They’re young. They’re chic. They’re savvy. And bursting with enthusiasm. It’s not a girl band, it’s the all-girl Chennai chapter of TyE (TiE Young Entrepreneur), all set to battle it out at the TyE 2013 Global Business Plan Competition at Washington DC on June 15 and 16.
Four high school students — Sruthi Krishnamurthy, Shruti Jhaver, Roshini Ramkumar, and Meenakshi Ramkumar were — were selected from among 48, based on their individual performance at a workshop held last year. The workshop ‘TyE program for high schools students’ (Classes IX to XII) aimed to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship in young people. The group will present its business plan at the global level against 16 other chapters, including Seattle, Ohio and Delhi.
According to Swaminathan, programme co-ordinator of TyE and CEO of myskool.com, “TyE is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurial thinking among youth.” And the group’s exhilaration is palpable. “The moment I knew I was selected, I was certain I didn’t want to miss it,” says TyE Chennai team leader Roshini Ramkumar, who recently completed her Class XII examinations.
The team’s mentor, Professor Sankaran Raghunathan, dean of National Management School, says, “They must conceptualise an idea for a business venture and undergo the whole process as though they were to implement it. The information they have gathered and the quality of work they have rendered is similar to what I teach my MBA students, all within a short span of few months.”
Medical tourism
These students chose ‘medical tourism’ as their business plan. “We realised medical tourism had huge potential. We want to spread awareness about the quality of treatment in India. We want to make Chennai one of the top destinations for healthcare because it stands a chance at the global level,” says Roshini, supporting her point with statistics. As part of their training, the girls conducted extensive research; studied market trends; participated in conferences; interacted with senior executives and CEOs, including Shiva of Think Paperclip and S. Premkumar of Apollo Hospitals; framed timelines; charted out budgets for their business and everything else required to execute their plan.
“Our business plan ‘Prathipad’ (Sanskrit for access) is a social enterprise aimed at bringing international patients to India for end-to-end treatment and to fund the treatment of economically weak and deserving patients,” explains Meenakshi Ramkumar.
At the contest, they will be judged on various criteria, but primarily on how practical their business plan is. Apart from learning to juggle academics and team meetings, they’ve acquired skills in leadership, business ethics, time management and creativity. So, how set are they to become entrepreneurs in real life? Pat comes the reply, “All set!”
