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From helping his father make sweets in Lucknow to graduating from IIT Kanpur and building AI-powered products in Dubai, Tejesh Vaish’s journey reflects hard work and ambition.
Tejesh Vaish grew up in Sadar Bazaar, Lucknow Cantonment.
Before becoming a Lead Engineer at an AI company in Dubai, Tejesh Vaish spent part of his childhood helping his father prepare samosas, jalebis and other sweets at their family shop in Lucknow. With no engineering background in the family and limited financial resources, his path to IIT Kanpur was far from straightforward. Today, the computer science graduate is building AI products while also working on initiatives aimed at making technology more accessible.
A native of Sadar Bazaar, Lucknow Cantonment, his father, Ashok Kumar Vaish, runs Gayatri Mishthan Bhandar, while his mother, Mamta Vaish, is a homemaker. His sister, Aastha, is pursuing computer science at VIT Amaravati.
“From Class 5 to Class 9, I helped him prepare samosas, jalebis and other sweets. Later, financial support made a real difference to my education,” Vaish recalls, describing his early years at the family shop.
He studied at St. Paul’s College in Lucknow before joining IIT Kanpur in 2019. He graduated in 2023 with a degree in computer science. However, his academic journey was not always smooth.
Vaish describes himself as an average student during his early school years. He scored 48% in Class 5, but says the figure should not be seen as representative of his entire academic record. “I was good at math and enjoyed solving problems,” he says. He later scored around 94% in Class 10 and 95% in Class 12. His interest in mathematics and problem-solving gradually drew him towards engineering.
The Turning Point
A drop year before the 2019 entrance exams became a turning point. Vaish followed an intensive preparation schedule, spending around six hours in coaching classes and another 12 hours studying at the coaching centre, often until midnight.
“My drop year was intense,” he says. “Most of my time went into solving questions. Mock tests helped the most because they showed me what I had missed and where I needed to improve.”
His father continued to support him during this period. Vaish recalls carrying two lunch boxes and says his father sometimes brought fresh food for him in the evening.
He secured Rank 9 in the Uttar Pradesh State Entrance Examination (UPSEE) 2019 and ranked first in Lucknow. He also scored 99.9 in JEE. His admission to IIT Kanpur was through JEE Advanced.
“At IIT Kanpur, I received the PD Murti Scholarship and a grant as an AlphaGrep Merit Scholar,” he says. Vaish was a C3iHub Undergraduate Fellow and graduated with a 9.14 CPI, receiving the Academic Excellence Award.
“The hardest part was balancing academics, extracurricular activities, internships, placement preparation and research projects,” he says. “I had to learn how to manage my responsibilities independently, like an adult, and make the most of each day.”
His internship at Texas Instruments led to a pre-placement offer, while he secured an offer from Squarepoint Capital through campus placements.
Building AI Products In Dubai
Vaish is currently a Lead Engineer at Lumian.ai in Dubai, where he works on building production AI agents for Amazon brands. His responsibilities include developing the agent runtime, integrations, memory systems, scheduled tasks, permissions, human approval workflows and evaluation processes.
Before joining Lumian.ai, Vaish worked at Abacus.AI on machine-learning platform integrations and enterprise connectors.
How His Mother’s Illness Led To Building Homeo AI
Beyond his work in AI engineering, Vaish has founded Homeo AI, a platform designed to assist homoeopathy practitioners. The idea came from a personal experience. His mother was diagnosed with cancer around 2024 and completed conventional treatment, subsequently going into complete remission. During her recovery, Vaish became concerned about the possibility of the illness returning and began looking for ways to support her.
This led him to speak with homoeopathic practitioners in Lucknow and other parts of India. While obtaining medicines for his mother, he began asking them about their work, the reference material they used and the administrative tasks that took up their time.
“Across roughly ten sessions, I tried to understand what information they needed, how they used reference material, what took up their time and where software could help,” he says.
Those conversations eventually led to Homeo AI. The platform offers AI-assisted reference searches, case notes, follow-up information and document preparation. Vaish leads its development, deployment and ongoing operations.
‘Early Result Doesn’t Define Your Career’
Having experienced academic setbacks and financial constraints himself, Vaish wants students from modest backgrounds to look beyond their early examination results. “An early result does not have to define you,” he says, referring to his own journey from scoring 48% in Class 5 to graduating from IIT Kanpur.
“Look for scholarships, affordable learning resources and mentors who can answer specific questions. Financial constraints are real, so finding support matters alongside hard work. At IIT Kanpur, I helped mentor and support more than 3,000 students through academic mentoring. That experience also showed me that people can get stuck at different points and need different kinds of help,” he told News18.
Looking ahead, Vaish wants to continue building AI products, leading engineering teams and contributing to open-source projects. He also hopes to take on more challenging engineering problems and share his work with the wider developer community.
Quick Answers
Ask News18Tejesh Vaish works as a Lead Engineer at Lumian.ai in Dubai, where he builds production AI agents for Amazon brands.
Ask News18About the Author
Sukanya Nandy is a sub-editor at News18.com. She has been reporting for the education and careers section of the website since 2021. She completed her graduation in English followed Journalism and Mas…Read More
November 02, 2026, 1:16 PM IST
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