Sunoj Nambiar
Sunoj Nambiar
Developed IIK a successful platform for linking Indians, providing with relevant news and information.
-by Gopala Raghavan. V B
Any person coming in touch with Mr. Sunoj Nambiar would label him as a pleasant, simple, modest and unassuming individual. It would astonish him if and when he comes to know that Sunoj is the creator and brains behind www.indiansinkuwait.com or IIK, which is one of the most successful web portals in Kuwait. Mr. Sunoj has developed IIK into a successful platform for linking all Indians and providing them with relevant news and information. Many years of effort on his part has gone into this project that we use nearly on a daily basis.
Sunoj was born in Kannur district, Kerala. After completing his graduation there he went to Chennai for further studies. There he got an opportunity to come to Kuwait and work with Johnson Controls. It was those days when internet was just becoming popular. His interest in internet and web sites forced him to quit his job and join a web development company where he developed many web sites for leading clients.
In the year 2000, he started creation of a web site with a view to connecting the Indian community together. That was the birth of IIK. In its early days IIK was a site to share news and views of Indian community in Kuwait. He announced the presence of the web site to his friends and colleagues in Kuwait. His interest in technology and internet helped him to design various sections on the site.
With his interest in topics such as Food, Automobile, travel etc, IIK started IIK Yatra, IIK Dine Out, IIK Auto and many such sections under IIK. This enabled IIK to give the readers a variety of reading material. Sunoj had to work late night every day collecting information from various sources, editing them and updating the site.
He even used to personally cover many meetings to gather news at source. All information relevant to Indians was made available by him in the site so that for all readers one visit every day to IIK web site became a daily routine like reading magazines.
Sunoj also introduced a provision for posting free classified advertisements on the site whereby any user could register and post an ad in the category that he desired. The potential for using the facility was widely welcomed by the Indian community who used it to buy, sell, seek information and sometimes even advertise their services for free.
Sunoj was very careful in registration of members on the site where he checked every member’s registration himself to make sure that no spamming or junk profiles are added to the site. He also made sure that the classified section is used properly by his readers, which made IIK classified a source of genuine advertisements.
It is today one of the most successful free classified section in Kuwait, not only for Indians, but for all people living in Kuwait.Many Indians coming to Kuwait for work use it to fix up their accommodation even before landing in Kuwait.
Since the early days of IIK, Sunoj always published items on topics of interest to the Indian community on IIK Forum, which made it one of the popular forum where people debates about various issues in Kuwait life. It took almost five years for Sunojto build up many such features and get a sizable number of visitors to his site on a regular basis. By the year 2005 IIK had established itself as a well-known site amongst all Indians.
One must realize that upto this stage all expenses of running the web site were entirely borne by Sunoj out of his own pocket. It was in 2010 that he met two friends Wilson Dsouza and George Mathew who helped in marketing the site. Slowly, commercial establishments started taking interest in IIK as they realized that it is a meeting point for every Indian Citizen living in Kuwait.
Sunoj was married in 2007 and his wife DeepikaNambiar started helping him with the web site and added more sections to it. Deepika also started helping him in getting new articles for IIK which were of great interest to the readers. She is currently managing the administrative affairs at IIK. The couple is blessed with a daughter, SnigdhaNambiar, studying in 2nd standard in Carmel School Kuwait. They are now settled in Mysore in India.
Through his portal IIK, Sunoj helps the community in many ways. Be it for raising funds for the humanitarian activities by various associations, publishing free financial appeals for the needy, or providing vital information on time to the community, IIK takes the first step for the Indian community living in Kuwait.
Sunoj always encourages the public to write articles and helps them to get it published on his portal. He also encourages students to write articles and has created a Young Reporter program on IIKespecially for them.IIK also conducts various offline activities which helps the community to bridge the gap between fellow Indians.
Sunoj also works closely with Indian Embassy to provide many community information to the public on time. His wide experience and his successful running of the community portal made Indian Embassy select him as one of the speakers at this year’s PravasiBharathiyaDiwas held at the Indian Embassy. Not surprisingly, he spoke eloquently about ‘Connecting community through internet’.
It will be no surprise to regular users of IIK that the portal is being used not only by Indians but people of other nationalities as well. Many Kuwaiti organizations know about IIK anduse it to recruit staff. Sunoj recalls that during a meeting with the present Indian ambassador His Excellency Mr. Sunil Jain, the ambassador informed him that he had heard about IIK even before he took office in Kuwait.
The surprising fact being that his informant was none other than His Excellency Mr. Sami Al Sulaiman, the then Kuwaiti Ambassador to India who had suggested to Mr Sunil Jain that he should go through IIK to get a full feel of Indians living in Kuwait. Mr. Sunoj also subsequently interviewed Mr. Samil AL Sulaiman on line for reporting on Kuwait National Day celebrations of 2015.
Sunoj also encourages other activities on behalf of IIK like cricket with TACK (Team Association of Cricket in Kuwait). A four nations cricket tournament was organized in Doha entertainment city which became a cricket festival with full families participating in many activities.
Sunoj is also active in various community organizations and is a regular face at many of the events related to the Indian community in Kuwait. His basic nature of simplicity enables him to have good network of friends from all walks of life.
His motto is that if you believe that something you are doing is for the betterment of others and look at it in a positive way, success will always follow you. He believes that one should love what one does and do it with passion.
Recently IIK set up an e-commerce facility called IIK Bazaar, which will focus on requirements of Indians that are normally difficult to get in Kuwait and also to promote ‘Made in India’ items. It will also be a market place to promote small entrepreneurs who can make and sell home made products, artefacts and jewelry. His next plan is to expand coverage to other countries of Middle East.
We , IFL wish him every success in his plans.
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