Rising To The Challenge

During times of shifting economies and changing paradigms, Shiv Kumar, CEO of Maple Software and Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), AP State interacts with Yo!Vizag about the recent CII Partnership Summit, and the industry in general.

His bond with Vizag

Born, brought up and educated in Vizag, Shiv Kumar completed his B.Tech from Mangalore University and a MS degree from University of Central Florida, Orlando. He spent a few years in the US before returning to his native city in 1995. Here, he set up Maple Software in 1998, for one simple yet profound reason, “I belong here, so if I’m to return to India, it has to be Vizag”. Involved with diverse businesses that range from exporting granite to offering healthcare IT products for US clinics and hospitals, Maple software also does automation and mobile application development. With a wide range of clients such as Healthcare establishments, International pharmacies, Defence, Maple offers a range of document management systems, healthcare and other products. Maple Software has offices in Vizag, Hyderabad and Orlando, Florida.

The CII (AP Chapter) connect

His association with CII began about 20 years ago, when he noticed multiple issues in his industry and started looking for a platform where they could be represented to the Government authorities effectively. ”I was looking for a platform that was either state or national level.” CII came across as the ideal choice as it could help resolve issues and also help Shiv Kumar with networking. Back then, meetings of CII were held at Coromandel Fertilizers. Soon, in 2003-2004, Ramesh Datla from Elico asked Shiv Kumar to take charge of the Vizag chapter. One thing led to another, and he became the Vice Chairman and subsequently the Chairman of CII, Vizag Zone and increased the membership in these two years.