India's technology revolution and smart-sourcing

It took me a little while to find a quote that I thought fitting to a place that is so historical, paradoxical, and yet so immersive in the most necessary ways you can experience as a person. Without surprise, the great Gandhi said it best.

After 2 years of working with our wonderful Igloo Media team, of whom a few are based in India, I realised in an effort to bridge the isolation of remote working, that I aught to visit the great Bharat (the ancient name of India). The reality hit me quickly: India is not a place you simply see. India is a place you feel - in every sensual, physical, and psychological way known to man.

Along the way…

Education comes first

While I could write all day about the magnificent landmarks that grace the cities, mountains and valleys of India’s Golden Triangle, there’s a few distinct pieces about Indian culture that really stood out to me, and the first is: education.

This dates back to 2017. I was sat on the tournament shuttle in Lagos Nigeria, armed guards and police escorts leading the way, surrounded by a group of tennis players from India on our way to training. All eloquently chatting away on the bus (in English), they were talking about graduating from their respective universities with Masters degrees later that year. I remember turning to one of them, sat next to me, and asked, “do all you guys have a Masters degrees?” He responded: “Yes, a lot of folks in India have a masters, it’s too competitive otherwise.” While impressed, I didn’t dwell on it too much. Focused on training, we disembarked the bus, and got to work.

Seven years later, here I am, recruiting top-tier candidates from India every month, for senior roles in digital marketing, design, web development, data analytics and more. Each candidate comes with at least one degree, extensive work experience, and English so fluent it puts British attempts at learning foreign languages to shame. Curious to understand more, on my visit, I nudged a colleague to give me his perspective on their education system. His response I’ll never forget: “demanding yet necessary.” For Indian’s, education stands as both a moral imperative and a societal expectation.

To my discovery, India has more higher education facilities than any country in the world, and EdTech has helped democratise access for education in it’s rise to what will be a $30 billion industry by 2031 (read more). With leading candidates emerging from the prestigious IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), these rigorous programs create a competitive pipeline where students vie for fast-tracked career opportunities and a future at the forefront of technology (read more) - a system designed to train the next generation of C-Suite pioneers.

India is smart, and it’s getting smarter. It would be naive to claim that education is accessible to everyone in the country. As you’ll see when you visit, for many, India remains a battleground for survival. Yet, I firmly believe that India’s economic drive holds the potential to bridge its glaring wealth divide. After all, every revolution begins with a single step, and India’s investment into education and emphasis on technology are catching the world’s attention.

I call it smart-sourcing

ChatGPT - define outsourcing: Outsourcing refers to the practice of delegating specific business functions or tasks to external companies or individuals, often in different geographic locations. This allows organizations to focus on core activities while reducing costs, increasing efficiency, or gaining specialized expertise. Tasks commonly outsourced include customer service, manufacturing, IT services, and administrative work.

The human mind often assumes that outsourcing means cheap, low-cost, low-quality labor. Stereotypes can be powerful and destructive, with media playing a significant role in reinforcing these misconceptions. It appears that India, often associated with lower labor costs, falls victim to such stereotypes across almost all sectors.

However, the rise of remote work and connectivity has enabled specialists in India to access high-paying economies, challenging traditional perceptions of outsourcing and earn hard currency. As owners and operators of agencies in the US and EU, we are slowly adjusting our corporate infrastructure to recognize the benefit with smart-sourcing (as I call it) and leveraging this connectivity best we can. Suddenly, we have access to not only a highly educated pool of specialists, but a culture still striving to prove itself as pioneers, not just operators.

In fact, I’d argue that senior marketing directors in India are closing the compensation gap on candidates in similar roles in the UK. After all, why not? Should pay be relative, or should you be paid your worth? One can argue both, and it goes without saying, that technology is starting to facilitate greater access to hard currency for residents of developing countries.

The global economy operates on the assumption that employment is always “relative,” hence companies with a workforce in emerging economies follow a thesis that the value of one’s pay must be relative to the buying power of their home country. But this is starting to change, as corporate borders start to fade and global interconnectivity better facilitates a decentralised business model. The question we’re asking is: could India start to close this gap, leverage their expertise, and start to demand equal benefits? If so, are emerging governments, like India’s, going to divest from domestic growth and lean heavier on Western economies to stabilise their wealth distribution?

Maybe a topic for next time…

The Indian culture is driving mass motivation

The impact of culture is hard to quantify and even harder to forecast. Peter Turchin (Princeton University Press) wrote a piece called Secular Cycles in 2003, and later The Rise and Fall of Empires in 2005. Turchin argues that societies experiencing political instability or revolutionary change often undergo subsequent growth, driven by the collective social and cultural energy that emerges from these challenging times. The intense desire to overcome past struggles propels innovation, economic growth, and reform, setting the stage for significant advancements in various sectors.

For India, this historical resilience and drive could be what’s fueling its remarkable transformation today. Controversially, though much like the post-war growth seen in the United States, Turkey's transformation after Atatürk's revolution, or Japan’s post-Meiji Restoration, where political and cultural revolutions spurred the nation's leap into industrialization and modernization, India is arguably experiencing much the same today. Arguments still persist regarding some of the country’s restrictions on MNC’s (read more), in an effort to protect domestic businesses and long standing trade regulations for e-commerce. How this will evolve with threatening tariffs from the US, we’ll soon find out.

What I’ve found, certainly in e-commerce, is that India fosters a culture constantly searching for opportunities. Students are now being trained to innovate and build, not just to work, supported by a robust pipeline of software engineers and tech aficionados. While the UK and parts of the EU are relying heavily on attracting foreign corporations by promoting social benefits, friendly tax systems and cold limoncello, India is using their time to build new technology as a catapult to global leadership.

So far, at Igloo Media our top candidates from India shine just as bright as the golden palaces that adorn the country. As I’ve written this on Thanksgiving, I think it’s fitting to say, that Alex and I are eternally grateful for everyone’s hard work. Onwards and upwards.