Make in Hyd knocks at Silicon Valley

Hyderabad: It every student’s dream to participate in competitions on a global platform. Five young minds of Hyderabad, who’ve made a mark with their unique business plan, will fly to the United States of America to prove their mettle on a global platform. Neha Acharya, Keshav, Yagna Agarwal, Rishi Reddy and Zayaan Babukhan, who won the TiE Young Entreprenuers (TyE) Hyderabad Business Plan Competition recently, will participate in the TyE Global Business Plan competition in Atlanta, US.

The team will pit their plans against the best business plans received from all The Indus Entreprenuers (TiE) Chapters across the globe. The top teams at the global level will jointly receive a cash prize of US$ 10,000. The innovative idea that won them the honors was 'Tich - The Idea: Internet of Call’. Internet is still a luxury for people living in rural areas.

Though they have sound knowledge about the power of internet, they do not have access to it. The team’s business idea aims to empower those who do not have the means to avail the services on the internet. Rishi Reddy, Class IX, Oakridge International Newton Campus, says, “We give them access to the internet. This gives a two-way benefit. It empowers the underprivileged while also spreading the power of e-commerce and technology in rural areas.”

The students are looking to provide a global platform to every individual in rural areas. “We will act as middle men for people residing in rural areas as they do not have access to the internet. We will communicate with them over the phone and provide them services available on the internet,” Neha Acharya, Class X, Oakridge International Newton Campus shares. The team believes that their service will provide an opportunity for people to better utilize technology and empower themselves.

Connecting to the global village was just a click away. But this with this innovative idea, the services available over the internet will just be a call away. “Tich has different meanings for everyone, which is what our service is about. It’s about making the service so personalised for a consumer that it has different meanings for different people,” Yagna Agarwal says. "We prepared for the competition by creating drafts of the business plan and dividing our responsibilities.

Each of us took a separate department to ensure that we had a watertight approach. We planned accordingly and created the final business plan with the help and guidance from the TyE business plan competition mentors, who assisted us all along the 16 week process," says Neha Acharya. The team is excited about their visit to the US and is leaving no stone unturned for its preparation. “We have decided to meet every Sunday in order to fine-tune our business plan further. We will work under the guidance of TiE members, who will serve as our mentors,” Neha shares.

“If we win the competition in the US, we'll invest the prize money to bring our idea to fruition. We have outlined an investment plan and we expect to get around six lakh from the competition abroad. We believe the cash prize will reinforce our trust in our idea. It will act like a multiplier in terms of funds. So, the competition is extremely crucial for us,” Yagna Agarwal says. The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley. There are currently 14,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 63 chapters across 17 countries.

“The objective of TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) is to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. It focuses on catching them young and is targeted toward introducing entrepreneurship,” says Safir Adeni, president, TiE Hyderabad Chapter. “The programme also develops creativity, leadership skills, teamwork and self confidence in young students. Over 150 students from over 20 local schools have discovered the rewards and challenges of becoming an entrepreneur in Hyderabad in the last 4 to 5 years,” Adeni adds.

By:Navin Pivhal