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HOW A FILM DIALOGUE SPARKED THE IDEA FOR APNA AND LED TO A PLATFORM SEEKING TO WIDEN ACCESS TO JOBS AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS

- S SHANTHI

THE IDEA FOR APNA came to Nirmit Parikh in an unlikely setting — a movie theatre. While watching the film Gully Boy, one line stayed with him: "apna time ayega". The phrase captured something he had been thinking about for years, that many people have ability and ambition, but lack access to the networks and opportunities that enable them to move ahead.

After completing his MBA at Stanford University, Parikh returned to India determined to build something around that idea. His view was that employment, a basic need, still functions through fragmented networks and opaque hiring processes. Technology, he believed, could lower those barriers.

“There is a clear information asymmetry. Talent exists, but access to opportunity and networks does not. Over time that gap only grows,” Parikh said.

The ambition was to create a platform that connects job seekers, particularly from white and blue-collar segments, with employers and professional communities. The idea became Apna in 2019, arriving at a time when Internet penetration was expanding rapidly and more companies were beginning to shift hiring online.

Parikh's inclination towards building things began early. Growing up in a family of engineers, he spent time experimenting with circuits and small machines. By his early teens he was writing code and building simple products.