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Ajay Chaturvedi is a young entrepreneur who founded HarVa (means Green in villages)-Harnessing Value. HarVa is an outsourcing organisation employing more than 5000 women of rural areas from Haryana and Rajasthan. Mr. Ajay has been appreciated by the World Economic Forum as Young Global Leader. The man is the author of recent best selling novel – The Lost Wisdom Of Swastik.

At this Young India Challenge, Mr. Ajay speaks about his book and its learning. According to him, the reality keeps changing. The world needs to adapt to changes in order to grow. He explains this concept by quoting two real yet funny examples.-

If you have to go from point A to point B using Google Maps in California, you can but you can’t put the same destination while living in India. Things have to change according to the circumstances and business environment.

Another interesting story is of NASA. Scientists couldn’t innovate after a point because the size of the engine they require can’t be changed because of the size of carriages. Altering its size would result in altering the tracks and tunnels, a huge expense to be incurred by the government. Instead, the other scientist decides to build one such factory nearby which can produce engines of larger size. Did you see the magic here? You change things when environment starts to become an obstruction.

There are many such stories which Mr. Ajay has shared in his book. Being a young innovator, Ajay appreciates innovation and has tried to serve the society in the most innovative way. His initiative HarVa employees thousands of rural women and has made world records.

That happens when passion is blended with innovation. #DoWhatYouLove!

Young India Challenge is never complete without Mr. Anurag Batra, Chairman and Editor in Chief, Business World. His vibrant presence and dynamic personality adds more energy to the event. We always look up to his inspiring story. Apart from constant support to Human Circle, Business World provides amazing opportunity to the delegates to intern with his media house.

He is here with us again for our new version of Young India Challenge at YMCA. His passion for journalism and business has yielded amazing results and thus, given him this career in world of business and media. He is from a middle class family yet his seriousness for entrepreneurship made him acquire Business World sometime back.

His interactive session starts with his favourite question- “What is the similarity between sex and entrepreneurship?”

Answer being, “Many people talk about it, few people do it, a few people do it rightly and handful of people do it for the right reason-Love”

Yes, Mr. Batra is not an old man but an entrepreneur with young heart and enthralling mind. The secret ingredient of success at entrepreneurship is “Use your passion”. You can’t spend your entire life doing something you don’t enjoy. There are two ways to live happily or succeed; either do what you love or use your passion for your job. In both the ways you will enjoy your work. Using your passion will add innovation to your job and make you stand out of the crowd.

What is most interesting about him is the way he carries the session. He does less of lecturing and more of showing delegates the reality. He believes in true stories. The speaker session involves inspirational videos – The last lecture, One pound fish, etc. to name some and some interesting stories from his life and others.

No wonder the man has been mentoring Mr. Kamal Seth, Chief Happiness Officer of Human Circle since the time Human Circle and Young India Challenge started. Human Circle is glad to have him and his presence will keep inspiring the coming delegates.

“I work 8 days a week! And I’m never tired, you know why? Because I literally do what I love”

No doubt the world is full of competition and no matter what you love doing you have to be really good at it. Other than believing in the idea you hold, you have to be presentable. What’s the use if you have a great idea but you can’t deliver it properly? The world out there is not clairvoyant, it works on what it sees.

Start with your personality. The way you carry yourself, the thought you hold for yourself, how you greet people, how confident you are and dozens other things. Most important being “Communication Skills”. You wouldn’t want to be a person who just listens and doesn’t get to raise an idea nor who doesn’t listen and often ends up irritating the company.

Personality is something which is build and enhanced over years and not by a day’s practice. But everyday’s practice does matter. Try and bring the changes you want to see. Not only it would grace you as a person and would give you confidence for your passion and the thought of pursuing it as a career.

LEARN

Life is an unending class where you learn by committing mistakes. Just because you have a passion and you think you are good, don’t quit learning. The more you learn, the more you explore. Learn to grow as a person, learn to improve your work, learn to live life!

Have you ever heard the stories of all successful people? May it be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, both of them and people like them having struggling yet inspiring story. All thanks to their knowledge, will power and passion which drove them to this day.

These people have something in common, either they are college dropouts or have been rejected from universities or jobs. No we are not saying that in order to be successful you have to drop your education but let us see if what you are studying is adding any value? If yes, well and good. If not, then may be you should be doing something else. Steve Jobs said that you have limited time and you should make best use of it, don’t waste it on something you don’t want to do.

The other thing they have in common is zeal and passion. They faced many failures yet they were patient enough to wait for the right time. See it needs time and determination.

But why you should be paid for your passion while world is being paid for conventional? The most important thing is idea. Believe in that idea. The world WILL pay you for your passion only when you would believe in that idea. Sell the idea and not the product. Your thoughts are the most powerful tool you have. Don’t lose your zeal, let the fire burn unless your passion becomes your life and you get paid for it!

“Don’t lose faith. Keep looking, don’t settle” – Steve Jobs

Yes, that is the first question we ask you when you hit the auditorium, “Do you do what you love?”

Well the question would seem to be very easy but the answer isn’t. Majority of people don’t do what they love and often wait for the weekends to relax. It is very important to find what you love and if not this at least try and find what you don’t like. At Young India Challenge, you get to identify your inner voice and may be at the end the magic will happen and you will know what you love.

Let’s start this way.

WHY?
Why are you here? Delegates take all the trouble to travel and experience the movement. Why? Why would anybody take that pain and experience two days event. And when you actually find yourself at this very Young India Challenge, you know the answer already 🙂

WHAT?
Yes, tell us what you love doing? You may not be able to figure it out but do you know how to make this task easy? Experience. Yes, try your hands at every possible thing and get to know what you might end up doing.
If at all you know it already, then my friend, hold it to you. No matter what, keep your strings attached and work towards it. Dreams do come true.

HOW?
Did you decide how would you take the road towards it? Search and research ways and means what may lead you to your goal. Failures are inevitable and you will face them at some point of time. Never be disappointed by this, rather look for more. Remember fellows, this question actually connects the dots.

That’s what happens here. The challenge is not some case study on which we would judge you. The challenge is to find your passion and convince yourself to pursue it, get paid for it. Believe that your passion can be life. You don’t have to sacrifice it for money.

Human Circle is back with brand new Young India Challenge, this time in YMCA Auditorium!

The journey starts all over again. Near 100 delegates, awesome speakers and the amazing Happiness Team is back with a bang. This Young India Challenge 2015 starts right here, right now!

Hell Yeah!

It is okay to be confused and look for things that you may like. In the process you might not find what you like but certainly will find what you don’t like. This is the story of Nikhil Sinha, who had many dreams like other children and tried to stand up to expectations of family, which we all do. It is later we realise how different this world would have been if only we had stood by our choice.

“The first time that I really developed a life aim was when I was 9 years old, cricket.. But, like every other kid in our country, this motivation fizzled out when things got serious in school.After spells of wanting to become a pilot, an actor, etc, the next serious words occurring in my life were ‘engineering’ and I moved bag and baggage to Kota for the next 2 years (which later on became 3).

I haven’t yet said that engineering is something I wanted to do. It’s the atmosphere in my home and school that led me into it. Nevertheless, I made an engineer. Not IIT, but NIT. Not computer science, but civil.

In the first year, I learnt dance and after that, all I dreamt of was judging a reality show at least once in my life. Life came a full circle when I resolved to take up my evening tennis more earnestly in second year. Dance aside, all I craved for now was an all India rank in tennis to the extent that I joined the All India Tennis Association (AITA). I hadn’t even played a tournament when third year came along with all its expectation, pressure and responsibility. As a result, I convinced myself to undergo coaching for the civil service because that is something that my immediate, close, not so close and distant family always wanted me to do.

In my final year, the cattle fair of engineering came by. A consultancy firm bagged me. Thankfully, my CAT and GATE results didn’t give me many more options to think of.

Today, I am an aspiring entrepreneur. Finally, I have found something that keeps me engrossed because I like it and not because others like it. But this choice came from experience and all of the above stands testimony to that. Looking back, I feel that I struggled whenever I planned to do something that the world wanted me to do and I didn’t. It would have been much better if at every point in life, I would have chosen to do what I wanted to do. Then, this experience wouldn’t even have been required.

Therefore, to all my friends in school and college reading this, make your career in what interests you. Your family might hate it, your friends might detest it, your teachers may object it, but you like it, and that’s what matters. Not every kid in India needs to start a cricketer, do engineering to figure out what to do exactly and end up a software engineer.”

It happens often that we start with something passionately and gradually with time, we lose grip of them. The story is of Abhinav Gupta, who had been a great singer since childhood but lost the touch when personal and professional life became priority. This story will inspire all those people who have forgotten their passion with time. It is never to late to wake up and find happiness in your passion.

“I knew I could sing since early childhood. I used to participate in events in elementary school and was part of winning teams in many local and regional cultural events in which my school used to participate. In college, I was very well known as a good Hindi singer ever since I performed in my fresher’s party.​ Bagged first prizes without fail each time I participated in singing competitions within my college ISM Dhanbad and a second spot in Antragini 2006 at IIT Kanpur.

Then, I moved to US. Conventional life took over. Lost touch with singing for 4-5 years.

But one day I realized how much I am losing by letting my passion die. So, I resolved to #DoWhatILove. I started recording my songs and sending them to friends for feedback.

Created my Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/SingerAbhinavGupta) on March 2015 which now has 7,600+ likes and going strong. I upload my singing videos weekly on this page.

I am back to life in doing what I do best and hope to set up my recording studio going forward in life.

Hope to make it big. Not for anyone, but for myself.

Secondly, moving to US has infused in me a fire of exploration. Travel is my second passion and I make sure I do not just sit back and waste time on weekends. Want to make the most of it and see the whole world before I perish. “

The journey of discovering your passion and following doesn’t end the story. Pursuing your dreams isn’t easy, good amount of hard work is involved. Years of practice and patience. One can surely live life of his own given he is patient and give continuous efforts.

Let us find some ways to keep going 😉

1. Start from somewhere: If you want to be a rock-star, you don’t just approach a sponsor and ask them to promote you. You practice, do smaller shows, practice, write songs, improvise, start gaining fame and then you stand on a taller pedestal. Walking on a different line doesn’t mean you are deviating; you are just taking smaller steps to reach The Point.

   

2. Don’t lose hope: Initially you may face a lot of failure and illusion. You might even feel that may be you took the wrong road. But bottom line being, never lose hope. Start fresh and be consistent.

   

3. Try and explore: if you want to be a photographer, don’t stop yourself from exploring new fields. It doesn’t mean you are losing focus but making yourself versatile and adding more perceptions to your life.

   

4. Take risk: well that’s an inevitable part. You have got to take risks, make uncertain decisions to either learn from the fall or grow from the thrust.

   

5. Networking: make as many new and influential friends you can. Not only they can be the reason foryour push, you will get to see their world, learn from their decisions and make your life better.

   

Try following the above points and see the difference. Life wasn’t meant to be easy. It was meant to adventure, learn and remember.

Azim Premji, a business tycoon and founder of Wipro, giving away more than half of his stake to charity has created a buzz in the business world.  He is the first indian to sign ‘Giving Pledge’ sponsred by billionaires like Warren Buffet and Bill GatesThe act is not only generous and but a smart move to add more goodwill to the company.

In this era, philonthropic activities are appreciated by corporate houses while earlier the argument was ‘profit oriented’ organisations shouldn’t indulge in soccial activities as it kills the baasic purpose of earning profit. With change in viewpoint, many known business houses are now indulged in charitable work. Most of them own several foundations and NGOs.

Let us get the basic understanding of corporate philonthrophy. It is the act of indulging in charitable activities by offering some of the profits or resources. It is different from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

CSR is a broader term and includes things beyond monetary offerings. It includes obedience to law, following international standards, binding to a codee of conduct and preaching ethical standards. CSR observes the betterment of society, environment and stakeholders.

For example, the video on ‘Silent National Anthem’ is a Relaince initiative on social cause for children with special abilities. Also they have their foundation which works for unpriveleged children. Necessary efforts from ITC to help farmers all across India not only ensure social development but economic development as well. These activities are for a social cause.Offering ESOPs to employees is a beneficiary steps for stakeholders. Lately, employees at Infosys had great profits when the market price of its share rose.

This is the new trend of earning profits while maintaing harmony with everyone around. There are various reasons for which corporate philonthrophy or CSRs are appreciated commonly-

1. Helps in equal distribution of wealth. It is a well known fact that 80% of the wealth is accumulated with 20% of people; the major portion lacks basic financial assistance. This way, money or resources can be distributed to the needy.
2. Corporate houses form the part of society. It serves the basic principle of give and take. Society is well paid for all the resources drawn from it.
3. Businesses are often influential. Acts undertaken by big business houses influence the society (the way advertisement influence us), thus, a wise action taken by them spreads a good message for the society and in the society.
4. It complements the work of the government. It is assumed that government should take care of the public affair; with support from such organisations, the growth is faster and easier.
5. Working for the betterment of stakeholders ensures less employee turnover, their loyalty, easy attitude from government and other institutes, trust from shareholders and loyalty from customers. All this again pushes the goodwill and performance of the company, yielding in higher profits.