By Indranil Halder
On 2022 Anzac Day (national day of remembrance), I met Prabir Saha, at The Verandah Restaurant, Beecroft Bowling Club, NSW. He is a Bengali entrepreneur in IT Services with Cybersecurity Product.
Why Cyber Security?
Today cyber and critical technology is part of our life. From international relations to foreign policy to every day life across the globe is touched by cyber and critical technology. For safety, security and economic prosperity, Australia’s engagement in the field is paramount.
In 2017, Dr Tobias Feakin became Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology. In 2021, a world-first summit was held to provide a interactive platform for discussion on cyber and critical technology issues. It was hosted virtually from Sydney. Guest speakers includes Australian PM Scott Morrison (ScoMo) and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. For a prosperous Indo-Pacific , $12.7 million Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership (AICCTP) had also been established.
Under an Australia-India Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation both Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator, the Hon Marise Payne and India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar signed agreements. Both governments are shaping the global technology environment.
Australian entrepreneur Prabir Saha is one step ahead. His company Transformation Plus (www.Transformationplus.com) and it’s flagship cyber product is iSecureCyber (www.iSecureCyber.com)is already providing cyber security and compliance solutions for enterprises to assess risks in supply chain, tracking compliances in accordance various global regulations and continually monitoring changes for social, economical and safety benefits.
So, who is Prabir Saha?
Prabir is an inspiring Bengali Australian. He was an ex Senior IT professional. Lived with parents in South Kolkata and finished college education in Tripura, India.
In his late forties, he launched his fast growing start-up Transformationplus in Australia. Then the company launched its first product platform – iSecureCyber, with a team of both local and global talents in Australia. Today, he is a financially sound entrepreneur who keeps following his passion.
How did Prabir became an entrepreneur?
In early Feb 2003, flew out of Kolkata for Melbourne. Accepted a job offer from Australian telecommunication giant as software project lead to built data warehouse solutions. In Australia, Mrs Saha is his biggest supporter. She says,”Prabir is the very disciplined & focused man. He has uncanny eye for details”. It is my experience too. With my prior engagements on ANZAC Day, I was 15 minutes late for my appointment with Prabir. When I arrived, I found him chilling on a high neck chair next to the fireplace. It was great listening to Prabir’s entrepreneurial story over ANZAC special, spit roast pulled barbecue lamb roll with salted caper mayonnaise and pea tendrils with a pint of furphy.
He is proud of the business venture, the idea of which he started with only $7.95c (AUD) in his bank, poor health and a heart full of passion. It was evident that he changed his life by acquiring the necessary skillsets and mindset from reading, mentorship and contributing to the society with his 21K Walk to Fame podcasts (Available on Spotify, Apple podcast, Link: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-21-walk-to-your-fame/).
In 2008 , he read Oprah’s autobiography. It was a turning point in his life. He also attended paid mentorship with Robert T. Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) in Sydney. It changed his life for ever. Today, beside being an entrepreneur, he maintains a healthy lifestyle with purposeful contributions to the society through his 21K Walk to Fame podcasts which gets recorded while he walks 21 kilometer every single day. He even moved away from the city’s rat race for a while and fell in love with rural Australia. Soon, he found himself in Molong (between Dubbo and Orange in NSW).
In 2013, Prabir started working for another major telecom company and moved back to Sydney. In 2018, he forged his own entrepreneurial venture. His first client was Australian federal department followed by major customers in Government, Banking, Financial services and Insurance(BFSI)and Telecom industries – the list is ever growing.
During his spare time, like any Aussie Bengali, he enjoys vegetarian dishes such as Tok Dal (Sour Dal), Polao rice and Aloo Dom (potato curry) with fried eggplants. He believes that it’s our attitude not aptitude which will determine our altitude for making progress in life. He is a risk taker and very clearly personifies the quote that the “biggest risk in life is not taking one” – and that paid off. Once upon a time in his life, he had driven Uber, slept in the boot of his car in freezing temperatures on the Highway but it didn’t stop him from co-founding ToHI: Temple of Humanity (Co Founder), Mentoring various young university students in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. He has over ten thousand followers on LinkedIn and his podcast listeners are growing every day. His passion is to contribute to empower others, especially the youth with his mentorship and experiences . Recently one of his mentee was the finalist for the 2022 B&T Women Leading Tech Award in the Delivery category.
When asked – “What’s new happening in life?”
He candidly said that he and his team are growing his Venture Capital company TPLUSVENTURES (https://tplusventures.vc) which will invest in seed and pre-seed startups.
At The Verandah , Beecroft, after enjoying his Eton Mess (Strawberry Meringue, Lemon Coconut Yogurt, Grilled Strawberry Compote, Finger Lime) desert, Prabir finished our afternoon meeting by saying, “Bengalis always needs to end a meeting with amazing sweets, that is core essence of Bengaliana.” Cannot agree more.
As locals played lawn bowling under the winter afternoon sun, I left with a satisfied sweet tooth and brain consumed with the many possibilities of new discoveries and developments in the field of biology, digital technology and physics in a safe and secure cyber space. Felt reassured that Prabir and his entrepreneurial venture – Transformationplus, TPLUSVENTURES and iSecureCyber will help us survive and thrive in Australia as we use critical and emerging technologies such as AI and big data and next generation telecom (5G/6G) for a robust future.
