Collaboration Forum Series 4: Optimism in tough times (Week-2)

At the same time, she had the makings of a young entrepreneur. At home, Priya and her brother were the ‘Rodney and Del Boy’ of the village, following in the footsteps of Nicholas Lyndhurst and David Jason’s characters from Only Fools and Horses. They would trade Chomp bars in the playground for a three pence profit, and soon scaled up to Curly Wurlys, when they realised more money could be made. They visited Rochdale, north of Manchester, to buy unsold stock from Costco and trade it on at a profit. Their mum also helped them buy and sell shares in Manchester United because they were too young to do it themselves.

Priya decided to become a barrister to address some of the inequality and injustice she had witnessed as a child. While she ultimately became a specialist in libel and privacy, working in house for media companies, her path took a different turn during the last recession. Back in 2008, she was hunting for fresh curry sauces on the supermarket shelves late one night, but all she could see were jars. It was also around that time her bosses helped her realise she had the problem-solving skills to run a business.

That’s when the idea for Masala Masala was born. She wanted the business to work financially, of course, but she also wanted to fulfill that promise to herself to make a difference in the world. For every pot of sauce sold in the supermarkets, for example, she provided meals for homeless people, vaccinations, and set about building schools abroad.

Her work caught the attention of the UK government, and the former Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, invited her to join his taskforce. At that time, Matt Hancock, who is now Secretary of State for Health, worked in the Department for Education. She remembers one meeting where he explained that there were 1.8 million children in the UK that couldn’t read well enough, or do maths well enough, to progress into work.

“I remember thinking, if 20 per cent of children can’t do that, and I’m funding schools in Commonwealth countries – they are replicating their teaching based on our model and they don’t have the same quality of teachers,” she said. “It was a real lightbulb moment, and out of curiosity, I started looking at what was happening.”

“When I look at this career journey, it does sound absolutely crazy to go from law to fast-moving consumer goods, to ed-tech. But what’s interesting, on every stage of the journey, is my place as a female,” she said. “Early on, before becoming a barrister, I was told that because I wasn’t a white male from Oxbridge, I really shouldn’t choose the profession. When I started Masala Masala, my suppliers laughed at me; and when I started Century, I remember a former Google engineer saying, in front of a room of investors: ‘you are not going to be able to build a new artificial intelligence company.’

Century is now disrupting the market for education and learning. Since the company was founded in 2013, it has been using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help students all over the world learn in a more personalised way. It is developing a test for meta cognition – the ability for people to think about their own thinking – and Priya said the company had also started to explore the potential in other sectors. It has won numerous awards along the way.

Looking back, she remembers the doubts, she remembers people’s black and white thinking about her ideas. At one point, in fact, Priya wrote on a piece of paper that she was ‘in over her head’, and maybe she should listen to the naysayers. But what she has realised over time, and it’s a sum we could all benefit from, is that “no + no + no + time = yes”. As long as you are prepared to take feedback on the journey, she said, there is no reason why anyone couldn’t become a market leader. “Why not me?” she asked, as she invited the audience to look in the mirror and think about some big questions.

“Century has grown because we have been involved in remote education. Every company is now digital. But digital transformation is not about digitising what you currently do manually and taking it online; that is wrong. It’s about using digital tools and technologies, but transforming your processes at the same, using the advantages that digital technology brings.”

During the event, Abhishikta Talukder, consultant at Protiviti, shared her experiences of female role models who have inspired her. Growing up she said it was important that she could see people that “looked like me and could tell me that I could achieve what I wanted to”. These included Indra Nooyi, the former chief executive of Pepsico, and Anjali Sud, the chief executive of Vimeo.

Abhishikta wasn’t in awe of them because they were highly successful, it was because they were transparent about their journeys. “Anjali Sud was open about her struggles with rejections from reputable firms, but she did not let this deter her. I also remember being fascinated Indra Nooyi’s business decisions and her ability to grow sales,” she said.

Priya added: “Everyone has got to be really honest with themselves and constantly check if there is a bias in their decision making; about who you invest in, promote, or encourage. Women drive the economy; we are the decision makers in over eighty per cent of consumer spending. Can you look your son and daughter in the eye and tell them how unfair the world is going to be to one of them? If that isn’t enough to make you want to change, then at least take a look at your bottom line, and the opportunity it could represent.”