Millennials — a.k.a. Generation Y, a.k.a. echo boomers — are widely characterised as spoiled, impatient, narcissistic. As a CEO, you may wonder how to absorb such “difficult” young people into your company. But here’s a better question: How do you compete with them?
Because the young and the restless today are starting some fascinating companies. They’ve got their feet on the ground and some great ideas to boot! And 2010 proved to be a year of start-ups as young Indians shook a variety of sectors and did it on their own terms. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are the heroes of this generation, which is idealistic and optimistic — traits that influence their trade. From healthy kiosks and web development to eco brands and design hubs, these upstarts are clever and dedicated.
Take for instance 18-year-old Tanay Jaipuria, who started TJ Dzine — a firm involved in web design and search engine optimisation services. While his peers, after the daily grind of academics, prefer to wind down by rearing fish on Fishville, Jaipuria is keen on making some cash. The minor mogul, who started off when he was all of 17, spends 15 hours a week on his business and occasionally sacrifices eating out and catching a movie with friends to meet deadlines. Last year, Jaipuria earned a four-figure income — in dollars. “I love designing and I started out with creating logos and websites for free for NGOs. As the word spread and I got more orders, I decided to start my own company.” Jaipuria dreams of becoming a ‘serial entrepreneur’ as he loves challenges. His idol is yes, Apple’s Steve Jobs. “He has taught me a valuable lesson — that technology and management are both important for any successful product.”
These characteristics are widely common with today’s entrepreneurs — a desire to take risks, familiarity with technology, and most importantly, understanding their peers’ needs.
Meet Gautam Aggarwal, Sanju Johny and R. Nelson of Auraley Foods — friends for life and partners in business. Three young men quit well-paying jobs to pursue an offbeat career choice. Founded in October 2010, Auraley Foods is an initiative to improve food quality in Chennai’s corporate and academic institutions. Gautam, who hails from Haryana, says, “When I came to Chennai to study, I found the food options very limited. Either the food wasn’t good to taste or was extremely expensive. Since I used to cook myself, I wanted to start a venture that aims to remove this disparity for students.”
That same calling to make a difference made Nidhi Singh, a green bean, and her business partner, Gaurav Gupta, an ecopreneur, stir up a funky concoction using Bollywood and sustainable fashion ala IndiGreen, a brand of eco-friendly merchandise. “It’s a common notion that eco is boring, so to change that, we infused hand-painted Bollywood art with slogans like ‘Mere Pass Maa Hai’ into our merchandise. People laugh their way into buying our items and at the same time help in reducing the carbon footprint,” says Nidhi Singh, who quit her job to be an agent of change.
An urge to break the glass ceiling made 20-somethings Yashi Desai and Dipti Doshi, friends and classmates from their ‘Graduation in Mass Media’ days, along with their colleague Frenny Shah, start Idea Hub — a steadily rising advertising agency. “We were the back- benchers in class! The general feeling was that my friends and I would end up doing nothing in life. That was until Idea Hub happened. We joined an ad agency and in fact it was our bosses who inspired us to give up our jobs and start out on our own,” says Yashi, who’s an animation expert.
But that inspiration wasn’t really positive, according to Dipti. “Our bosses always felt it was the guys who were confident and had all the great ideas. We wanted to break that myth. It wasn’t easy initially as people didn’t take us seriously because we are young and an all girls team. But our quirky ideas and quality stood out as we made around 15 per cent profit in the year 2010,” she says.
Then it was the power of ‘Y’, which drove yet another ‘quirky thinking’ youngster Preksha Baid, winner of the British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur 2010 (in design), to start Y-walls. It provides space design solutions with a focus on creating unique identities for public spaces in India. “My company was conceived in London while I was doing my M.A. I turned entrepreneur because I wanted a creative environment for myself. I always focused on ‘why’ because if I don’t question, I won’t search. If I don’t search, I will not discover. Being an entrepreneur truly gives you a three dimensional view of life as you get so much exposure,” says Preksha, who is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts London.
Those in the business feel this start-up generation, at nearly one million strong, is poised to be the largest, the most educated, and the most diverse in the history of Indian business. Business analyst Vandana V., says, “Entrepreneurs need to be very innovative and flexible. Generation Yers have all that; they understand that jobs aren’t for life any more. They believe in creating their own jobs and they definitely have the power to give big companies a run for their money. However, in this year, despite a fair recovery in the global economy, businesses will have to go through a tough phase as the environment is getting more challenging.” A study by analysts Earnst and Young has revealed that it’s going to be a year of tough competition in Indian markets. And with rising labour costs, the scenario turns even more interesting.
But then that’s simply just another challenge for these young guns who’re aiming to be different. You see, it was never really about the money in the first place.