
Inspiring the AI Landscape
Dr. Angshuman Ghosh
Founder & CEO,
Menrva Technologies
In a world driven by data and powered by artificial intelligence, one name stands out as a true trailblazer—Dr. AngShuMan Ghosh. With a magnetic blend of visionary leadership, cutting-edge expertise, and an unyielding passion for innovation, Dr. AngShuMan has emerged as a driving force in the realms of data science, AI, and business.
From his humble beginnings as a software engineer at Wipro to his transformative roles at global giants like Disney, Sony, Target, and Grab, Dr. AngShuMan has left an indelible mark on the industry. His relentless pursuit of knowledge and academic achievements led him to secure a PhD from a premier Tier-1 institution. Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. AngShuMan has been recognised with a slew of prestigious awards, including ‘Top 100 AI Leader Award,’ ’40 under 40 Global Innovator Award,’ and ‘LinkedIn Spotlight Award.’ As a member of the exclusive Forbes Technology Council, he continues to shape the dialogue around technology’s transformative potential.
Dr. AngShuMan’s brainchild, Menrva Technologies (an innovative AI-ML company), came into life in 2023. A cutting-edge deeptech company driven by the power of AI and Data Science, Menrva Technologies serves top global companies in diverse industries with its customised AI-ML products, bestin-class consulting services, and industryrelevant training and courses. Today, under his headship as its CEO, Dr. AngShuMan is revolutionising how global organisations tackle critical business challenges. Today, through bespoke AI-ML solutions, elite training and personalised consulting, Menrva Technologies drives digital transformation for marquee clients, propelling them to unparalleled success. Dr. AngShuMan has published 1 book, 3 US patents, and 10+ research papers in reputed international journals and conferences. He has given 100+ lectures at top institutes and 20+ talks at international conferences in Asia, Europe, and America.
Join TradeFlock and Dr. AngShuMan on an extraordinary journey as he unlocks his journey, challenges, learnings, and more.Â
What major challenges did you face, and how did you come out strong from them?
In my long professional career of more than 15 years, I faced many challenges, and I always learned something valuable while overcoming them. In my first job at Wipro, I was a software engineer, and I was very good at coding and have coded for Fortune 100 clients, but I failed to understand the business implications of the software. That is why I decided to join XLRI Jamshedpur. I was an MBA topper at XLRI and learned greatly about business at XLRI. After my PhD, I joined Disney Star, where I worked for Hotstar. The volume of data at Disney and Hotstar was huge and required new methods to make sense of it. I took the challenge and learned big data analytics and machine learning, which I then successfully applied to data science projects at Disney, Target, and Grab. The use of big data and data science helped me contribute multi-milliondollar additional revenues for my employers. I have worked for companies from varied geographies: Disney and Target are from America; Grab is from Singapore; Sony is from Japan; and Sayurbox is from Indonesia. Initially, I found it challenging to work with non-Indian people due to differences in culture and working style. I studied a lot about different cultures and leadership styles. I also actively observed, listened, and tried to adapt to my non-Indian colleagues over many years. Finally, I was able to understand and appreciate the differences between different cultures and leadership styles.
How are you preparing yourself for an AL-centric world? What plans do you have for personal and professional development in the coming years?
AI is evolving at a very fast pace. A few years ago, AI was good only with numeric data. But in the last few years, AI has made immense progress with unstructured data such as text, images, and videos. Advances in NLP and computer vision amazed us. And right now, generative AI is creating waves across the world. AI in particular and technology in general are evolving very fast, and we need to constantly upgrade ourselves to stay relevant. I try to spend a few hours every day reading and learning about the latest developments in the field of AI. I also regularly take some courses from online education platforms such as Coursera or EdX to upgrade my knowledge. In my work, I constantly try to improve existing AI models and work with my team to find better ways of doing things.
What are the key learnings you carry from the past that you are implementing today in your role and responsibilities?
There are three key learnings that I carry with me: focus on the impact; culture eats strategy for breakfast; and be resilient and anti-fragile. When immersed in the business realm, the ultimate measure of success lies in the impact we create. It’s not merely about tools and technology; it’s about solving critical business problems and driving substantial results that shape the company’s growth and success. Remember, culture trumps strategy. Understanding and embracing diverse cultures, fostering an inclusive work environment, and nurturing core values like integrity, innovation, and commitment are the pillars that lay the foundation for a thriving organisation. Life’s challenges are inevitable, but our response defines our destiny. Embrace setbacks, learn from mistakes, and let resilience guide your journey. By growing stronger with each hurdle and refusing to repeat past errors, you’ll forge a path to enduring triumph.
Could you provide specific examples of how AI has transformed the customer experience and contributed to personalised recommendations or improved services in your organisation?
I have been able to use AI and data science to drive innovation and provide improved, personalised customer experiences for my organisations. At Grab, I created customer churn models to predict in advance which customers have a higher likelihood of churning. I also created the Affluence Index, to compute the value of each of our 100 million+ customers using 10 different statistical parameters. These models transformed our digital marketing and customer relationship management by personalising communications, promotions, and ads for each customer. At Sony, my team and I developed state-ofthe-art recommendation systems to provide personalised content recommendations for SonyLIV, the second largest OTT platform in India with 200 million+ users. We published three US patents and multiple research papers based on our research work in the areas of recommendation systems and machine learning. At Sayurbox, my team developed cuttingedge AI-ML products for recommendations, search, and forecasting and successfully implemented them to provide personalised and contextualised services to millions of customers in Indonesia. We contributed to 12 million in annualised revenues for the company using our AI-ML products.