Journalism of Courage
For these young city entrepreneurs engaged in unconventional businesses,no dream is too big to realise
Nikita Malhotra’s business venture is aptly titled ‘Chocolate Story’. She was 16 when she first started dabbling in chocolate-making at home. A year later,she was prodded into thinking business by her father. Books repel me, Malhotra says with a laugh. I knew I was not going to spend any time doing science or medical or any such degree. So after my 17 th birthday,my dad gave me a push to start a store. In 2009 came the first store in Kalyani Nagar at Big Cinemas. By the time she was 18,two more stores,at Aundh and at Koregaon Park,had come into being. The store pioneered the making of chocolate bouquets,and has established its reputation by creating customised chocolates for customers ranging from wedding parties to corporate events. I always had dreamt of owning a dessert store. But I realise now that there is so much to do in chocolates that I am going to stick to it, says Malhotra.
Another person who did the proverbial following of the heart is 28-year-old Karthik Natarajan. The trained architect admits to having wasted time” before he wound up to start Collective Independent. The firm involves itself in designing of all sorts,from posters to user interfaces for softwares. What sets it apart from other design firms is that it doesn’t limit itself to any particular field. One can’t be a specialist. One has to be a generalist to have a better understanding of how things work, says Natarajan. So they work along a spectrum that includes working with an ad agency to preparing graphic presentations for architects. We didn’t want to start something like an organisation which has employees. So there is no real structure here, says he.
