The first and only startup from Goa to receive a national distinction, Bodhami recently was honoured with the National Award for Rural Impact in the Access to Open Education category by the government of India under the Startup India – DPIIT initiative, placing it among the top 30 startups in India, selected from over 200,000 active startups. The Goan tries to track this challenging journey
There are trigger points when a person decides to make a shift from career, job, profession or business. Damodar Pai Patnekar, CEO and cofounder at Bodhami experienced such a trigger point after spending over 15 years in the corporate world. An accomplished professional with a strong academic and industry background, Damodar holds an MBA with dual gold medals in Marketing and Human Resources, along with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from Goa University.
Damodar’s corporate career included leadership roles at top IT firms such as Wipro Technologies, where he led digital and advanced technology initiatives for Fortune 100 clients. He was awarded the Eminent Goans Achievers’ Award by Goa government as part of the celebration of 60 years of Goa’s Liberation.
Speaking on what made him start Bodhami, Damodar elaborates that he observed a troubling pattern, many professionals were unhappy with their careers, often feeling disconnected from the work they did. At the same time, fresh graduates entering the workforce were noticeably unprepared, lacking the essential skills needed to thrive in a corporate environment.
“The scale of the issue was alarming – over 70% of working professionals reported dissatisfaction with their jobs, while more than 55% of students and recent graduates were found to be unemployable,” shared Damodar who began pondering what could be the root cause of this problem. Was it lack of proper career guidance at crucial decision-making stages, particularly during classes 10 and 12?
Without mentorship or awareness, many students choose career paths that don’t align with their interests or strengths. As a result, more than half end up making the wrong career choices, he felt and that’s what inspired him to start Bodhami as a mission to transform how India is guided, skilled, and empowered to build meaningful careers.
Humble beginning in 2018
Bodhami saw a humble beginning in 2018 at a garage with a small, passionate team of talented young engineers. “From day one, our vision was clear, to build a scalable, impactful product that could serve the masses at an affordable cost. By maintaining minimal overheads and investing in a lean, dedicated team, we committed ourselves fully to creating a solution that could genuinely make a difference. After one and a half years of intense development, the Bodhami platform was ready and launched,” recalls Damodar who now aims to touch 10 million lives in the next five years.
Holistic journey
With its headquarters based in Goa, Bodhami is registered under the Goa IT Startup Policy and over time has expanded to over 350 cities across India. The company chose to address the entire journey holistically, from career discovery and skill enhancement to scholarships, corporate preparedness, and final job placement which required translating the years of experience of its team into a powerful technological solution.
The team dedicated itself to building a cutting-edge, AI-powered career management platform. The platform doesn’t just recommend careers randomly, it leverages real-world data from industry professionals to offer personalised, accurate career paths and learning interventions for every user. “Our goal was simple: to create a system that could truly guide and empower individuals toward meaningful, fulfilling careers,” quips Damodar. It paid him.
Awards & recognitions
Bodhami has been awarded the prestigious SKOCH award for the work done in rural development and career development, Tally MSME Champions of Change award for the grass-root level work done in India in space of career counseling and skill development and IT Educator award by government of Goa. Bodhami is a recognised member of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) and the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP).
International recognition
Bodhami was among top seven startups in India selected for Sweden Innovation Day (India-Sweden bilateral exchange). It also represented India at the SCO Startup Showcase featuring startups from eight countries. It was nominated for Vivatech, a premier global startup festival in Paris. It was also selected for INFINITY, the India-France embassy exchange program by the government of India. Bodhami’s platform stands out as the only career counselling solution in India assessed and validated by the Quality Council of India (QCI), ensuring credibility, effectiveness, and impact.
Career counselling
Collaborating with 5,000 plus certified career counsellors and partners across India Bodhami delivers career guidance programs. To date, over 100,000 students, graduates, and professionals have completed assessments on this platform. Across Goa, annually 100 sessions focused on career counselling, skill development, and entrepreneurship awareness are held.
Beyond Goa, Bodhami supports a national outreach through its extensive network of trained career counselling partners. Around 300-400 structured career development sessions are conducted every year in colleges in different States.
Team strength
“Our current core team consists of around 10 dedicated professionals, working remotely from multiple locations across India, seamlessly collaborating from the comfort of their homes,” states Damodar. One of the co-founders Ashutosh Sankar, an IIT and IIM alumnus with experience of two decades in the IT industry has shaped Bodhami’s long-term roadmap. The co-founder and CTO, Aarthy Vasan leads the development of AI-driven digital platforms.
“Beyond our internal team, we are supported by a thriving ecosystem of over 5,000 educators, 200 plus franchise partners, and 100 plus global affiliates. This extended network plays a critical role in helping us deliver our solutions to the last mile, making career guidance, skill development, and employability accessible across geographies,” claims Damodar.
Empowering youth
Over the past seven years, Bodhami has empowered over 100,000 students through its career management and skill development platforms. With a growing network of more than 5,000 educators, it has built a strong foundation of partnerships aimed at delivering meaningful guidance and learning interventions. Their reach extends across 350 cities in India, having worked with over 500 schools that have integrated this platform for career counselling and skilling initiatives. Internationally, Bodhami’s impact spans nine countries, enabled through a global network of 100 plus affiliate partners and collaborators.
On the scholarship front, over 3,000 underprivileged students received financial assistance through partnership with NGOs and philanthropic networks. The company partnered with the Goa Education Department to enable a state-wise roll-out of the career aptitude testing and career counselling program and trained over 700 teachers on career counselling frameworks, methodology and usage of the AI powered platform for administering career tests, generating career reports and conducting career counselling sessions.
More than 18000 students of class 10 and 12 across 250 schools and 12 talukas in Goa have answered aptitude tests and were imparted career guidance along with personalised career reports. Bodhami also partnered with the Goa State innovation council (GSInC) to launch an initiative called as Innovation Test which was for the first time in Goa.
Exploring entrepreneurship
Damodar believes that every student should consider exploring entrepreneurship alongside their academics. Even dedicating a few hours a week can be incredibly rewarding. The kind of personal growth, learning, and transformation one experiences through entrepreneurship is profound; it’s a journey that can reshape one’s entire outlook. The lessons learned go beyond textbooks and degrees; they are real-world, life-changing experiences.
“And if someone like me, who started from a remote rural village in Goa, can go on to build a national award-winning startup, then truly anyone with an idea, commitment, and passion can pursue successful entrepreneurship, even from the smallest corners of the country. All it takes is a willingness to start, learn, and persist,” concludes Damodar.
