Jagi Panda has always been a high flier. She started out with Indian Airlines, moved to modelling and now runs Ortel Communications, an infrastructure company, and OTV, Odisha’s first private broadcasting company. Panda didn’t start out to be a media mogul.
After her marriage to MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, she moved to Bhubaneswar and was looking “to work on something meaningful”. The family-owned communications department got her excited, and decided to make her own. Today, Jagi employs over 2,500 people and Ortel has a presence in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal.
She has also pioneered several concepts such as granting widespread employee stock ownership, accessing venture funding, not to mention building a successful technology-related business in a state that’s more comfortable with mineral and manufacturing companies.
“Fundraising was a major issue,” Panda reminisces. “It felt like we could never sell the company’s vision and raise the required capital, and Ortel is a very capital-intensive business.”
The issues got sorted and Ortel took off. Panda then focused on building a capable management team with equity stakes in the company. She handed over the day-to-day management of the company to the team and began devoting her time to long-term growth plans. Hugely interested in societal issues, she has initiated Ortel Dayitwa, a CSR project providing scholarships for higher education for girls and “Say No To Plastic Bags” campaign.