TheShareStory.in is an initiative to build a community of Entrepreneurs, Founders, Startups & Industry Stalwarts to celebrate success & to learn from shortfalls, and to Contribute, Inspire & Embellish Entrepreneurship by sharing their exciting Stories!
As a part of our initiative, we invited yet another passionate Womanpreneur Ms.Kriya Doshi for an interview with us to understand more about her entrepreneurial journey. She is the Founder At Think Young. Let’s learn more about her exciting journey, her background and her advice for our growing community! Dynamic, daring and a go-getter—these words are floating around the lady herself.
Every entrepreneur’s journey is full of struggles that turn out to be beautiful memories. Can you describe your journey so far?
On May 28th, 2018, I began working on Think Young on a full-time basis. I worked upon the name and website of my startup single-handedly till 2018.
We launched our first course on 8th December 2018. I was excited for the same but there was not even a single student who turned up. After that, we started our Facebook Paid-Ad Campaign for a week and offered a free trial session, named Saturday Kidpreneurs and 8 students enrolled for it. After that, we started full-fledged, reached out to schools, and covered as many people as possible. So far we have trained around 1800+ students and did a lot of courses and workshops in different schools based out in Bombay and Surat.
Many parents were reluctant at adopting the concept of entrepreneurship for school students, teaching school students when I was naive in the field, shaping their ideas. But then down the line we learned, we grew.
What motivated you to start Think Young?
There is a very personal story behind the idea of Think Young. I was not able to pursue what I wanted to because of some personal and family reasons. Hence, I wanted to start my school that would promote independent learning. Finally one day, I came across the fact that school students are taught Entrepreneurship in foreign countries. This was the point where I thought why can’t India have the same as this would lead to the creation of both job-seekers as well as creators. This subject gave meaning to my life and I wanted to pass on this learning experience to the coming generation. Hence, with a lot of research, and surveys, Think Young was born.
How did the industry/niche in which you have welcomed you?
I have come across questions like being young and naive how can I teach students entrepreneurship, why am I burdening students with business and entrepreneurship. But I believe that it is the need of the hour. I am determined that no matter what, I am going to work with Think Young to create an impact on students’ lives. One thing I can assure you is that I have created my little space in this industry.
What can one find in your product/service portfolio?
I have come across questions like being young and naive how can I teach students entrepreneurship, why am I burdening students with business and entrepreneurship. But I believe that it is the need of the hour. I am determined that no matter what, I am going to work with Think Young to create an impact on students’ lives. One thing I can assure you is that I have created my little space in this industry.
We offer courses on Entrepreneurship and Leadership for anyone aged 11 and beyond. We are also coming up with an academy for 17+ in collaboration with an international organization based in Silicon Valley. We host entrepreneurial events for corporates, do mentor sessions, startup consultancy, linking students/people to incubators, and helping them in availing the related government schemes.
How has the pandemic affected your organization?
The pandemic has affected us a lot. I had never thought about Think Young going online. During the lockdown, we had 4 Summer Schools and many other courses that were affected. But then we turned all our operations online and successfully left a positive impact on the lives of more than 100 students. One good thing that happened was that we hired a lot of college interns who worked upon our Academy concept broadening ways for the organization.
What is your life mantra?
- “No matter whatever happens keep moving.”
- “Believe in yourself!
What is your Ikigai?
One thing that makes me get out of bed every day is nurturing the lives of as many people as possible by way of inspiring them and bringing a change in the education system of India.
Why do you feel it is so necessary to make today’s kids future-ready?
I think the future is very uncertain. Last year we would have not thought of a Pandemic like this striking our nation. But now we are at our homes fighting the Pandemic. So, if you want to survive you need to have futuristic skills both personally as well as professionally. The future is so skeptical about how things will move. Also, I feel our lives are not like the ones that our previous generations had. We are technology-driven. I would suggest that you need to get yourself future-ready because even the future of work is bleak.
How effective do you find the New Education Policy, 2020?
I have done a video on NEP, I am very happy about the declaration of this policy as its reforms are revolutionary. Though I am a bit skeptical about its implementation as to change an age-old education structure that too efficiently is a mammoth task.
Where do you see Think Young 5 years hence?
This is a tricky question. There are two things that we are planning:
- We want to start an academy that nurtures the startups, works towards changing the whole startup scenario in India.
- Also, we want to start a school which provides schooling in a different way.
What has been your biggest breakthrough on this journey?
There were two breakthroughs:
- I have learned that school students are super smart and creative. I have heard that kids can change the world but now I have experienced the same and can vouch for it.
- I have seen positive changes in me since the inception of the company. Earlier I used to be shy and diffident but now I can talk to anyone confidently.
If you were asked to give three tips off the top of your head for our budding entrepreneurs, what would it be?
I do not have anything specific for everyone because it depends on person to person. As for every other person it is going to be different.
But the following three tips can be thought upon:
- You should know why you are taking up entrepreneurship as your career.
- Believe in impact, income will follow.
- Learn from your failures and keep going. If you fail, come back with a new idea and start your other startup. Even for me, any day if Think Young fails, I’ll come back with a new startup.