My e-Zest Journey

This year, e-Zest completes 20 years since its inception. While it has been a long way to get here, how did the organization evolve? Here’s a look at the journey of e-Zest from the perspective of our seasoned e-Zestians.

Aparna Telang

My professional connection with e-zest began back in 2013 when I joined e-zest as a Visual Designer to be a part of a small but a team of robust designers headed my Ashwin Chikerur. It was the same year when the organization completed 13 years of inception. And like any teenager I found the company too, unstoppable, raring to go that extra mile to achieve the goals. Which is a significant way had a positive impact on my life. It was the overall positive work environment and the culture, richly imbibed with forward-thinking that inspired me to always push the envelope to better myself in every aspect of work. Back in 2013, when I joined, e-Zest functioned in a modest workspace with the total workforce not more than 150 and a handful but loyal and trustworthy clients to boast about.

Fast forward to 2020 and as an e-Zest employee working for the last 7 years, I have witnessed a remarkable and progressive growth in the company. The company moved the base to a plush and bigger workspace in the IT hub of Hinjawadi. The number of headcounts has also shown a significant spike and the list of clientele has swelled over the years.

But there are certain things which have remained the same as they were back in 2013, and those are the company values. They have served as the cornerstones of this organization and I can proudly vouch for them.

As I said, the values of the company are something to be looked up to. The progressive outlook, the openness in the office culture, I love the fact that it's forward-thinking and just the whole ethos behind it. All these values rolled into one is what e-zest as an organization is.

All I have to tell my co-worker is that my 7 years of journey with e-Zest has been fulfilling and helped me to grow professionally. And at this point, I want to make a special mention of my team head, Ashwin Chikerur who's been a great guide and mentor to my other members of the design team and me.

I don't want to sugarcoat, but there have been professional lows at times but with the right kind of support and guidance from fellow workers, it became easier to get over the hurdles and move forward. And on that note, I wish e-Zest to keep soaring high and always keep making a mark in the digital world.

Ameet Gokhale

WOW, 20 in 20. What a journey.

My journey began back in 2008 with a phone call from Devendra. I used to work for India's largest LPO then and the way he spoke about e-Zest on the call made me want to meet. We met at 7:30 pm on in May 2020 at the Sadashiv Peth office. I was 10 mins late for the meeting as I just could not find parking in those small lanes. How this problem was solved once I joined is a story better told by Amol Pande. Finding parking was a new issue for me as I had always worked with organizations that had parking available for visitors. I took the elevator up to the 3rd floor and was surprised that I was met at the door by the company's founder – Devendra Deshmukh. Who does that? This was my first delight moment. Our meeting was only scheduled for 30 mins but it went on for over an hour and a half as I wanted to know about e-Zest and their story. Devendra patiently answered all my questions and the passion for entrepreneurship was evident. He told me that they wanted to bring me on as e-Zest believes in building entrepreneurs and are not shy of taking the right risks. I WAS SOLD.

My joining was on a Saturday, June 07, 2020, as I had to take a flight to the states the same day. I came to the Sadashiv Peth office back to the 3rd floor, this time not having to search for parking and was met by Mr. Sunil Sardesai – Head of Finance. My second WOW moment with e-Zest. He onboarded me with the passion that a father would bring in a new chap who has come to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. And I loved this.

Over the last 12 years, I've had the privilege to work with amazing people, noteworthy for their world-class talent, and even more so for the size of their hearts. Every day I get to learn from every single person takes the time to educate me. Going from 'e-Zest LPO' to 'e-Zest BPO' to 'Professional Services' to 'e-Zest BPM' and now 'Digital Operations' really speaks not only of my journey but also what this team has been able to achieve. My entrepreneur journey got started because of our SUPER 5 but continues only because of every team member who makes us great. It is almost impossible to find the right words to fully describe my experience with e-Zest. The thousands upon thousands of moments, people, and learnings that comprise my true dream job.

It's been said that we don't truly understand the value of a moment until it becomes a memory and I have 12 years' worth of them.

Gaurav Kabra

I got associated with e-Zest as Knowledge Manager which subtly penetrated into IO presales as well. Soon it was completely presales and I cherish the memories where I learned a lot, got polished, and had a lot of fun. Today, its Enterprise presales, a little different team, but the learning and fun still remain the same. It's the values that bind us together and bind us very strongly.

This is the place where people get the opportunities to pursue their passion with respect to their career path. An organization that cares for its people.

A journey with e-Zest has been full of fun and learning. Having worn different hats and having worked with different team members, I can say my experience has been a memorable one.

• Flexibility
• Dedication
• Helping team members
• Opportunities to learn and grow
• Even take up a completely different role
• Burning midnight oil
• The TGIMs/Philias/Hackathons/week-long celebrations/several other events

I have grown a deep attachment to this culture – and during this pandemic staying at home - I am starving for all of the above.

I am addicted to e-Zest! Proud to be an e-Zestian!

Vitthal Shinde

It's been a 15 years journey with e-Zest and feeling pride while celebrating 20th foundation day!
I joined e-Zest when it was an 85-member team and have seen it grow to 700+ member teams now. I've witnessed the transformation from a 2-storey apartment office to a world-class infrastructure office. Feeling proud that I was part of PFG groups (writing e-Zest processes), ISO Audits, CMMi 3 Audits. Indeed, it's a hard work of team members that have been involved, which has made e-Zest what it is today. Although this a milestone in our journey, we have a long way to go and a lot more to achieve.

I always feel that, in e-Zest, we have the freedom to nurture our ideas and thoughts. We have an open work environment and challenging jobs to do with tremendous growth opportunities. I think this what a techie guy wants.