Numbers To Software - The Journey Of Shraddha Thanawala

From playing with numbers to delving into software, Shraddha Thanawala’s transition has been an adventure. The strength of the CEO and Director of the Mumbai-based technology company, Merce Technologies lies in her value as an executor.

Merce is a software services organisation, that has operated in the cloud-first and digital transformation space for the last twenty-three years. It takes all projects to completion with a 98 per cent success rate. Shraddha has done it all - from midnight meetings with ministers and UN members to doling out highly technical advice despite her non-tech background. She has successfully handled all of it, learning something new with each step.

In her own words, “I have been constantly on a learning path, especially with technology. My incessant questions allowed for a lot of knowledge which I could grasp and use in my sales activity.”

Shraddha’s career began with understanding software systems and components such as web proxies and firewalls in the early 2000s, followed by getting a grasp on programming languages, while she was shifting from products to software services. “I’m lucky to be surrounded by techies who very patiently explain to me the fundamentals behind tech. They’re focused on concepts,” she says.

The company has been thriving for twenty-three years with marquee clients including two of the country's top three trading exchanges, both the securities depositories, Konkan Railway Corporation, the Uttar Pradesh State Government and Johnson & Johnson, among several others. Also steeped in the banking and finance domain, Merce developed a goal-based advisory service for Edelweiss to draw in first-time investors to invest in the capital markets. Merce has also set up an Offshore Development Center for a very successful fintech start-up.

With the tagline that promises “Let’s Build”, Merce Technologies holds close values such as insight, integrity and courage. The focus for Shraddha as CEO and Managing Director has often been to build a team that sticks together and also stands up for themselves. “One of the things I believe, as a leader, is that you support the team in their decisions, even if they are taking an approach you wouldn’t take, and more often than not, they’ll be doing a good job. It may not be how you envisage it, but in their own unique way, they’ll be doing a good job,” she says.

Shraddha's strategic focus for Merce is growth by design. The core of this transformation is Project Shakti, which aligns all teams with core values and culture, strengthens governance processes, and pushes for excellence in all technical and non-technical areas. It has three focus areas: Accountability, Caring and Excellence.

As a leader in the field and the company, Shraddha looks at the challenges ahead. “A leader needs to let go of the activities and control she exercised – when you scale up, that’s the first thing you need to do. I always ensure that my team is at play and I am using their qualities and their skills to the best level,” Shraddha says, defining Merce’s vision of bringing class leading solutions for business using technology, thought and talent.