by Jessica Subramanian | 9 Oct. 2026
16 years ago, I left my job on Wall Street to work in India for an organization founded by two Bay Area tech entrepreneurs who, like me, were eager to contribute their skills back to India.
Dipak Basu tells the origin story best. When he went into rural India and asked people what they needed, they said 1) jobs, 2) jobs, and 3) jobs. It’s still the clearest market research I’ve ever seen.
From there came Anudip Foundation and then iMerit. I helped build Anudip’s entrepreneurship program in India and led business development in the US, shaping the business model and partnerships. For several years, I contributed to their mission of bringing tech-enabled jobs to rural India.
I remember working in Radha Basu and Dipak Basu‘s kitchen on an early business plan for iMerit and pitching to impact investors. Their vision was to bring Silicon Valley work to rural India, train people locally, and give them a career that didn’t require them to leave home or commute to the big city.
16 years later, both are thriving. Anudip is a nonprofit. iMerit was built as a for-profit company backed by impact investors. The model works, and now iMerit has been acquired for over $300 million.
There’s a long story in between, full of visionaries and thousands of people who showed up every day. They were wildly bold and brilliant, and the best people to be around.
We recently gathered to celebrate the impact. Working with this team has been a career highlight because these colleagues are now family. And here I am with iMerit CEO and Founder Radha Basu and Prasenjit Baidya, who’s been with iMerit since the beginning. Also great to see Aparna Bawa and so many friends and supporters of this work. government bodies, and civil society to address how AI can drive workforce resilience while ensuring equity and inclusion.