Professional-turned-entrepreneur Abhijit Bhuyan’s Bohniman Systems came in the reckoning last year when NRC (National Registrar of Citizens) debate broke out in Assam. Rarely did the history witness an attempt to verify nationality of over three crore people retrospectively.

The ₹10-crore Guwahati-based IT services company, set up by Bhuyan and his engineering classmates from Assam, did the crucial job of digitising legacy data and created the tools necessary to help people prove the presence of the family in Assam before March 24, 1971. Bhuyan is lead-promoter and MD of the company.

VC fund for N-E

The project earned social recognition to Bohniman, that had started its journey nearly two decades ago, when North-East was grappling with terrorism. Now that the region is aspiring for growth, Bhuyan is up with his next plan – creating a ₹150-crore venture capital fund, focussed on North-East.

“Funds are tied up from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong and preparations began for SEBI approval. I am hopeful that the VC will start operating by the end of this year,” he said.

The guiding force behind the plan was Bohniman’s struggle to access finance in the early years of operation.

“Till about a decade ago, when we got a major data migration contract from the US, we had to struggle for finance. We had ideas, but banks wanted collaterals. The ecosystem has improved since then. We want to make it better,” he said.

Product development

An electronics engineer, Bhuyan specialised in biomedical instrumentation in Germany and became the India-head of Medos Medizintechnik AG at 34. His first entrepreneurial venture, in 2001, in medical instrumentation, suffered major loss due to currency volatility following 9/11.

In 2003, he returned home and started developing a clinical management tool for hospitals through Bohniman. This project too was aborted after two years, partly due to lack of resources. For survival, the company shifted focus to e-governance projects floated by the North-Eastern States.

Now on a stable ground, the 40-people-strong Bohniman is out to establish its credentials as an IT services company nationally and refocus on product development.

“We are increasing our marketing network to tap wide opportunities in e-governance sector across the country,” Bhuyan said. The company is currently in recruitment mode.

In the products segment, an artificial intelligence-based software is now in trial mode to help hotels manage resources more gainfully. Also under development is an application that will help customers book hotel rooms through tariff bidding.

Bhuyan is keen that Bohniman should open office in Germany to work on Internet of Things and blockchain-based next generation products. He is already having a medical instrumentation venture, OJAA Heart, in Germany with three German partners.

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