Class IX girl student Dakshyani Pandey of Vidya Gyan School, Sitapur, UP emerges winner in India@75 National Youth Ideathon on entrepreneurial ideas

New Delhi : Dakshyani Pandey, a Class 9 girl student of Vidya Gyan School, Sitapur (UP) emerged as the winner of India@75 National Youth Ideathon 2021 for her indigenously built low version automotive prototype capable of saving countless infant lives. Aaryaman Sharma of Class 8, Neerja Modi School, Jaipur was announced as the 1st runner up for his winning idea on making an app that can help students find internships. Pooja Bhatoo of Class 11, St Johns International School, Fatehabad was adjudged the second runner up for her winning idea on a vermicomposting and organic products venture focusing on women empowerment. The three-stage festive competition of innovative entrepreneurship ideas by school students was organised by ThinkStartup in association with Management Entrepreneurship Professional Skills Council (MEPSC), under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and has been recognised by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The competition saw registrations of over 62500 students across 5000 schools between classes 6-12 including CBSE affiliated schools in foreign countries since its inaugural announcement on 21st September 2021. The Winner of India@75 – Youth Ideathon was awarded Rs. 1 Lakh; 1st Runner Up of India@75 – Youth Ideathon received Rs. 60,000 and the 2nd Runner Up of India@75 – Youth Ideathon was awarded a prize money of Rs. 40,000 along-with mentorship and incubation opportunities.

Dakshyani also received the award for “Best Automotive Idea” & was conferred with the prize money of ₹ 25000 along with which she was also presented with an opportunity from Sqd Leader Prerana Chaturvedi CEO & ED, Evolet India to be the brand ambassador for their two-wheeler segment.

According to Mr V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi and Chief Guest, “I personally feel that creativity is as important as literacy & it’s pivotal for us to foster this creativity because if we don’t, Google will surely replace us someday”

Announcing the winners Col. Anil Kumar Pokhriyal, CEO, MEPSC said “It has become essential for us to ensure that these young children who represent the future of our nation are introduced to the principles of entrepreneurship. Because only then can we build a generation that’s capable of building job opportunities rather than just limiting themselves to acquiring jobs”

Ms Shivani Singh Kapoor, Founder, ThinkStartup “The youth of our nation is brimming with innovative ideas that would not only lead us to us sustainable growth but will also lead the entire humanity to a brighter future & to achieve this, all we need to do is foster these young entrepreneurial minds & assist them in achieving their vision”

According to Mr Sanjeeva Shivesh, Co-Founder, ThinkStartup & Programme Director, Youth Ideathon, “The thrust behind this Youth Ideathon was “Mera idea jo badal de Bharat” & that is exactly what we have witnessed over here at the top 10 pitch of Youth Ideathon. We had transformative innovation projects from bright students across length and width of the country – Jammu to Trivandrum and Kharagpur to Mumbai.”

To inspire more & more female students & motivate them to come forward with entrepreneurial ideas, Sheatwork: one of India’s fastest-growing platforms dedicated towards women entrepreneurs, sponsored a special award worth Rs. 25000 for the Girl Innovator Award which was conferred to the 13 year old Hasini Lakshmi Narayanan, a student from Chettinad Vidyashram, Chennai. Besides these, there were 700 more award categories in the form of Top 10 Ideas Certificate + 3 Month Mentoring; Top 100 Ideas Certificate + Young Ideator; Top 500 Rank Certificates; Most Popular Idea award (Rs. 10,000); Best Idea from each State (Rs.10,000) and many more. Participating schools will be conferred with Certificates of Appreciation and Ideas Innovation Trophies.

As a part of this astonishing initiative, close to 800 school webinars & seven faculty workshops were organised pan India. These webinars & workshops subsequently catered to over 2 lakh students and 5000 teachers respectively. This initiative was put through with a vision to help teachers impart entrepreneurial knowledge & aid in the development of a new generation of young entrepreneurs.

The event was backed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) & the partnering organisations included some of India’s leading corporate houses such as Bajaj Allianz Life, Macmillan Education, Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), Sheatwork, Toppr, Law Sikho, Skills Trainer, CISS, IIM Visakhapatnam, Care and Allied Services, Olive Heritage and Ginger Webs.