Entrepreneurship For Teenagers

"What is Entrepreneurship?"

"How do I set up a business?"

"I have an idea. How to move ahead?"

And many more such questions came from the teenagers at Bhavan's Vivekanand College at Sainikpuri Secunderabad yesterday. The college has more than 4000 UG and PG students on campus. Ghumakkad had the privilege of interacting with the young minds. About 100 students had registered for 'Entrepreneur Foundation Program' organised by the Entrepreneur Development (ED) Cell of the College. ED Cells form part of the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) program of Osmania University. TBIs in the universities are in turn sanctioned and supported by National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI)- a program of the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India.

The Foundation Program had 100 plus inquisitive minds full of energy and ideas. It was very heartening to see their active participation. Ghumakkad engaged the students with examples of real life startups which addressed the customer needs successfully. Thereafter, we triggered further interaction by shooting the following questions:

1. Do any of you have an idea for a startup? What is it?
2. What need of the customer will it address?
3. Who else is providing a similar service or solution to the customer need? Do not fall into the mythical trap that 'My Startup Idea is unique with no competition!'
4. For those who haven't yet thought of a startup idea, why are you here in this Program?

All the above questions led to a highly interactive session. Some of the ideas which the students shared are listed below:

1. Online support to other startups for mentoring and scaling up (Jaywant)
2. Online platform for content creators for brand building of businesses (Ananya)
3. Support to farmers for pest prevention and control (Aditya)
4. Specialised consultation for patients needing dermatology treatment (Tejaswini)

The second half of Ghumakkad's session covered the Business Model Canvas (BMC) and its utility for startups. BMC was explained using two live examples one each of an e-commerce company and the other of an educational institution. We developed both the BMCs during the workshop with the active participation of the students. 

Thereafter the other two speakers addressed the participants. For Ghumakkad, it was a fulfilling morning on a rainy day! 

I presented a copy of my book on Social Entrepreneurship to the College. 

Thank you Bhavan's College for the opportunity. Thank you all the student coordinators including Garima, Kaustubh, Aditya, Sanjana, Ananya, Vamshika and others. You guys rocked!

Sharing below the links to some of our earlier stories on related topics. You may click to browse.

Young Entrepreneurs Bootcamp - An exclusive residential program for school students (9th to 12th graders) conducted by BITS Pilani. Ghumakkad was a resource person. 

 

National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) also promotes innovation and entrepreneurship. But very few educational institutions have been able to implement it. The story below brings out NEP implementation by BITS Pilani.
Implementing NEP-2020

Startup Fever Grips VVISM - This story chronicles a B-Plan Contest held at a B-school in Hyderabad. Browse to read how the teams battled it out!

Startups are the way ahead. In India, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon have emerged as startup hubs. However, most of the other States also promote startups by setting up facilities, funding and other support. But we can not rest on our ores.

Thanks for browsing and stay connected. Do leave a comment to keep us going.

   - Harsh-The-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 23rd Sep 2025/ hbindia@gmail.com 

#startups #innovation #TBI #NIDHI #DST #entrepreneurship #youngminds #mentoring #incubation #university #UGCollege #teenagersideas #BMC #businessmodelcanvas #NEP2020 #implementationofNEP2020 #BhavansVivekanandCollege #Secunderabad