Believe more in technology to be successful in a digital economy: Mahendra Swarup

Sigma Ventures Managing Partner Mahendra Swarup was speaking at the inaugural e4m Digital 40 under 40 conference on ‘From Digital Advertising to Digital Economy’. As the world prepares itself for a metaverse, a digital reality to communicate and do commerce, it is very important for people to be tech-friendly and any nation’s success would largely depend on the level of digital literacy it has, Sigma Ventures Managing Partner emphasised while delivering a keynote address at the E4M Digital 40 Under 40 conference.

He started by saying that not the age in the modern world but what people think defines how young they are. “Young people are not necessarily going to determine the future but technology. I would say you must believe less and less in yourself and more and more in technology if you want to be successful in a digital economy.”

Giving an idea of how the future is going to look as the world embraces technology in a never-seen-before way Swarup noted, “The web is already checking if a robot is using its application because technology believes that soon there are going to be robots all around. In fact, we all are going to turn into robots soon. Wearable tech is already a reality and soon you will have these devices embedded in your bodies. It is coming closer and closer to you physically and the day isn’t far when all of us will be tech entities.” He, therefore, prompted people to get accustomed to technology and be digitally literate. “I never stop people from fiddling with their phones. In fact, I believe to be successful in a digital economy, one needs to live in the future and tech enables those experiences in the present. I would suggest everyone spend at least thirty minutes every morning thinking about that future. Use your devices more. Download new applications and explore the world in them. You will learn a lot of new things.”

Swarup also shared that not just individuals but businesses and economies too need to increase their focus on technology. “I would say that India is headed to be the strongest economy in the future. And I am not saying this on the basis of any GDP numbers or economic progressions. I am saying this because India is possibly the most digitally literate country in the world right now. It is the biggest user of the internet. Even the uneducated now know how to use the internet. For the biggest of the companies listed on NASDAQ, including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Google, 40% of their cap is coming from India.”

He insisted that the business community should work towards utilising this potential of the country and prevent the wealth from going overseas. “We are creating more and more wealth for the foreign investors. We need to seriously work towards keeping this within the country and develop better tech solutions and platforms within the country.”

Further, he shared that people shouldn’t be worried about issues like privacy or fake news. “I don’t believe statements like privacy is important or fake is dangerous. Because technology itself is equipping each of us to fight these issues. I am not at all worried about fake news because using technology, it is a matter of seconds that such news pieces will get flagged. But what we should be worried about is biased news. Every media outlet today is biased. And biased news is not going to vanish. But the medium will get democratised because of the right technology. People are going to take the lead in this.”

He concluded by saying that one needs to believe that they are a part of the digital economy to be rich and successful.