Lisgar YearBook, 1980.
On Sept 23rd 1983, as I flew back to India after completing my under-grad from University of Ottawa, I had never imagined I would have the opportunity to revisit Ottawa or even come back to Canada. Almost 13 years later, I got a job opportunity in Silicon Valley (California) and I moved to California in 1996 with my wife and 3 year old daughter. There was always that urge to come back and revisit the city of Ottawa sometime, visit the Lisgar High School or walk down the halls and cafeteria of University of Ottawa campus, and relive the old memories.
Fast forward to January 2019, I was working with Digital OnUs, my 2nd startup and we were looking to expand beyond our main nearshore delivery centers in Mexico. In one of the partner conferences in San Francisco, I ran into Bart Dziekan who was working with another firm in Ottawa (Canada) and I shared my thoughts with him about expanding to Canada, and how I longed to be back in Ottawa and give something back to the beautiful city and the country which had given me so much. Fortunately, Bart got back to me after a couple of months and said he was ready to be our 1st Canadian employee.
In a short span of 2 years, we are a 38 member team today, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, and a few employees based in Vancouver and Quebec City. We’re just getting started! The plan is to get 100+ in the next 2 years. Thank you Bart, Adam, Varun, Kalyan (some of the early joiners in 2019) and others who have joined the DoU family in the recent past. Under the strong leadership of Jeanette and Viry, I have no doubt that the DoU Canada team is poised to grow significantly in the coming years.
Coming back to the city of Ottawa which I revisited after almost 36 years, not much has changed except for that the old farmers market by Rideau St. has been replaced by some nice restaurants. The small city charm of Ottawa is still alive and kicking, and I have a huge smile on my face and gratitude in my heart every time I go back!
By – Suri Chawla – Founder and CEO, DigitalOnUs
