National Youth Day Today; Meet 1st-Generation Entrepreneurs Whose Ideas Made Them Crorepati

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): None in their families was in business. And yet, they conceived of innovative entrepreneurial ideas and executed them. On the eve of National Youth Day, Free Press talked with four young, first-generation entrepreneurs in the city to know about them.

Excerpts:

Oxygen stations

It was in 2019 that the idea of developing jungles on urban land struck Sakshi Bharadwaj, founder of JungleVase. She calls them Oxygen Stations as they are full of plants and trees, which emit lots of oxygen. JungleVase is into urban landscaping and forestry, with environmental protection as prime concern. A total of 42 hectares have been covered to offset carbon footprint in Delhi NCR and Madhya Pradesh. “I began with developing 800-sq feet urban forest in Bhopal. We now cover more than 42 hectares. My company’s turnover is Rs 10 crore,” she said. She has developed 100-plus Oxygen Stations, 50-plus coconut husk vertical walls and many agro-forestry and ecotourism sites in Madhya Pradesh. She was the sole Indian representative at COP29, Baku, Azerbaijan, from MP.

One-stop solution for filmmakers

In 2008, Prakash Jha was shooting for film, Rajneeti, in and around Bhopal. His assistant Syed Zaid Ali, founder of Zeal Entertainment Pvt Ltd, saw what kind of logistical problems he faced in hiring actors, renting vehicles, accessing locations, finding the right hotels. “I then decided to offer a one-stop solution to all shooting projects in the city and Madhya Pradesh and Zeal Entertainment Pvt Ltd was started,” he said. Now, he has around 300 employees and his turnover has grown from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 crore. In last 16 years, he has handled 430 of the 490 shooting projects in the state, giving direct employment to over 37,000 people.  

Apparel for bikers  

Founder of Wanderlooms, Prateek Vats, is a biker and has covered more than 1.4 lakh km riding bikes. In 2019, the idea of producing apparels for thrill-seekers like him came to his mind. Along with Deepesh Shrivastava and Prakriti, he launched Wanderlooms.  They manufacture apparels for adventure-seekers at his factory in Kalyan, Mumbai. “Last year, our turnover was Rs 2.61 crore and this year we have set the target of achieving Rs 4-crore turnover,” Prateek said. The company is valued at Rs 20 crore and its clients include Hero, Royal Enfield, MG Motors, BMW.

-Prateek Vats, founder, Wanderlooms

Owns 3 companies

Gyanendra Singh Baghel runs three companies. GenNext India Private Limited is a recruitment and executive search firm established in 2008 was registered as a company in 2015-16. It has a turnover of Rs 1 crore. Then, he has Xylam Remedies Private Limited established in 2013 that manufactures ethical medicines. Its turnover is Rs 70 lakh. His third startup is called Gyanvi Technologies Private Limited. Under it, electric scooter parts are assembled. Its turnover is Rs 1.5 crore.