Grand visions for a new Southbanker

What do India, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, and Southbank have in common? Collectively, probably not much.

They have, however, been home to Southbank’s newest entrepreneur, Arnab Dasgupta.

A truly global citizen, Mr Dasgupta left his home in Kolkata, India to study a Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering at the University of Swansea in southern Wales in 2010, where he first found the taste for entrepreneurship after a lecture from Wales’s first billionaire, Terry Matthews.

With ambition flowing through his veins, Mr Dasgupta took is new-found passion across the North Sea to Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus, in 2015 with the vision to turn the city into Europe’s answer to the Silicon Valley.

Now, with a wealth of experience and an ever-growing network in his hands, Mr Dasgupta has brought the same lofty vision for Melbourne; for it to become the tech capital of Australia.

“As the ‘Australian dream’ goes, I came over here not knowing a single person and started working part-time in a sales role to get an idea of the culture and interact with people,” Mr Dasgupta said.

My motivation in life is to help change people’s lives through technology. Finding so many like-minded people in Melbourne has been validation in making the move here.

While the transition to Australian life was not one without a high degree of uncertainty, Mr Dasgupta has dispelled any unwanted stress by spending every spare moment formulating his next big idea.

That idea amalgamated into a passion, which is now a fully-formed business with the creation of Unycal – an initiative that aims to connect small and medium business from different countries, to help them thrive, grow and scale.

“The best outcomes happen when businesses talk to each other. The opportunities and the outcomes that come out of those discussions,” Mr Dasgupta said.

“I launched Unycal in November last year, after reaching out to the owner of Bounce Australia, which is based in Maryborough. Their mission is to help people get into full-time and part-time work.”

“I then paired them with an IT consulting firm with headquarters based in the US but most of their workers are in India, based on their shared interest, passion, and vision.

In only three meetings they have entered a partnership where Bounce will expand into the Indian market and the Indian company would then expand into Australian market.”

“That really validates the work that we are doing. Think about Amazon.com combined with Tinder, where we allow businesses not only to match, but to allow companies to sell products and services. Instead of advertising, we match businesses with an algorithm that feeds on that connection.”

According to Mr Dasgupta the power of networks in Australia in a pre-COVID world, and now even more so in a post-COVID world, couldn’t be greater.

Now a fully-fledged Southbanker and hopeful Australian citizen, Mr Dasgupta spends his spare time, that isn’t occupied with creating a new tech startup, searching for the best cappuccino in the area by day and journeying across the state during the weekend.

“I used to walk past Southbank every single day because I was working in the area and thought it would be fantastic to live here. I’ve lived in Ballarat, Glenroy, and Pascoe Vale. So, I’ve now lived in the country, suburban Melbourne and now in the central city,” Mr Dasgupta said.

“I love exploring new places and areas. On a weekend I’ll jump on a train and head to a new suburb or town I have never been to. Travelling the countryside has been one of my favourite things because I’ve had the chance to see places, meet new people and chat to them about how they can improve their business.” •

For more information: unycal.com