Arun Jain
Founder of Polaris Group and CMD of Intellect Design Arena Ltd
Arun Jain is the Founder of Polaris Group and Chairman & Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena Ltd, the world’s first full spectrum Financial Technology Company in Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets, selling enterprise grade products and platforms in 57 countries. Ranked #1 by IBS Sales League Table, Intellect powers over 270 leading Global Banks and Financial Institutions worldwide.
Arun got his inspiration from Jamsetji Tata and commenced his entrepreneurial journey by setting up Nucleus Software Workshop in 1986, Polaris Software in 1993 and Intellect Design in 2011. His journey was guided by two strong beliefs – (1) ordinary people coming together to achieve extraordinary results (2) the power of the organisational subconscious in realising the vision. Intellect Design is his third venture, in pursuit of his vision to make India the IP Capital towards the next growth wave for the IT Industry. Arun’s passion to create a technology product power house from India made Intellect a reality.
During his professional journey, Walt Disney and Steve Jobs also inspired him which led to his quest for Design Thinking. What actually started for the business, slowly found its application in different arenas – he has conducted Design Thinking Workshops termed UnMukt (boundaryless Thinking ) for Educators, Students, SMEs, Business professionals, Govt. departments, and the Social sector. It is one-of-its-kind flagship workshop where participants explore and immerse in Design Thinking. He is passionate about Design Thinking as a science and philosophy to create the biggest impact on individual and organisational performance.
As an evangelist of Design Thinking, his brainchild – FinTech 8012, the World’s First Design Center at Chennai dedicated to Financial Technology came into being in 2013. The 30,000 sq ft center helps in immersive experience and is used for innovation and co-creation across different domains.
Arun has authored books namely “UnMukt: Science and Art of Design Thinking”, “Digital: The Art of The Possible” and “From Teenager to Achiever: The Power of 5 Minds”.
Arun founded School of Design Thinking – focusing on shaping thinking of young minds and professionals through Design The Thinking™ philosophy; Mission Samriddhi, a social enterprise which focused on applying Design Thinking for holistic rural development in India through the unique philosophy of Celebrate-Connect-Catalyse; Ullas Trust, the social connect program, working towards igniting less privileged young minds into realizing their true potential.
He has been honoured with many awards… prominent amongst them are Dronacharya Award by TiECON Chennai and Life Time Achievement award by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He is an integral part of several Govt. initiatives contributing as (i) Chief Mentor of FinBlue (A Financial Technology Center of Entrepreneurship by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) in association with ELCOT, Govt of Tamil Nadu), (ii) Member of National Software Product Mission (NSPM) of MeitY, Govt of India, (iii) Governing Council Member of STPI and also Advisory Council Member of STPI Chennai Incubation Facility (iv) Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Information Technology Ranchi.
Arun holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.