Varanasi
Young Entrepreneurship Program, January - April 2023
Aavishkaar Foundation, part of the Aavishkaar Group, hosted its first initiative on the path to meet its ‘Economic Entrepreneurship to Social Equity’, at Utkarsh Auditorium in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 21st April.
Commenting on the initiative, Vineet Rai, Founder and Chairman, Aavishkaar Group said, “ An Entrepreneurial Purvanchal can support India’s march towards $ 10 trillion economy and can contribute to the Global cause of Sustainable Development Goals. We at Aavishkaar Group and Foundation believe a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Eastern UP would be a huge support in transforming Uttar Pradesh into a $ 1Trillion Economy as envisioned by the Chief Minister”
About the Programme
Between Jan – Apr 2023, as part of the Young Entrepreneurship Programme, we conducted an entrepreneurship development workshop and had launched a business plan challenge across government schools in Varanasi. Designed to inculcate entrepreneurial curiosity amongst youth and to take steps toward a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Eastern UP, thise pilot initiative saw participation from 1,100 children from 11 Government Schools with 98 business ideas to design and present impactful and sustainable business plans.
Meet the Finalists
Each of the 11 finalists from the Government schools showcased outstanding and promising ideas and innovations that can reshape a region and use innovation to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem for Eastern UP.
Meet the Winners
As 11 Finalists were showcased, prizes worth INR 3,00,000 were awarded to the winner. Four winning teams were identified from the 98 teams that participated. The awards comprised of a Trophy, and cash reward of INR 75,000 each to the winning teams and a laptop to each participating member. The remaining 7 finalist teams received INR 10,000 each along with a laptop for every participant. Additional consolation awards were given to 20 other teams at the school level for their enthusiastic participation.
Veer Abdul Hamid Award
Rural Youth Entrepreneurship
Wormi Compost
Rani Lakshmi Bai Award
Leadership
Jai Ambe Bag Makers
Chandrashekhar Azad Award
Innovation, Courage and Conviction
Vehicle Repairing Business
Sushila Rai Award
Women in Entrepreneurship
Eco-friendly Sanitary Pads
Key Highlights
The event ‘Economic Entrepreneurship to Social Equity’, at Utkarsh Auditorium in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 21st April was a day of conversations and collaborations. Some of the key highlights from the event included keynotes from Vineet Rai, Founder and Chairman, Aavishkaar Group and Vikas Bali, CEO Intellecap , a series of inspiring talks from two home grown entrepreneurs – Ramesh Chandra Pandey from Vasundhara Organics & Gaurav Katiyar from Cycle Spirit, who spoke about their experience in building a business in the region.
There was an interactive chat between Govind Singh, Managing Director & CEO, Utkarsh Small Finance Bank and Anurag Agrawal, Partner, Aavishkaar Capital, wherein Govind shed light on his journey as a first generation entrepreneur, the importance of establishing trust, and learning from failure as he setup Uttar Pradesh’s first and only registered bank.
In the spirit of building a local entrepreneurial ecosystem, Mekin Maheshwari, founding member of Flipkart, and now Founder & CEO, Udhyam Learning Foundation, spoke about the value of persistence and how collaborating with organizations like Aavishkaar Foundation is imperative in creating an environment for youth entrepreneurship.
The event was attended by the District Collector of Schools (DIOS), Mr. Girish Kumar Singh.
The Way Forward
Aavishkaar Foundation mission is to “Build a ‘Learning Ecosystem’ to trigger entrepreneurial curiosity among youth in Uttar Pradesh”. The Aavishkaar Group has ambition to take this program to a million school children in Eastern UP, and this program will cover colleges as well. Additionally, the Foundation intends to invest in 1000 entrepreneurs from Purvanchal over the next 5 years. The Foundation intends to bring its flagship ecosystem building initiative “The Sankalp Forum” to Varanasi and Eastern UP.
