Paramjeet Kaur Gulati: Leading charge like a ‘BOSS’

For Bengaluru resident Paramjeet Kaur Gulati, her decision to turn an entrepreneur was one inspired by her concern for her family. When she joined Graphica — an engineering services company run by her husband and friend — in 2011, it wasn't doing very well. "I wanted to see if I could turn things around.” While Graphica was eventually sold, Paramjeeet went on to launch her own venture Blue Ocean Software Solutions (BOSS), and has not looked back since.

Talking about the experience, she says, "I started my entrepreneurship journey in a field that was absolutely new to me. When I took over, it was a company without a leader. We delivered several products. We secured a patent for the Swivel Seat Mechanism and launched it during the Auto Expo in 2012 in New Delhi.".

Before turning to entrepreneurship, Paramjeet had worked with several companies like Polaris Software, HDFC Bank and Oracle. Apart from a BSc and an MBA degree, she also has a PGDBA from XLRI.

Bitten by the entrepreneur bug

While establishing BOSS, Paramjeet continued with an engineering division. "We started very lean, but then grew from one product to seven," she adds.

Paramjeet describes herself as someone who is a keen learner, likes to take on challenges and maintains a good relationship with suppliers and customers. Apart from an engineering services division, BOSS also has a telematics division. The company's product range includes stainless steel accessories for wheel arcs for different cars, scuff plates and muffler cutters, and other stainless steel components for cars.

Eyeing the next milestone

Paramjeet says that she wants to venture into the defence sector in the future. "India has a lot of deals coming in and with initiatives like Make in India, it is a very lucrative sector. So, why not capitalise on the opportunity? Plus, we have the machinery and set-up for the kind of high precision work that is required," she explains. The company had also attended the Defence Expo in 2020 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, BOSS managed to stay afloat by reducing overheads, maintaining a low inventory and working in partnership with employees and suppliers. "I am happy to have survived the lockdowns gracefully without having to remove any employee or introducing any major salary cuts or losing any order," she says.

Paramjeet is among the 24 women entrepreneurs who have been selected for the GAME Xcelerator Bangalore programme which was launched with the objective of encouraging women entrepreneurs to scale ahead. Talking about her expectations from the programme, Paramjeet says, "I am looking forward to learning a more channelised approach towards the growth of my business and the networking opportunities."

Xcelerator Bangalore aims at accelerating the growth of women-owned, non-IT businesses in Bengaluru. It provides support to the women entrepreneurs to learn, collaborate and network with various stakeholders through a multitude of workshops, learning and mentoring sessions. This series highlights the work of 24 women entrepreneurs who will be participating in the first cohort of the Xcelerator Bangalore programme.