Mothers, professionals, homemakers: Debadutta helps women walk the tight rope
“Life is as you would like to make of it. All of us have a choice and the easy or hard part is just a derivative of what one has chosen,” says Debadutta Upadhyaya, CEO and Co-founder of Timesaverz, a unique mobile-first marketplace to serve the needs of Indian households.
Debadutta (Deb) owes it all to her effort and urge to succeed. With a strong educational background in literature, Deb always aspired to be a journalist. Following her dreams, she applied for a job in The Times of India, Nagpur. But she was bitten by the sales bug and took up a career as a response executive under media-sales profile. She has since worked with some of the best media firms ranging from startups to Fortune 500 entities.
HerStory spoke to Deb to know more about her personal and professional journey.
Early years
Deb was born in the steel city of Rourkela, Odisha, to an HR specialist father and an educationist mom. She spent her formative years there; and then in the late nineties the family moved to Bhilai in Chhattisgarh. After completing her graduation, she moved to Nagpur where her professional journey kick-started. After her marriage, being a student of journalism, she took up a media sales profile. She has since served at top levels at firms like The Times of India, Yahoo! India and Vdopia Inc.
Starting-up
Deb claims that she always wanted to do something on her own. But, Timesaverz as a concept was far from her mind till a personal experience led to its genesis. Back in 2012, Deb was a working woman juggling between a personal and professional life. She always faced difficulty in maintaining a balance between her role as a homemaker, a mother and a professional.
“Being mom to an infant in a nuclear family, with no support system in the fast paced metro existence, finding affordable help for daily chores and errands was the biggest challenge not just for me but many others like me. Seeking a solution to this problem, while eyeing opportunity in the $4 billion ever expanding market, my co-founder and I thought of Timesaverz and the brain child is now a business reality,”
Deb said.
Now having set upon her entrepreneurial journey, Deb is also full-time mom to a 10-year-old.
Timesaverz in the founder’s own words
According to Deb, Timesaverz is a one-stop solution for home service requirement. It connects customers to home service providers who are certified, verified and curated. The service majorly includes home maintenance and one-time services. On the backend, this venture is helping unorganized home service providers get more organized which improves their standard of living. Currently, the company reaches out to a whopping 500 plus service providers across Mumbai and Pune who are treated with due respect and dignity.“The venture started three years back in Mumbai; taking care of almost 70-75 per cent of home service requirements; the company has come a long way since,” says an optimistic Deb.
Her key drivers
For Deb, drivers keep changing with the changing phases of life. She says that three years back making a mark in the corporate world was her key drive, but currently her key driver is to spend maximum time with her son who is at a growing stage and needs maximum care, support and guidance.
If not Timesaverz, what?
“I would really like to do something in the field of kid’s education,” says Deb. For her the genesis of growth lies in a strong educational system. She believes it is very important to encourage everybody to have the best education.
Advice for entrepreneurs
Deb believes entrepreneurship comes with similar tribulations, triumphs, wins for every entrepreneur. Having said that, she says that entrepreneurs should never shy away from ‘leaning in’; together they can solve far more problems than individually.