Teenage Titans

Floated three months ago “it involved a lot of risk and a huge issue of raising the capital. But we were ready,” he says as he adds details like convincing his parents who were sceptical about the whole idea of it apart from dropping grades. But all speculations came to an end when the four-member team bagged projects that got them about Rs 20,000 each. Specialising in providing consultation to companies on issues related to brand building and capital required to commence a new business or to expand an existing business,Anand and his friends Gautam Munjal,22,Jashan Dullat,21 and Prateek Gupta,21,a BCA student of SD College,are already working on their next project.

They all want to be India’s own versions of Mark Zukerbergs. With some unrestrained enthusiasm and a fierce desire to succeed,will they make it? May be or may be not. But they are all geared up — with genesis of their ideas happening over steaming cups of chai in the canteens,classroom discussions and evening pool matches,these young turks are catching the entrepreneurial bug early on in their lives.

An addition to this list is 20-year-old bio-medical student Gobind Shahbaaz Singh of Rayat and Bahra College,who is trying his hand at a project called eMagzin — an e-magazine that deals with varied subjects like politics,technology,campus,films to economics and global issues. He started the project with friends Sartaj Kaur,20,a third year Law student and Naman Sharma,20,of Department of Chemical Engineering. “We had to let go of parties,movies and study sessions. But then we are happy with the results,” quips Sharma.

With more and more students turning entrepreneurs and trying some innovative ideas,“it’s the excitement of coming up with an idea,and later developing it into a good business model is what has us going,” says Kavijeet Singh,a 20-year-old student of Chitkara University,who with his seven friends from University Institute of Engineering and Technology has started an IT solutions company called Demagogue. “After popularising the company with an online game,Demagogue aims to research on new technology and provide solutions to various IT firms,” says co-founder Jaskaran Singh,a 21-year-old student of Computer Science.

Their schedules may be choc-a-bloc with assignments and projects,but the the “idea of being original and trying something new” keeps them enthusiastic.

Ankit Garg,22,a third year student of Mechanical Engineering and Pradeep Sudeep,22,of Department of Metallurgy have just begun customising T-shirts for various colleges and departments. “The venture started on public demand. Everyone wanted to wear department specific tees but they weren’t available. So we started this innovative line of cool T-shirts for various departments,” says Garg,who then got in touch with a production house.

With most of the students starting while still in college,Charan Jot Kaur,who is pursuing a Masters in Arts from Government College of Arts,says,“It gives you the courage to reject the regular placements and try something new.” Kaur,a photographer,designs portfolios for models and has participated in two group shows since she started. She has also clicked pictures for the cover of a recent album titled Deep Senses. “I am in control my own life at an early stage and ready to take the risk to live the dreams I always had,” she says.