Young entrepreneur carves out his niche

“I look up to my father as a role model and a constant source of inspiration. Even while I was setting up my own social enterprise I looked up to him as a mentor. It is mostly guidance that we sought from our parents”

Passionate, patriotic and motivated are the adjectives that GV Keshav Reddy uses to describe himself. Keshav, is the son of GV Sanjay Reddy who is the Vice-Chairman of the GVK conglomerate. Keshav is currently pursuing his studies in the University of Michigan. Though Keshav’s father holds multiple positions, which play an essential role in the conglomerate, Keshav is not perturbed by his father’s success. Recently he launched himself along with his business partner and long time friend Ishaan Dodhiwala as social entreprenuers with their pilot project, ‘The Indian’, an online apparel store, which has a social motive as its crux. He says, “I look up to my father as a role model and a constant source of inspiration. Even while I was setting up my own social enterprise I looked up to him as a mentor. It is mostly guidance that we sought from our parents.”

On asking him about his future plans he said, “I’ll be going back to college from Monday. I am currently pursuing my passion but eventually in the end I will go back to the family business.” For his current project he has carefully studied many business models. Ultimately he had settled at using e-commerce and the internet market place. Speaking about the future of e-commerce in the city he said, “Internet penetration has reached a new high in the country and especially in Hyderabad. People now actually prefer sitting in the comfort of their home and shop. It is growing at a rate of 30% per year and there is no establishment cost involved. It is like with one website, you are connected to 7000 pin-codes. In terms of reach and availability it is one of the best options available. There is a lot of ease of use for the customers also.”

Keshav, has a certain stigma that he has with the city of Hyderabad, he says that though he has been all over the world, the city will always be close to his heart. “What sets Hyderabad apart from all the other cities I have been to is that the people habituate this city, the city is very hospitable, the populace has a chill out attitude. The whole feel of this city is unbeatable; the place, the feel of the people is just amazing. Given a chance, I would settle down in Hyderabad any day.”