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.