In this edition of Most Empowering Business Women to watch out, we would like to tell a story about life, struggle, and entrepreneurship. This is the story of Meena Krishnan who is the President and CEO of Inoventures, LLC. Her story stands to show how overcoming obstacles can leave a positive impact on the economy, community, and personal growth. Faced with the sudden tragedy of losing her entire family (she grew up with) in a car accident, Meena was stunned on her career path.
After many weeks of self-reflection, she realized change was the only constant, and facing it head-on was the only option. She decided to carry on the legacy of her departed family by impacting the community in a meaningful way .
This realization became the energy behind starting her own company, Inoventures with a drive to make an impact. Along with her two Master’s degrees in Econometrics and Systems Engineering with Ph.D. experience, she went back to Wharton Business School and equipped herself with the necessary tools to be an entrepreneur. Driven by a unique core value system, customer-centric focus, and employee-centric policies, Meena’s company Inoventures has seen a staggering growth of 3255% in 2014-2016.
The organization is completely employee-centric; all of its staff works from home and yet provides top-notch services resulting in mutual synergies. Allowing employees to strike a work-life balance while instilling innovation has enabled us to provide top-notch customer satisfaction.
Solving Clients’ Needs with Great Services
Inoventures together with its subsidiary SciMetrika LLC provides Public Health IT services to the Federal Government and commercial customers. As a HUBZone and Woman-Owned Small Business, Inoventures has supported every division of CDC in preventing Public Health issues such as COVID 19 prevention, Malaria, Ebola prevention and also providing diversified population Health to the 500 plus Indian Native Populations across the USA.
As part of innovative IT modernization efforts, certified by the Carnegie Mellon Institute at CMMI Level 3 and ISO 9001:2015, Inoventures has supported US Census Bureau with the Decennial efforts, FDIC, various divisions of EPA, National Institutes of Health to mention a few. Under Meena’s leadership, Inoventures has won several Industry Awards- 2021 Top Health IT company by Silicon India Magazine, 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year Award, 2018 HUBZone Owner of the Year by National Contractor Council, 2018 Women In Technology Leader, 2017 BRAVA Women CEO of the Year, 2017 Washington Business Journal’s Minority Business Leader of the Year.
Meena says, “Our customers are Federal Government and Commercial customers. We practice our core values in providing our day-to-day services.” The company’s core values include top-notch customer service, employee engagement, and innovation. Meena and her team at Inoventures make sure they engage with their employees to serve the customers in the best possible way. The organization always thinks of “what is our customer’s pain point?” because if it does not have a happy customer, it does not have an opportunity to serve. With employee engagement and the importance of innovation, they have created a self-fulfilling value system that perpetuates trust and faith from the customers.
Standing Out in a Competitive Market
“When we do our work with the core values mentioned above, our brand speaks for itself.” says Meena Krishnan. The company certainly shares its joy with the industry via traditional social media. However, the organization believes in being humble and authentic to its mission-critical customer base. Then its customers spread the word about the brand which is the most essential ingredient for sustaining brand value.
Tackling the Pandemic
Inoventures is doing its business in the Public Health domain, and it has been making a difference at the Indian Health Services in preventing COVID 19 among the 500 plus Tribal populations. The company just proposed a unique approach to contact tracing within those populations, adhering to the cultural sensitivities of the tribal communities. While it is always able to rapidly deploy cutting-edge technology, it can also scale back, as needed, if a tribal population requires a different approach. In some cases, Inoventures proposed appointing cultural ambassadors with whom the populations feel comfortable sharing information. As a result, there is a better dialogue between Inoventures and the populations, enabling faster data collection and analysis resulting in accurate solutions delivery. The methodologies are the same, but the mechanics are different, in terms of the delivery.
Suggestions for Young Entrepreneurs
When we requested Meena Krishnan for a piece of advice for all the upcoming entrepreneurs, she says, “When it comes to business, men and women face the same challenges. Being aware of these challenges and creating support systems wherever possible will be critical. No challenge is the same so recognizing our strengths and weaknesses will allow us to seek help when needed.” She also added, “As women, connecting with fellow women leaders will be a critical factor in helping each other so I recommend organizations like Women Impacting Public Policy and Women In Technology to consider as they have made a difference for women leaders.”
Future Roadmap
Moving forward, both Meena Krishnan and Inoventures is focused on expanding their Public Health and COVID-19 prevention solutions—such as improving existing contact tracing methods through advanced technologies. Furthermore, the company is actively collaborating with more modern technology partners, providing them both business opportunities and a window into the vast sphere of public health. These partnerships also lend to Inoventures’ commitment to continually upgrade on the technology front, as evidenced by the recently launched Health Cloud solution that runs on the AWS platform. Furthermore, the company offers its clients unique procurement methodologies, enabling customers to procure work more efficiently. Inoventures will be a Public Health IT leader making a huge impact on global and population health.
