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Vconsol, India’s answer to Zoom, is endowed with the qualities of the countryside

joy-sebastian Dream team: Sebastian with wife, Lincy (right), and coworkers at Infopark Cherthala, Kerala | Jackson Arattukulam

Joy Sebastian, 44, wears many hats. When he is not at his office in Infopark Cherthala, an IT park in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, Sebastian helps out at a people's hotel in the neighbourhood, mentors students at the local library or takes classes on palliative care in local panchayats.

Sebastian was in the news recently as the developer of India's own videoconference app—a next-generation alternative to the popular Zoom (made by a US company that has workforce and servers in China). Sebastian’s Techgentsia Software Technologies won a national competition organised by the Union information technology ministry for developing a world-class videoconference app, a crucial service during the pandemic.

Sebastian's Vconsol outsmarted products from 1,983 companies, including topnotch IT firms like HCL and Zoho. Apart from winning Rs1 crore as prize money, Vconsol also bagged the contract to provide videoconference solutions to all Central institutions for the next three years. “The trials have already started and every government institution will be able to use it soon,” said Sebastian.

Vconsol can support up to 80 active and 300 passive participants simultaneously with minimum bandwidth, providing good audio and video quality. “The government's demand was for 18 active participants, but we could offer a more capable product,” he said. Vconsol has addressed all security concerns and has all the features available on Zoom’s premium variant.

Sebastian said the jury must have selected his product as it married sound technology with the best security features. “I was sure about the quality of my product, but not so much about my presentation skills,” he said. He should know. Job interviews were always a big headache for him. “I would always clear the written tests for campus selection. But I always lost out in interviews because of my poor English,” said Sebastian, who hails from a family of poor fishermen in Alappuzha. “I did my schooling in Malayalam medium, in government schools.” He got his first job after an interview board allowed him to talk in Malayalam. “Luckily, they valued my knowledge and skill sets over my English,” he said.

Sebastian keeps this in mind while hiring. “A majority of my 65-member team have rural backgrounds. They may not speak polished English, but they are the best, technologically,” he said. “Vconsole is a software filled with the qualities of the countryside.”

Sebastian attributed his success to the good-heartedness of those around him. He grew up in a one-room house built by the government. He now lives with his wife (a high school teacher), two kids and his parents. He is also grateful to Kerala’s public education system. “If there were no good government schools or colleges, people like me would never have dared to dream high,”he said.

Sebastian’s motto is—help those in need. After his big win, one of his Facebook friends asked if he would still be able to help out at the people’s hotel. “I will always be there,” he replied. “This award may have changed the profile of the company, but I will not allow it to change my life.” 

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