At the age of 21, when most youngsters are trying to figure out what to do with their lives, Hyderabad-based Vennela Krishna is blossoming as an entrepreneur. Vennela, a student at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, started teaching at the age of 18, when she was in the first year of college. Using her own experience, she began helping law aspirants enter law school.
Vensy, as she’s fondly called, worked as a teacher at Career Launcher, before starting her own company — Law School 101 — in 2014.
“The place where I worked did not have a proper system or syllabus in place. So I decided to start my own company with a few volunteers,” she reveals.
Law School 101 helps law aspirants crack the entrance test, train them in the various aspects of law and also help them in extra-curricular activities such as debates, quizzes, motivational speaking, etc. They have also organised Moot Court events, inter-college debate sessions and orientation sessions at schools to attract young children to the subject of law.
But Law School 101’s greatest success so far came when it was awarded the youth entrepreneur award for India 2016 by Child and Youth Finance International, Netherlands on October 26.
Law School 101 were the only ones from Hyderabad to be shortlisted for the awards and also the youngest among all the participants.
“We had to compete against a lot of people who have been running their own startups. Apart from being the youngest, what made me so proud was the fact that we are completely a student-run organisation. We work on this company while simultaneously preparing for our course-work, exams and attending classes, etc. On the other hand, we were up against professionals who were working full-time on their respective start-ups for about two years,” Vensy points out.
The victory will taste even sweeter for Vensy and her team, since the winners of the award will also get the chance to represent India at another awards ceremony in Sweden on November 28.
“I will first attend an entrepreneurial training session and a couple of workshops on my trip to Sweden and then there will be the awards ceremony, where I will representing India. It will be the same venue where Nobel Prize winners are awarded, so it’s a huge moment for me,” she says, excitedly.