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January - 2017 - Special issue > Entrepreneur of the Year - 2016

Lavinia Noble Surjove: A Role Model in Rapid Problem Solving & Situation Handling

si Team
Thursday, February 2, 2017
si Team
The lasting journey through two decades as a technical kingpin, predominantly wearing a senior system analyst boot had its aftermath on Lavinia Noble Surjove, Founder & CEO, Swift Pace Solutions Inc. In all her career, she persistently witnessed that most of the companies providing IT consulting & staffing services cater to the needs of big giants in the industry, leaving mid-market group in the sector apart. And even if the services are available, the price is extortionate. Lavinia, who always follows her passion of helping people understand IT needs of clients and make sure that it is met at an affordable price point, realized that the only way to sort it out is to start her own business and make 'IT' happen. She incepted Swift Pace in 2013, which today is an agile IT consulting & staffing services company that focuses on producing business models that meets the IT needs of mid-market group by going an extra mile forward. "My mission is not to make enormous profit, or wait for markets to improve, but to selflessly serve our clients and provide efficient IT services & solutions at an affordable price point," reminisces Lavinia.

The place where Lavinia is from is Chennai. Lavinia's entrepreneurial triumph owes a significant contribution from her family as well as the employees. "I love what I do and my family knows that I enjoy being in the CEO shoes. Hence, they help me to manage different areas so that I remain successful at personal and professional front," adds Lavinia. Going back to the childhood, her parents and siblings always encouraged her in following the passions and determinations, which ignited a spark inchmeal in her to take initiatives and tear the fear of failure into pieces. This courage augmented to never give up attitude, today helps her in scoring big time in demanding business contracts embedded with complex challenges. She is an ideal role model in comprehending and surpassing the complex IT challenges through hard working and modifying the processes according to the requirements. "My favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur is the chances to convert ideas into reality. Succeeding in an area where no one has ventured gives me immense pleasure," explains Lavinia. The ability to macro manage employees & clients simultaneously, unify each employee's goal with the company's objectives and react quickly to the changes set Lavinia apart from the peer entrepreneurs.

Finding the Leader in Her

Attained BE in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from University of Madras, and MBA from Symbiosis University - Pune, Lavinia commenced her career as Programmer Analyst in Liberty Mutual (DSQ Software) in 1998. She is determined in making IT simple for organizations by unfolding all the possible paths as an entrepreneur. However, Lavinia's entrepreneurial path was paved with uneven spikes and interferences where she had to battle with many of the core IT trials, in addition to the initial in-house challenges such as scope creeps and employee attrition. Her strong mastery and know-how in the IT industry rescued her from the in house challenges, while the core business challenges bestowed a real ball-game. Surpassing those challenges through out-of-the-box thinking, agile practices and never give up attitude made Lavinia a commanding and lesson-learned entrepreneur who now on-boards any challenging task. One such demanding predicament was popped up when a client called for a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) migration and the results didn't meet client's expectation. Ambiguous comprehension of client's exact flaws accounted for the initial failure. Lavinia directed her team to reap success in shut-eye time by catering to client's exact needs, post a thorough analysis. "From this case, I learnt that it is important to engage with client at each point of the service process in order to keep them motivated about the change," adds Lavinia. In the light of her personal experience, she directs every budding entrepreneur to treat employees and stakeholders as value creators.

Being a Caring Mom


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