The projects that I have undertaken have been born out of passion and desire to make a change. And to achieve my goals I worked hard to build the necessary skill sets and acquire the necessary knowledge, and again most of my initiatives were driven solely by me.
1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.
My name is Ayush Gharat and I am a 17-year-old student studying in Grade 11 at Head Start Educational Academy, Bangalore. I am very passionate about technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation and enjoy working on social initiatives where I can create a positive impact on people’s lives and contribute to society.
Some of my key initiatives are listed below:
mNutrition - I have developed an app called mNutrition that can diagnose malnutrition in children below the age of 5. The application takes in the child’s basic parameters such as age, gender, height, weight, and MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference), and uses this data to evaluate the child’s risk profile. This risk profile, along with the child’s details i.e. name, date of birth, area/location, and other parameters can then be stored in a local database which can be accessed when the child is receiving first hand treatment.
This project earned me the prestigious position of Regional Finalist from the Asia-Pacific at the Google Science Fair 2018-19.
Medrive - Medrive is a digital medical assistant that lets you store your medical records online, making them accessible anytime, anywhere. The app also has additional features such as reminders for taking your medicines. My team and I ranked second place at Teen Turks, a national-level entrepreneurship competition for high school students. After months of intense development, the android app is going to be released and will be available on the Play Store very soon.
Aashwas - My third project is called Aashwas. Aashwas, meaning ‘Reassurance’ in Sanskrit, is a social initiative that aims to aid frontline health workers in India during the Covid 19 Pandemic. Under this, I have started ‘Project Muskaan’ through which I carry out fun, interactive, and engaging sessions for frontline health workers to help uplift them and relieve them of their mental stress. I am currently collaborating with the Indian Medical Association Students Network - Maharashtra & Punjab Chapters, Asian Medical Students Association
(AIMSA) and the Junior Doctors’ Network. Recently, I have started a fundraiser through which I have raised more than 6 lakh rupees to provide 2400 high-quality PPE kits to frontline health workers in need. To date, I have impacted over 3600 frontline workers across 80+ cities.
I have been associated with an NGO called 1M1B (1 Million for 1 Billion) is a social innovation and future skills initiative and is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable and Development goals. Through the work I've been doing for the past 8 months, I have been selected as a delegate to present my work at the 1M1B Impact Summit at the United Nations in New York in December 2021.
On February 1st, 2021 I also represented India as a Youth Ambassador at the International Youth Conference in New York conducted in collaboration with the Civil Society Unit, United Nations Department of Global Communication, and UN-Habitat Youth. I was among a panel of young changemakers from across the globe where we discussed the youth response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how we all best used the time we got during this period to bring about a change, and most importantly give back to our communities in need.
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
My inspiration for mNutrition first started when I was working on a project involving malnutrition in India. On doing more research, I learned that India has the largest population of malnourished children in the entire world. I also had the opportunity to visit a local Anganwadi, where I got to meet and interact with some young malnourished kids. Meeting them and seeing their suffering really touched my heart and I just felt that there had to be something I could do.
My grandfather, who has several comorbidities was my inspiration behind Medrive. Due to his medical conditions, he was often forced to carry his medical records every time he traveled and visited us. It was a cumbersome task, and he often complained about how inconvenient it was for him. Empathizing with him, I came up with the concept of an online digital solution that could enable him to access his medical records more efficiently, easily, and in real-time.
Regarding Aashwas, our frontline heroes are facing the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic as they have to work long hours, witness patients suffering, face medical violence and risk their lives every day performing their duty. Through conversations with a close relative of mine who is also a frontline health worker, I learned about the immense amount of mental stress and emotional strain they’re facing every day. This inspired me to start Aashwas, and subsequently Project Muskaan.
3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?
mNutrition - As the app began gaining large media attention thanks to the Google Science Fair, I began working on adding newer features like augmented reality and machine learning. Unfortunately, even before I could fine-tune and utilize these technologies for my own purpose, I found it difficult even to understand how they worked as they required an understanding of mathematics that was far beyond the scope of my school syllabus.
It was only after months of struggle, that I realized that in my pursuit for perfection, I ended up wasting precious time that I could have spent making the existing technology available for use. I learned to accept that perfection is a myth and that growth can only be achieved through working with what you have rather than what you desire to have.
Medrive - Medrive was the first project where I worked with a team of like-minded students to build the initiative. A huge challenge had been working with the team and learning when to compromise and when to be firm and take a strong stand. However, through practice and experience, I have learned to hone my leadership and collaboration skills.
Aashwas - The biggest challenge here was to convince health workers to be a part of the activities, as they were bogged down by their busy schedules and duties of attending to Covid 19 patients. A lot of doctors showed hesitation and resistance to the idea, but after joining the event sessions, thoroughly enjoyed it, with many asking for more sessions to be conducted. The feedback from doctors was very encouraging and the majority of them said that they felt relieved after attending these sessions.
4. What was the overall response to your initiative?
mNutrition - I received an overwhelming response to mNutrition. I was covered by many prominent media outlets, both in India and abroad. Additionally, I was featured by Indiatimes in their article '14 Young Innovators Whose Ideas Can Save The World And Make It A Better Place'.
The extensive media exposure enabled me to interact with various imminent organizations. I was reached out to by the Health Minister of Karnataka, Mr. C. Shivanand Patil, to discuss a potential pilot of the app. IBM also offered to mentor me to develop the app further and improve its UI and UX characteristics and I began working with their teams for the enhancements.
Medrive ranked second place at ‘Teen Turks*’, a national-level entrepreneurship competition for high school students. Subsequent to this Medrive got a lot of visibility and was well appreciated for solving a very pertinent problem. After months of focused development and some value enhancements, the android app is almost ready to be released and will be available on the Android Play Store very soon.
My latest Initiative ‘Aashwas’ has been highly appreciated by the community of health workers who have enjoyed the activities and found them to be a fresh breath of air during these difficult times.
Furthermore, it has also been appreciated by prominent and reputed Senior Doctors across the nation, as well as multiple industry experts. I have also been featured on Radio Mirchi 95FM and in multiple newspapers.
I am also the proud recipient of one of India’s most coveted awards for outstanding achievement, ‘Young Achievers Award 20-21’, at the ‘Indian Achievers Forum’ for my work done through Aashwas.
5. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?
The projects that I have undertaken have been born out of passion and desire to make a change. And to achieve my goals I worked hard to build the necessary skill sets and acquire the necessary knowledge, and again most of my initiatives were driven solely by me. That said, it does help to work on ideas or initiatives that leverage one's core skills or strengths. This will only help you achieve your objective in a faster and efficient manner, and there are far more chances of achieving success.
There are a plethora of learnings, life skills, and qualities that I have developed in my entrepreneurial journey so far, and I feel all young aspiring entrepreneurs should try and develop as well. Learning from failure and getting back on your feet quickly, a never-give-up attitude, complete belief in yourself and your idea, and then pursuing it with passion and dedication, no compromise on quality and productivity, curiosity and hunger for knowledge, optimism, positive attitude, and empathy are just some of the valuable life skills and qualities that a successful entrepreneur possesses, and an aspiring entrepreneur should strive for.
In my eyes, no business is actually successful; instead, it is the entrepreneurs who build and run that business who deserve the credit of success. A successful entrepreneur is someone who can use any idea or solution and turn it into a successful venture using innovation, perseverance, and resourcefulness
6. What are your tips for first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs?
Some of the tips for aspiring entrepreneurs are :
- Always be open to opportunities and try to build a strong network of people in the same field. Networking is the key mantra today to efficiently collaborate and build a support system for your venture or business.
- Be aware of the fact that it is highly unlikely for you to start with one idea and stick to that idea alone. Always be open to change, open to suggestions and feedback, and use it to develop and improve or fine tune your idea. Don’t be afraid of pivoting your business to an entirely new concept if the conditions demand it, as long as you have confidence in yourself and in the move that you will be making.
- Make use of social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to reach out to people who can potentially become your customers or even your employees and partners.
Ayush Gharat - Student Entrepreneur and Social Innovator
Interviewed By: Nishad Kinhikar
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