Overcoming all the challenges in her life, Saumya chased her passion to elevate her knowledge in the healthcare sector by bringing in the miracle of Artificial Intelligence to cure genetic syndrome in babies in their early days.

Saumya Shukla is the Co-founder of Dectrocel Health Care and Research Pvt Ltd, Lucknow. It is a health-tech startup company focused on using Artificial Intelligence to assist in healthcare diagnostics and provides an automated end-to-end solution. She says that becoming an entrepreneur, she worked in several MNCs and lived in different countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

Saumya hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She shares that since she belongs to a well-educated family, there was always a pressure on her to be focused on her studies and get good grades. She did her 12th in Science-Bio and cleared her CPMT exam in the very first attempt. She secured a seat at GSVM Medical College, Kanpur. Within just three months, she realized that this field doesn’t interest her and so she dropped out. This decision created tension in her house and even her relationship with her parents turned sour. It took her six months to figure out that she inclines toward Economics. Then she graduated in Economics (Honors) and cracked her GMAT exam. As a result, she did her MBA from NUS Business School, Singapore. Thereafter, she did her Ph.D. in Health Economics from the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.

Recalling her childhood, Saumya says that along with being good at studies, she was ahead in extracurricular activities too during her school time. Being vocal, she made good friends and always surrounded herself with the right company.

When asked about her role models, Saumya says she considers Ashish Kaul, the former president of TiE, Lucknow as her role model as she feels that because of him she was able to go so far in her career. In her personal life, she considers her friends as her biggest supporters for always standing by her. Besides, her brother, Ankit is her biggest inspiration for taking her forward in life and reaching this point today.

Talking about her struggles, Saumya says that ever since she dropped out of her medical course, her life has been a roller-coaster ride for her. She used to have issues with her parents. Even after marriage, she had a little rift with her husband about her work, but keeping her spirits high, she moved ahead overcoming all the challenges and moving her company uphill. On the professional front, there were times when she struggled to work with Artificial Intelligence along with the latest technologies, but she always learned to give her best and never gave up.

Regarding her achievements, Saumya says that being a successful women entrepreneur, she was invited to represent her company in the TiE Women Global Pitch Competition in Dubai which was an achievement for her. This resulted in the Government of Canada expressing interest in her company’s product line. It was quite an achievement for her.

In her spare time, Saumya likes to stay fit, for which she goes for a walk, runs, does yoga, and meditates sometimes. She even likes to go for long drives to relax and enjoys listening to music. Besides, she is an avid reader and listener.

Advising all young entrepreneurs, Saumya says that no matter what business you are in, be it Fintech, Agritech, or any other business, keep your business abreast with the updated technology to scale it. She adds that no matter what field you are from, you should have the basic knowledge of coding and data science to take your business far ahead.

Saumya advises everyone to constantly educate and update themselves by making reading a habit. Further, she tells them to prove their worth by becoming successful, no matter where they are right now. Just read, learn and grow to become an achiever.