated and challenged around his/her strengths and weaknesses. Family can MAKE or BREAK an Entrepreneur An entrepreneur prioritizes his enterprise 24/7 ahead of everything. Consequently, the family can feel the heat from dining table to holiday destinations. Considering this, Abhi truly feels blessed to have a wonderful wife and daughters Devika and Eesha who unconditionally supports him. \"Devika now speaks about walking my footsteps of entrepreneurship. I feel satisfied when my little princesses take pride in my dreams and vision,\" says a proud Abhi. Although initially, Abhi was compromising his personal life, eventually he managed to balance personal and professional time. \"I feel that I am now entering in Power Play as said in Cricket,\" replies Abhi like a true Indian when asked about his future plans. While growing business on one side, being an active participant in the global vision of �creating entrepreneurs of tomorrow� through various groups, Abhi is ambitious to build entrepreneurs in India. When asked to share a few wise words to upcoming entrepreneurs, he says, \"Believe in your dreams from day one, pursue the path to achieve those dreams, ignore hurdles and create a long term vision. Nobody in this world can be more right than you. So listen to your heart and use your brain to make this happen. The sky is the limit\".