He built his career, life here

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express

There may be scores of techies having a professional attachment with Technopark by working at the campus since its inception. But, for Syed Ibrahim, it’s not only a professional but a personal attachment as well, as it has not only made him an employer from an employee, but also found a life partner for him.
Syed, a graduate in German language, started his career in Technopark as a translator with Ada Software in 1995, the year in which Technopark was commissioned.
Syed, who did his post-graduation in Germany, subsequently switched to IVL, a German company, as project coordinator in 1996.
In the meantime, he found his life partner Sheena, who was then working with another firm in Technopark - Data Entry International.
‘‘In the initial years of Technopark, there were only a few companies and the total number of members was also around 500. Hence, all of us knew each other. But now the number of employees in the Technopark campus has increased manifold and hence there are no strong personal relations between the employees of various firms,’’ says Syed, a native of Kozhikode.
In 1998, Syed, along with one of his friends, started Palnar Transmedia. Started with two employees in 150 square feet of space, Palnar now has 42 professionals working from 4,000-square feet in Technopark, besides having branches in Germany and the US.
‘‘We attribute our success to the sincere support by the Technopark officials by providing adequate space and other assistance at our budding stage,’’ says Syed, who is also the honorary president of the German Centre in the city, Goethe-Zentrum.
There is a wrong perception about Kerala abroad which is indeed hindering investors to the State to certain extent. But from my experience I feel that those perceptions are totally baseless, Syed adds.

arjun_raghunath@expressbuzz.com