Sunill Patel: From tragedy to triumph
Hailing from a small village in Gujarat, Sunill struggled his way to success in Bangalore. Destined to be a farmer in Unjha in Gujrat, Sunil's life changed when his father met with an accident and lost one of his legs. He was bedridden for three years. They had no choice but to shift to Bangalore because they had lost everything.
At that time he could not imagine just how far he would go. He started helping his father at the age of 16 — attending school in the morning and office in the latter half of the day. He took over the business at the age of 20 and then there was no looking back. United Acid and Chemical Company, started by his father is today one of Bangalore’s most successful acid-companies.
Aman R Jain and Varun Meghani: Bangaloreans who turned into alchemists
What happens when a Josephite and a Cathedralite meet? The two lads, all of 22 end up heading a design store with a huge turn over. This is one inspiring story. Alchemy Store, an apparel label for colleges and organisations across India, is the brain-child of this duo. What started off as a way of earning some extra pocket-money turned out to be a big business venture.
They started off with just `636 in 2012 and within a span of two years they went national. Even though they had a lot of support from their families, they chose not to take it. They wanted to do something on their own. The name 'alchemy,' the process of turning base metals into gold, was picked from a Chemistry textbook. With some really fresh ideas, this duo reinvented the merchandise industry.
Mahendar Bafna: Learning from criticism
Right from the age of 16, when he finished his schooling, Mahindar Bafna wanted to do something of his own. His passion for food and his desire to be independent led him to start the M-Star group four years back. At the young age of 20, still immersed in his studies, he stumbled upon the idea of opening a fine dining pure vegetarian restaurant. He opened his first restaurant Jalpaan in 2011. Within a period of four years, he has opened 15 restaurants across South-India. All this with zero prior experience since he hailed from a family of jewellery designers.
The biggest challenge came in 2013, when Eat Street, one of his restaurants was forced to shut down. He learnt a big lesson from it and came back stronger. Jalpaan now serves almost 3,000 people a day. He says, “I took the criticism well and learnt from it.”
Pratik Mehta: HE BUILT middle-class dreams
Pratik Mehta started Unishire, a real estate company at the age of 25 in a one room office. He had first started an ad-agency which was into animation but Unishire was his destiny. The first four years were tough because a young team in a small office did not look credible enough.
But today the company is successfully catering to the middle class Bangalorean who wants to own a home. Making high end amenities fit in the budget of an average man was a tough task. Pratik says. "Every city in the world has a trademark building. We should have one too." His next initiative is to build homes sensitive to the needs of the physically challenged and senior citizens.
Amar and Bijal Kapasi : They created a planet just for kids
Meet the dynamic Amar Kapasi and his quick-witted wife Bijal. The two reimagined pre-schooling and Planet Kids was the result. At the young age of 24, along with partner Chandu Jain, Amar and Bijal dreamt of starting a school that would be every child’s dream. They had a vision to incorporate all those features that no one had thought of. Imagine going to a school with a splash pool and a ball pool. Or how about a gym for all those tiny tots? “A planet that belongs to the kids only,” they say.
What started as a stand alone school in the interiors of Mahalaxmi Layout in 2004, is now a 15 center plus chain of schools. The journey was difficult. Since they were the first to start up in Bangalore, acceptance was a major challenge. “We chose quality over numbers,” says Amar.