BRIEF23 brings you insights and inspiration from Vinay Kumar Singh, Executive Director and CEO, Thomson Digital and Q&I (India).
Vinay writes on invitation and exclusively for our special series BRIEF23, which features industry stalwarts, thought leaders, industry captains, business heads, brand custodians and other C-suite heads from diverse companies across sectors, size and scale, sharing their learnings from 2022, and guidance and inspiration to help empower professionals for the upcoming FY 2023-24.
Vinay Kumar Singh is the Executive Director and CEO of Thomson Digital and Q&I. He is an alumnus of the Regional Institute of Printing Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and Graphic Communication Technology, University of Pune. Specialised in scientific and educational content, he also underwent Executive Training Programs at ISB Hyderabad.
Vinay started his career with Thomson Press in 1991 and has served the organisation in multiple capacities. He established Thomson Digital, a division of Thomson Press India Ltd., and rechristened it as Thomson Digital, an independent & separate brand. In the year 2000, Vinay was given the charge of running the export division of Thomson Press in its content solution and services, he was entrusted with the responsibility of business expansion, marketing, and product development across all the units of Thomson Digital in the country.
Vinay is also the CEO of Thomson Digital (Mauritius) Limited, a company established by him 15 years ago to provide content-related services to scientific technology and medical publishers, higher education publishers, and K-12 publishers in the French language. He is also the CEO of Thomson Digital (New York) Limited, engaged in providing onshore services to North American STM publishers, higher education publishers, and K-12 education publishers.
He founded a technology start-up company called DigiScape Limited for providing workflow solutions, process automation, and innovative breakthroughs in processing scientific and educational content for the global publishing fraternity.
With over 30 years of rich industry experience, Vinay is on the board of group companies within India Today Group and Thomson Press (I) Ltd.
BRIEF23 by Vinay Kumar Singh – Thomson Digital and Q&I
2022 defined: As a year, 2022 has been an eventful year for all working professionals. It facilitated us to bounce back to normalcy in the post-pandemic world after two years of testing times with a hybrid work model and lockdown.
With getting back to the office, and courageously responding to major headwinds of the industry, we also introduced our newly-minted Ed-tech portal Q&I, which is a self-assessment platform for NEET and JEE aspirants.
On track, ahead of, or trailing the pack?: As we have ventured into the Ed-tech space with Q&I, a first-of-its-kind assessment-led EdTech platform for the preparation of JEE and NEET aspirants, we believe that we are surely ahead of the curve.
We are bringing innovation in the Ed-tech sector and providing a granulated level of preparation to the NEET and JEE aspirants. Other Edtech platforms are trying to be a substitute for classroom teaching whereas, we aim to support them and further enhance traditional teaching.
Under the hood: Looking back at the foregone years, I realized that having a proper work-life balance is crucial. Considering your own well-being as a priority can be challenging to know where to begin but, when you take care of yourself, your overall viewpoint changes about your life and your work.
Lessons learnt: I reverberate a simple yet divine message by Khalil Gibran, “And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret….Work is love made visible”. It applies to both our personal and professional lives as every human is born to do great things.
If anyone is doing anything lesser than their abilities, it is a disservice to oneself, and to one’s labour. Another thing that I have realised and learnt over the course is that hard work is imperative and it couldn’t be substituted with anything else. Hard work done smartly can give a magnitude of growth in a professional’s life.
Who/What inspired me: I believe inspiration is only temporary when ideas are not executed for adding value to any individual’s life. Consistency in everything I do is what inspires me every day to continue doing it until it creates an indelible mark.
Looking ahead: I believe 2023 and beyond will be excellent years as headwinds turn into tailwinds. And we would be able to touch base with more students and teachers and make Q&I an unprecedented success in the Ed-tech space.
As an education entity, we wish to make learning simpler and more understanding for the NEET and JEE aspirants with easier learning methods. We just don’t want our topline to shine but want to bring unparalleled innovation to the competitive exam preparation structure.
And here’s how we’ll do it!: By welcoming both bouquets and brickbats. We can’t choose what life makes us encounter, but we can surely change our outlook on the situation and tweak our perspective on it.
One big learning/realization: The massive mountain looming in the distance may turn out to be a hill. Indeed, many big problems in life turn out to be molehills once we put our shoulders to the wheel.
The quote or thought that’ll inspire me in 2023: You ain’t seen nothing yet. Post the Covid years, I strongly believe that you can’t foresee the future and everything unfolds at its own pace.
Finally, I want to add that the best is yet to come, and we must be optimistic about achieving our personal and professional goals.