My journey as an entrepreneur:
Initially in my previous school 4 years ago I was teased as a lecture man by my friends and classmates just because I went way beyond the syllabus. The teachers always discouraged me telling me to not waste my time because most of those things are not going to come in the exams, but I persisted. I soon realized that they here just cared about exams and marks.
In a classroom, there are students of the same age but different intellect. Those students are taught at the exact same pace. The main purpose of education is to prepare students for their future jobs and careers. The same teacher who used to teach from a textbook now teaches from a Smart Board or a computer.
In my free time I used to watch a lot of cartoons which made me think about the future of mankind. how would the future look like with some of these solutions and products and how exactly would that solve problems that are the people are facing. I got my business idea by watching cartoons.
I wanted to start my own company, but I had no knowledge about business or entrepreneurship. that is why I applied to the Summer Business Academy at Harvard which was supposed to be 4 years ahead of my age. Yet, I applied for the course and later received an email saying that my application was brilliant, but I was heartbroken because they rejected me just because of the age criteria. but I convinced them for a Skype interview and got accepted into the course. I went to Boston to do the courses and learned a lot about business and entrepreneurship.
I believe, age is just a number but no barrier to success. When I was 12, I wanted to start my own company, but I knew nothing about business or entrepreneurship and that’s why I applied for the Summer Business academy course at Harvard. I filled the application, sent it to them. In a matter of a few days, I received an email saying that my application was brilliant, but I was heartbroken. It was because they did not accept me just because I did not fit into their age criteria. I was too young to do that course. But then I finally convinced them for a skype interview and got accepted. Since, I knew many kids won’t get the same opportunity as I did. I went to US and when I was studying there, I realised why Harvard was number one. First of all, the teachers there cared a lot for the students. More importantly they gave real life and practical examples using case studies. And, most importantly, they actually teach you how to apply those skills in real life or in your future. I signed an MOU with them to bring those courses to India so that many deserving kids and teens would be able to get the opportunity to learn those important skills.
I went from getting teased as a lectureman to becoming a keynote speaker at various events/conferences at IIT delhi, IIMs, Global Business Summit, IYLIF and many others and get called for various events.
Till date, I have learned business from Harvard, Entrepreneurship from Babson, Design thinking at Stanford and economics and management at Oxford.
I have always been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Different challenges we faced during the pandemic, made me decide to do something about it. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought in a lot of hardships for human lives and has definitely disrupted the day to day lives of the entire population. One such hardship that we have been facing in our households is How to Sterilize vegetables, groceries, parcels, that we purchase from outside? Our household warriors have been using various methods to sterilize the vegetables and groceries like exposing them to sunlight or washing them with soap/baking soda/potassium permanganate or using sanitizers; but these methods are not completely hygienic and have got their own drawbacks. They are very tedious, time-consuming and there is a lot of wastage of water and other chemicals. Surface transmission is a major cause for the spread of the virus today.
I believe extreme times have always led human beings to be creative, innovative, and come up with unique solutions. This thought inspired me to innovate during this crisis. So, I created the Suraksha box! It is a UVC light sterilization box which is used to sterilize vegetables, groceries and everyday items without using chemicals and to protect us from all kinds of virus’s bacteria and fungi including all strains of COVID-19. It works on the principles of UVC light. This helps to reduce the spread of the virus and make the environment around us safer. The Box also has a Govt. Of India (MC&I) Patent Published and is approved, recommended and certified by CSIR-CMERI (ICMR Approved Lab) of Govt. of India. The box was launched on October 2nd, 2020 and in accordance with Gandhiji’s 151st birth anniversary, the goal is to provide 15.1K boxes to the under-privileged.
To make sure that his message reaches more people and to have a bigger impact we have decided to make a world record attempt so that more people join this movement for this good cause.
We are using crowdfunding to promote this and, in an attempt, to make it more appealing and to reach more people we are creating a world record on 2nd of October to assemble maximum number of UVC kits ever done in a single day. The kits can be for self-use or can be donated to the needy, underprivileged and frontline workers. I appeal to all of you individuals here to join us in our campaign and save lives.
I am pursuing my Ikigai by following my passion which is to promote innovation and give this powerful tool to every stakeholder in the world through Nextgeninnov8 so that they can come up with various solutions and help make the world a better place. When I started talking about this I was teased as a lecture man, but I persisted and found out that my passion is problem solving and applying it and solve world problems. Whenever I face a problem, I try to solve it. We believe everyone in the world is capable of coming up with solutions to problems.
I have always been passionate about innovation and problem solving. I want to be a change maker and entrepreneur coming up with unique ideas and solving problems of others. My vision is that We want to give the power of innovation to every teacher and child in the world so that they can come up with various creative ideas and solutions to the problems faced by their families, communities and even global issues and let us all together make the world a better place. My mission is to set up innovation labs/clubs in every possible school in the world to teach children all around the world various important skills like critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation skills to prepare them for the coming future/secure their future.
Message for those of my age group:
I feel that kids are more innovative than adults. Being a kid, I came up with a solution which when implemented created huge impact. I believe every other child out there have potential to come up with unique solutions to the problems faced by their communities’ societies and even world problems. Children just need the right guidance, resources, and an ecosystem, to support that. This is exactly what I envision Nextgeninnov8, my company, will provide. My message to others would be to never give up and never be afraid of failure because every child is unique and has the potential to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to problems faced by their families, communities, even global issues and can help contribute to make the world a better place for everyone.