Pune-based Avinash Dhume chose to travel the road less taken, when he quit a job (which, though not well-paying, was at least secure) and become an entrepreneur in 2007.
Pune-based Avinash Dhume chose to travel the road less taken, when he quit a job (which, though not well-paying, was at least secure) and become an entrepreneur in 2007. Now, he needs your help. For, after emerging among the four global finalists in the Youth Business International’s people’s choice award, Dhume is now competing with entries from China, Barbados, Argentina et al to win the exclusively online contest.
“We hope Indians get online and vote in large numbers to make him the winner as we are sure that the Chinese will do that for their candidate,” said Lakshmi Venkatesan, managing trustee of the Bharat Yuva Shakti Trust, which helped Dhume set up his business. In 2007, when Dhume quit as a marketing executive in a publication firm after a 10-year toil to set up his own publication house, the odds were enormous — lack of funding, space for an office or press, distrust from others. “It almost ended before it started,” he said.
This was when his elder brother introduced him to BYST, which nurtures start-up ventures. Some of the biggest names in business, including the late JRD Tata, Rahul Bajaj (current chairman of BYST), and others, got together to set up BYST with its headquarters in New Delhi in 1992.
After getting a loan of Rs9.5 lakh from BYST, Dhume set up Kaushalya Publications, which specialises in affordable educational material. Kaushalya develops content and publishes inexpensive books for schoolchildren. Dhume’s business model and drive sufficiently impressed the Youth Business International, chaired by the Prince of Wales. Every year, it gives out awards in different categories, and this year, Dhume is a finalist in the people’s choice award category.
If you want to vote in favour of Dhume, you may do so at http://awards.youthbusiness.org/peoples-choice-award/
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