Famehall's spotlight story on Padmaja Padarthi, the Co-founder and Executive Director of NexGen 3D Printing, which is revolutionizing the printing industry in India.
Formal education and career –
Padmaja did her schooling in Chennai and pursued engineering in Meenakshi Sundararajan College. She went on to work with TCS for about a year and later felt that it was not her cup of tea and decided to pursue her MBA with a specialization in Operations and Finance. She then went on to work with JPMorgan for about a year. She was part of the team which focused on automating the business processes in the banking sector in Asia. Working in JP Morgan has made her become and think like a problem solver and a leader. That was when she has decided to become an entrepreneur.
She considered many ideas before but 3D Printing has caught her attention when she has attended an exhibition in Mumbai. She has done some research and found out that there weren’t many end-to-end 3D printing companies or startups in India back then. For two years, she has spent time researching, doing some risk analysis and financial planning for the startup by taking a break from her job at JP Morgan.
NexGen 3D – The origin –
NexGen 3D Printers is the most sought-after firm for 3D printing and printing solutions since their debut in 2017 along with the collaboration with industry heavyweights in the prototype and bespoke product manufacturing market.
It was Padmaja Padarthi’s idea to start a 3D printing consulting, design and manufacturing firm. Along with Padmaja Padarthi, the director, Rosu Reddy, used his enormous expertise and experience to promote the unexplored section of 3D printing in the southern half of the nation. NexGen 3D claims to have expertise and manufacturing capabilities to manufacture 3D printing equipment for almost all the sectors with qualitative products and services.
Challenges and Obstacles –
Finding like-minded people and the right people who could add value to their organizations has always been a challenge for many entrepreneurs and Padmaja is no exception from that. “My dad always used to say that a company is made up of its people. People are the asset. So I when I started off, I used to think that's not a big deal. It is the capital investment. but I've come to realize, what my dad said is true. It's people who matter and this is a challenge.”, she said to the Famehall team.
Padmaja also believes that no entrepreneur should think that he/she has overcome obstacles successfully as there would be a new challenge or hurdle each day. She has gone on to explain this by relating the challenges she is facing in running NexGen 3D – “A few years ago, a very few people and organizations knew about 3D printing and educating them has been a challenge. A few months ago, acquiring electronic components was a challenge due to the pandemic and today there’s a human resource challenge and the list keeps going on. We need to think of solutions and there’s no escaping from it.”, she says.
NexGen 3D – The way forward –
NexGen 3D has been in the business for 4 years and Padmaja believes that they have entered the growth stage now.
“We have overcome a lot of hurdles, gone through the bootstrapping stage, acceleration stage and I believe that we are now in the growth stage. For any startup, achieving this is a dream come true and I am excited to be in this space and we believe we are here to disrupt”, says Padmaja Padarthi while speaking to the Famehall team.
Source of Inspiration –
Padmaja Padarthi says that her greatest sources of inspiration are her father and her husband. Her father started from humble beginnings and worked his way to become a successful businessman. He has set some benchmarks for her and Padmaja compares her journey with her father’s, on where he started and how successful he is today. She says that the legacy he has left is inspiring and she wants to do the same. She also draws motivation from her husband who works in a smart manner to find solutions to complex problems.
Advice for young entrepreneurs –
When asked about some advice to young entrepreneurs, Padmaja replied by saying that she hates giving advice to anyone. But she has a question for all the people who are backing off from building something just because they’re facing challenges in the process. “Whatever you are facing today, irrespective of the scenario, there are at least another hundred people who have faced it already. So if a hundred people have found a way to overcome that, why can't you?”