CHENNAI: The corporate world has been unfair to women for quite sometime now. I want to break the stereotype of women not being capable enough to lead and my book, 300 Start-ups, will do just that,” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash. The books, which will be published within a month or two, will showcase 100 start-ups in three different volumes from various sectors headed by women who are working towards a common goal — identifying the problems present in their respective government departments and finding solutions.
Agnishwar’s mother has been instrumental in shaping the initiative, as he watched her work tirelessly as an advocate while she took care of her family at the same time. “That was when I thought of doing something to empower women. I believe my legacy will be the future of this country and that can only happen by empowering the youth while ensuring the inclusion of women,” he said.
Each start-up in the book was led by a team of seven to eight college students, who worked part-time to find solutions for the problems faced in their department on a regular basis. The students were guided by a plethora of mentors from different business fields. More than 30,000 interns work with these start-ups from various schools and colleges. “Every day, we see the impact of problems like pollution and traffic on the environment, but hardly anyone cares to diagnose these problems. This diagnosis is what these start-ups are doing for their respective government departments,” said the 28-year-old.
The initiative was recognised at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet, where a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Tamil Nadu government. Agnishwar added that this was the first time such a start-up incubator was given the mandate to execute such a project. “We have centres like FIIT-JEE and Aakash that provide a platform for students who want to pursue engineering and medicine but not for innovators. Our society is a victim of the herd mentality and every student is influenced to become a doctor, engineer or a chartered accountant. My mentor APJ Abdul Kalam advocated strongly against this. He wanted children to become what they wanted to be and not what society tells them to be. I wanted to realise his dream through ignite India, said Agnishwar, who holds a PLD (Program for Leadership Development) from Harvard Business School.
Adding that his initiative is nothing less than a gold mine for venture capitalists and funding agencies, he said, “If a solution to a problem in the government departments can be applied successfully in Tamil Nadu, the same problem can be fixed instantaneously by using the same solution to fix similar problems in other states. By doing this, the scale at which these start-ups operate increases.” The initiative which has been inducted in over 7,000 schools in Tamil Nadu, won two National Awards and is now recognised by the United Nations.
The former international swimmer ventured into the world of business after missing the Olympic cut-off by 0.3 seconds in 2012. “I realised that with swimming, I could only inspire other swimmers but with initiatives like these, I can inspire a billion youngsters,” he said. His ultimate goal is to revamp the Indian education system through Ignite India, a state-level innovation competition for school students, after it dawned upon him that there was no pathway for youngsters in India who wanted to be scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Agnishwar met former US President Barack Obama at the Obama Foundation Town Hall in India, shortly after he received the Outstanding Youth Delegate Award at the United Nations Youth Assembly in 2017. He said that their shared birth date proved to be an ice-breaker during their conversation. Agnishwar also founded an NGO called the Agni Foundation in 2013 to help underprivileged people. “We have a very strict policy at Agni Foundation: do not donate your money, donate your time. Many a time, people donate their money and forget about it. The time they spend working towards our cause at the foundation is much more valuable to us,” he said.
But the 28-year-old believes he has miles to go. “My goal is to ensure every youngster has a job in India and that can happen only if we incubate and support their initiatives through platforms like 300 Startups so they, in turn, will be capable enough to employ more people. This is exactly how problems like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy can be solved,” he explained.
Highlights
● Agnishwar met former US President Barack Obama at the Obama Foundation Town Hall in India
● He is an former international swimmer