Bhenoy Dembla of Miami Beach, Florida, has focused on raising venture capital for start-ups in multiple industries. Currently, he dedicates his time to various philanthropic pursuits. This includes supporting efforts to improve access to medicine, water, and education in remote villages in India and making regular contributions to organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society. Bhenoy “Ben” Dembla also founded the Dembla Family Foundation, which funds health care research. It focuses particularly on glaucoma, autoimmune disease research, and pain management.
Previously, Mr. Dembla spent over three decades in roles within the manufacturing and engineering sectors. He has served in positions such as analyst, sales leader, and senior project engineer over the course of his career, during which time he worked for companies like General Chemical Corp. and AutoDynamics. His professional history also includes working in sales and marketing at PRECITEX, a subsidiary of Precision Rubber Industries Private Limited. He remains affiliated with the parent company as an advisory board director and a non-executive member of its board of directors.
Bhenoy Dembla has a master of business administration in finance and corporate accounting from the University of Rochester Simon Business School. He also earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
Wakeup, watch and catch up on the latest news. Take care of my service dog, then attend Zoom and Teams meetings. Then I attend to important tasks and to-do lists.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Brainstorm over the phone with colleagues and friends and attend educational online webinars.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Politics and capital markets.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Meditation and spirituality.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Start family-planning at a young age.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Start saving and investing when you are young. The power of compounding is one of the miracles and wonders of the world.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Call up and speak to a confidant or friend about my thoughts and concerns, then listen to their feedback. I also unwind by watching lighthearted comedies.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Delegate… but verify the results. Also, research the people with whom you are in business so you experience no surprises.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Over-trusting associates who were not transparent, which resulted in nefarious results. The lesson I learned is to trust, but also verify all associates and their backgrounds and business dealings.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Calendar Organizer, like Outlook. Helps me remember to finish tasks by the deadline. Yahoo Finance and Seeking Alpha – For research
cChatGPT – helps create professionally written documents for communication.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
The Bible – Provides me with a sound moral compass for the future.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
Breaking Bad – it is a cerebral and intelligent piece of creative work.
Key learnings
- Interact with intelligent individuals from all walks of life. Every day should be a new learning experience that helps you grow as an individual.
- Stupidity is defined as repeating the same actions and expecting different results.
- Numbers don’t lie or deceive, people do. Especially when they pitch their ideas, and those ideas are falsely manipulated.