Have you ever wanted to try your hand at sushi rolling or learn the magical tricks of photography? Brew your own beer or simply make some new friends? Here’s an interesting platform that aims to bring people together. A team of young minds have got together to create a common forum called ‘Alloy’ where people can share their common interests and passion and be a part of some exciting events.
The team has introduced the concept of Offline Social Meet (OSM) in the city wherein a group of 20 members meet at a common place every Sunday. “The idea is to bring together people who can share their ideas and passions and develop a connection,” says C.V. Bhargava, one of the founder members of Alloy. It was in his fourth year of engineering that Bhargava first came up with this thought of creating a platform that promotes the exchange of ideas and concepts. He teamed up with six other members of his college who joined hands to come up with 'Alloy'.
“The first OSM event was in March where we had to convince our friends and friends of friends to join us for the meet. The idea was, of course, met with scepticism and it took us a while to make them understand our concept,” Bhargava recalls.
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Like any new idea, the start may have been shaky. But Alloy’s concept of OSMs has slowly taken off and the group today has more than 100 members. But the core team of Alloy do not want to be restricted in their activities by just organising OSMs. “We are expanding our activity zones to organising events at bigger scale involving the youth and public of Vizag. We want to use the brand ‘Alloy’ to promote start-ups and business enterprises in Vizag,” says Phani Krishna, a member of the core team. The core team consists of seven members - C V Bhargava, Phani Krishna, Abhriam, Akshay Jain, Priyanka, Sai Teja, Sneha.
Their first event titled ‘Beg, Borrow and Survive’ was held last month and saw enthusiastic participation from many youngsters.
Next month will see a series of big events under the banner of ‘Alloy’ like a live barbeque festival on RK Beach and a day-long game show on the lines of the popular MTV Roadies.
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Monetising a concept like this hasn’t been an easy task for the young and talented team of 'Alloy'. “We do not have an incubator or a start-up hub like Kochi or Mumbai. It is a struggle to find investors here. Even at the family level, the concept of entrepreneurship is not really welcomed,” the team says. But they are hopeful of roping in the corporates and business enterprises. “We want to tie-up with firms for marketing campaigns. Right now, we see more of print ads and televisions ads. But the social media space is evolving at a fast pace and business groups can no longer turn a blind eye to it. It is this space that we want to tap apart from creating a concept of strong brand connect through creative marketing techniques,” says Bhargava.
Those interested to be a member of Alloy, can email their details at alloy4u@gmail.com.
The team also has a Facebook page and its website will soon be up within a week’s time. “We want to make it work so that Vizag becomes a happening city. Even otherwise, at least you end up making a new friend,” adds Bhargava.