THE NEW AGE DIGITALPRENEURS

Industry captains and young entrepreneurs pondered on what makes tech startups tick in these times of stress at the YEA Summit

- Pooja Malik

NOTWITHSTANDING the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic that has now raged on for over 20 months, the Indian tech startup space has remained unhindered. While several business ventures have been hit by the pandemic, tech startups have thrived, thanks to the greater reliance on the digital space.

The Young Entrepreneur Awards and Summit 2021 honoured and celebrated this new breed of digital-entrepreneurs (or digitalpreneurs) and also provided a platform for a discussion on the makings of successful entrepreneurs. Through conversations with BW Businessworld and exchange4media Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Annurag Batra, industry leaders and entrepreneurs shared their views on the winning streaks of tech entrepreneurs and pontificated on what makes them tick while the business environment continues to be challenged by a pandemic that necessitates a “new normal”.

What is fuelling the growth of startups? What are the key learnings for an entrepreneur? These are among the issues that stirred discussions at the Young Entrepreneur Awards (YEA) and Summit.

Manoj Kohli, Country Head, Softbank India, spoke of the huge difference in mindset of the youth of today from the youth of a few decades ago. “Today, it seems like a big change to me when I see today’s purpose-driven youth becoming creators rather than applying for jobs,” said Kohli. He mused that even in the 1990s new technologies were generating multiple options and new business models. Today though, the internet and smart connectivity are generating new ventures to a degree that has dwarfed even the outsourcing boom of the 1990s, he went on to say.