Teenpreneurs who are blazing their own trails

A huge number of teenagers are straddling two lives — managing college and having a business of their own. Every teenpreneur (teenage entrepreneur) has a different reason for doing what they do, but what connects most of them is: make extra money, gain business experience, or simply start early to make it big later. The road to success may not always be as we envision it to be, but what makes it possible is the grit and guts to go after the goal and accomplish it, no matter how rocky the path is.

Nerdy business

Yuvraj Bhardwaj and Yashraj Bhardwaj, 17-year-old twins from Delhi, started their enterprise Zenith Vipers, four years ago. The brothers are involved in freelance research in pure science, and have a total of 22 projects with seven patents in their name at the moment. “Our first project was a water purifier using bajra. We are currently working on a machine that connects your brain to various appliances. For example, while using this machine, if you think about switching on the light, the light would switch on.” Their aim is to make this project available for people who have health conditions such as paralysis.

Since they are still required to go to school, the brothers sleep only three hours a day to manage both their priorities. Along with their own freelance research, Yuvraj and Yashraj also help several other students with their own projects, and are encouraging the youth to become freelance scientists, without any degree but simply with interest and passion, no matter what age.

Treasures for others

Shyamosree Das Gupta, who is currently in her second year of college in Kolkata, has her own jewellery business called Treasure Tree. From conceptualising the designs to making it a reality, Shyamosree’s tree’s offerings are available on Facebook and Instagram as of now. “I will soon consider having my own stall in college festivals. I hope my business picks up from these events.” She started her business because of her love for making jewellery herself, and has not looked back since then.

While her business is very new, and she hopes to maybe have a flagship store in the future, right now Shyamosree’s focus is on working on the smaller details — making the company official by creating a logo, business cards etc. Despite the initial challenges, she has learned to balance work and college.

Art matters

At 18, when most of us are still trying to figure out what career options are available to us, Mumbai-born Ishaan Jajodia decided to take his love for art and photography a notch higher. “In the summer of 2015, I worked with a former Indian royal who had an extensive family heirloom. In 2016, he reached out to me to see if I would be interested in helping him break up and auction off the entire collection. My time with the collection led me to believe that it held greater value as a whole, open to the public to view. I realised that the need of the hour was preservation of what we already had — and that led me to start The Mumbai Art Collective.” Not just art events, Ishaan also publishes a magazine related to art. “I aim to make art more accessible to everyone. I hope to educate people about the story behind art rather than just the art itself.”  

Since Ishaan currently goes to Dartmouth University in the United States, he needs to coordinate with his team back in Mumbai. He uses apps such as Telegram, Google Docs etc, to make it all work, but gives priority to his studies as well. “Since art is my passion, I decided to put all my energy in to that which caused my social life to take a hit, but I was more than willing to give it up for something that I loved.” He started The Mumbai Art Collective while he attended Dhirubai Ambani school in Bombay.

Safe sex now a click away

If you think pizzas and clothes are the only things that you can get delivered at your doorstep, wait until you hear about 18-year-old Sirhaan Seth’s 24 X 7 service SMS Contraceptive. Currently in his freshman year of college in Sonipat, Sirhaan’s venture is about ordering and delivering sexual wellness products (condoms, lubricant, I-pills and pregnancy test kits) at any time of the day via text, Snapchat, or call, at your doorstep. “My aim is to make these products easily available without any hassle and embarrassment. While it’s only limited to Gurugram for now, I plan to expand to many more cities, because every teenager in every Indian city has faced the embarrassment of some old chemist who gravely shakes his head and mutters things to himself while billing your condoms.”

Sirhaan’s business has taken off fairly well. We live in a society that is still not open to topics such as sex, so his business is the perfect idea. Juggling college and business is not a cakewalk, but Sirhaan’s determination is undeterred. He has adapted to getting only 3-4 hours of sleep every day, and works twice as hard to keep his company in the game. He now plans to make this service available to other cities, especially Ahmedabad, from where he gets the most amount of calls.