Entrepreneurship is the new fashion mantra that today’s youth not only wear, but also carry well with an élan.
In the infinite horde of aspirations, young students are trying hard to build their own identity while basking in the joy of working for themselves.
Some of the popular areas which have witnessed young entrepreneurial activities are IT services, e-commerce, product development, counselling, photography and entertainment.
Sanyam Bajaj, a business economic graduate from Maharaj Agarsen College, has come up with his own photo studio.
This 21-year-old photographer started his career with “zero investment’’, using the money won in 36 competitions – a sum of about Rs.36,000 – to buy himself a Canon 600D.
He has covered some major projects and insists that determination was his mantra.
For 23-year-old Ruchika Batra, who loves to ‘meditate and do yoga in her oversized T-shirts’, as per her twitter profile, the passion to help people made her launch “Yoga of miracles” website.
She started with a website in her name and now conducts yoga workshops and life coaching sessions for youngsters in 20-30 age-group.
“It took me a while to bring traffic to my website specifically because of my young age but the future is bright for online businesses and if it serves the society it is sure to go big,” insisted Ruchika.
Team work is an important pillar of strength for youngsters who dabble in business.
Custom T was co-founded in 2012 by three friends who sought to simplify the way people order custom T-shirts online.
Videt Jaiswal from NSIT, Delhi and co-founder of the merchandising venture, said: “We all were in our first year of college and we started with a gruesome experience with a local dealer who ruined our society t-shirts. We had spent a week designing the t-shirts and collecting the money from our batch mates but when the t-shirts came post-printing after 14 more days, they were horrific! This incident was an inspiration and we translated it into action.”
Since youngsters are passionate about sports, some have identified lucrative business opportunities in this.
Pranav Harmilapi, 21, founder Delhi Soccer League, says “don't lose hope” is the moral that drives him.
“It all started when I was repeating Class XI. I was under peer pressure and knowing that I had flunk in the class, I was determined to prove that I was way better than others. I was motivated to do something in life and never let failure affect me”, he said.
He has done around 20 events since November 2010 and hopes that DSL Season 7 will be another triumph to his kitty.
Some youngsters have also used technology and scientific advancement to build their own careers while bridging the gap between innovation and technology.
Aishwariya Goel, founder of EmbedLearn is an engineer by profession who rather than taking up a job decided to build her own business.
She has since organised around 20 workshops and winter camps in Delhi for around 1,000 students.
EmbedLearn Laboratories was conceived with a dream to improve the element of “Learning by Doing” pedagogy in the Indian education system. Through her venture she strives to provide quality education by ensuring that students get adequate practical knowledge apart from academic learning.
Now, Aishwarya said, she is “working to set up customised Labs in different parts of Delhi. By mid-June we will be launching our first IDiscover Lab in an NGO in Karol Bagh.”
The rise young entrepreneurs in the National Capital is a sign of economic development. It reiterates the belief that employment is not generated but created and for it to happen it is very important to have a climate where young entrepreneurs not only grow but are also able to sustain their growth.
