Presenting the Entrepreneur 2017 League of 35 Under 35 The maiden class of 35 Under 35 is the actual reflection of the vibrancy and tenacity of India's youth.
By Sandeep Soni
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Who is an entrepreneur? A change catalyst? A believer? A driver? A leader? A disruptor? A role model? In no one or few qualities can you define who really is an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is an all-encompassing world of finding who you really are with your strengths and weaknesses. Deep down we all are entrepreneurs in some way – from a local tea-seller to product managers to running a billion dollar enterprise - the way that drives us to create value for others, which may or may not be quantified.
Entrepreneur magazine – America's voice for entrepreneurship, for the first time in India has recognized the 35 most remarkable cheerleaders of the spirit of entrepreneurship that tells them to accept failures but not to give up.
It's the Entrepreneur's 2017 League of 35 Under 35. And boy! What a class we have.
The list is the most absolute and conclusive league of India's boldest, most passionate, vivacious, and above all transformers who built their dreams into reality. The 35 remarkable young personalities are the guiding light for all those distinct men and women who want to re-discover themselves and realize what being persistent, patient, and true to their passion can do to them.
The maiden class of 35 Under 35 is the actual reflection of the vibrancy and tenacity of India's youth, particularly founders of disruptive technology businesses that are changing the status quo and earning great name, fame, and money. The journey of these young millennials to becoming the future legends in their respective field of work inspired us to document and highlight the change that they are bringing to India.
The 35 A-listers are across seven categories that are witnessing shift to the future – technology, creative, social, consumer products, finance, industrial, and celebs. As a sneak peek into the chosen group of 35, we have names like Hike Messenger's Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder of India's youngest unicorn, Ananya Birla, founder of microfinance company Svatantra who last year launched her debut international single "Livin' The Life', Virat Kohli, the new captain of the Indian cricket team who was recently honored with Padma Shri – the fourth highest civilian award for his dedication and contribution to cricket, Aditya Thackeray, the young politician and the upcoming face of Shiv Sena, P V Sindhu, the only Indian woman to win a Silver at Olympics and Satnam Singh Bhamara, the first Indian who made it to National Basketball Association. And then there are the names that may not be as famous as the ones above but are doing some serious business with all guns blazing including Abhiraj Bhal (Urbanclap.com), Arunabh Kumar (The Viral Fever), Samar Singla (Jugnoo), Jaspreet Singh (Druva), Sachin Jaiswal (Niki.ai),
Saket Modi (Lucideus Tech), etc. The entrepreneurs range across categories including mobile messaging, services marketplace, chatbot, education, security, digital entertainment, hospitality, lending, financial services, robotics, logistics, and much more.
The Numbers Game
A look at the profile will tell you that 27 out of the chosen 35 are entrepreneurs. While three are sportspersons, we have one each from achievers like actor, singer, investor duo, movie director and politician. If you look at the age-wise demarcation, five are 25 or below, 11 are 30 or below and 19 are 35 or below. While the list is largely male dominant (we want more women participating), seven superb women achievers, find their niche. When Kavin and Ananya went on work on business they set up establishing, we also found Tarun Arora of IG International doing a superb job to his family business and reshaping it.
