Harsha Bhogle launches ‘World is an Oyster’ Program, aimed to mentor students through alumni support

Hyderabad : Following an accomplished Day 1 of the StartX Summit, The Hyderabad Public School Begumpet hosted another enriching day of the summit. The day featured a lineup of renowned HPS alumni experts, sharing their insights and strategies for achieving success in the startup landscape. A captivating session by HPS alumni Ishan Chatterjee, Rana Daggubati, and Nag Ashwin was a delight for aspiring creators. The event unfolded with a panel discussion on ‘Navigating the Creator Economy – A New Era of Digital Entrepreneurship’. Mr. Ishan Chatterjee – Managing Director, YouTube India; Mr. Rahul Tamada – Cofounder & CEO, Tamada Media; Ms. Supriya Yarlagadda – CEO, Annapurna Studios; Mr. Rana Daggubati – Film Actor & Producer; Mr. Nag Ashwin – Indian Film Director & Screenwriter; Mr. Satish Mummareddy – Former Product Manager, GenAI, Meta discussed the current trends in the economic landscape for entrepreneurs especially in the digital era.

Elaborating on the evolution of content, Mr. Ishan Chatterjee – Managing Director, YouTube India said, “Platforms like YouTube have democratized access to creative arts, now anyone can be creator. It has implications for mainstream media and existing business and for a creator economy as a whole since you can legitimately build business. Hyper-localization and the ability to access languages and genres is evermore possible. With a huge majority of content being consumed in short form videos now, the content landscape will change in the next 24 months by Gen- AI. It will be an exponential and exciting change.”

Mr. Rana Daggubati – Film Actor & Producer reflected on the changing landscape for creators, “Being a creator is all about being original, you must have a story coming deep inside from you, this is important to for the content to be relevant. Our generation has seen films disappeared with digitization. Learning and unlearning is the key, you need to create a cycle. Change is going to be dramatic and quick, unless you are on that cycle, it will be difficult. It is what you choose to chase – which skill you want to pick. Earlier it used to be an imitation game. The change of thought now is that the world is one and anything that is made here can get picked elsewhere in no time.”

“The mainstream creators are going to be superpowers – with higher quality content which is accessible much faster, much cheaper, a large set of people who can get an opportunity to do that will be superpowers” said Mr. Satish Mummareddy – Former Product Manager, GenAI, Meta added.

Reminiscing their memories from school days, Mr. Nag Ashwin – Indian Film Director & Screenwriter shared, “HPS helped us to prep for the real world and we are glad to give back to the school”. Talking about filmmaking he added, “When I make a film, I wish to reach wider audience rather than confined audience like from Bangladesh or any other global space.

“When every creator can build an audience set that is very niche, monetization is an easy ball game. Short-form content is the future. Monetization is just a byproduct of the community built on loyalty and constant engagement,” said Mr. Rahul Tamada – Cofounder & CEO, Tamada Media.

Yet another panel discussion on ‘Intrapreneurship – Igniting Innovation in Established Businesses’ witnessed Mr. Vikas Jhabakh– MD, Motovault & Benelli India; Mr. Krishna Kanumari– CEO and MD – Sai Life sciences; Mr. Gautam Reddy– Co-founder, PAD integrated Communications; Mr. Anand Narasimhan – Head of Oncology Business, Merck; Abhishek Somany- Owner, Somany Ceramics Limited.

Mr. Anand Narasimhan – Head of Oncology Business, Merck said, “Rallying the team together is what HPS taught me. I attribute a lot of what I am today to HPS. As one of the oldest pharma companies of the world, you must reinvent yourself. It took until 2008 when the company could build a base and grow its businesses. Organic innovation is needed to overcome the inertia. The political environment plays a huge role and we have the best startup environment in the world.”

“India is strong in generic manufacturing. You have to pick the best trend which you believe in. In R&D, you have to invest in technology ahead of time, incubate for long period of time. We need to think strategically for innovative business, studying the trends before others do. Every company has to decide its own comfort level risk. HPS as a school made us all-rounders by exposing us to a diverse environment.” Mr. Krishna Kanumari- CEO and MD – Sai Life sciences added.

Mr. Vikas Jhabakh– MD, Motovault & Benelli India said; “About 1.5%-1.6% family businesses go beyond family business. It is critical to identify your space in the market before the trend catches in the market. If the opportunity is too obvious, you are probably already late. You need to understand where the market is moving.. You might never time it as well but be able to take advantage of the trends. The greatest learning for me at HPS was that everything is possible in this world.  There is something special that has been happening at HPS throughout and the great alumni network sets us apart.”

Abhishek Somany- Owner, Somany Ceramics Limited reminisced his homecoming days by saying, “HPS will have a lot more alumni who will be on the world stage”. He said that a lot of disruption is happening in the AI front in ceramics. People are more familiar with purchasing online since technology is enabling the consumer in their purchase decisions.”

Post the panel discussions, entrepreneurs and leaders participated in speed networking sessions with startups showcased at the event. The young entrepreneurs got to learn from the best in the field to exchange ideas spanning entrepreneurship, content creation, healthcare, technology, and marketing, as these sessions gave them a platform to interact with global mentors at the school. An interesting stark tank inspired Startup Pitch session was also held, which gave a boost to Six Alumni-led startups by allowing them to pitch in front of a 5-judge panel.

At the summit’s conclusion, funding was secured by three startups—Hit Wicket, Panoplia, and Iris amounting to a total of 4.9 crores from Alumni Investors, including major contributors like Mr. Ashish Bajaj, CEO and co-founder of eLear Solutions, and Mr. Sailesh Sigatapu, General Partner at Anthill Ventures.

Cricket commentator and alumnus Harsha Bhogle also inaugurated a leadership and grooming program for future leaders – ‘World is my Oyster’. A panel discussion was held on the program crafted to boost mentorship and guidance through large scale alumni participation. Hardcore components of the module will be board room discussions and conflict management. The panelists comprised Dr. Skand Bali, the Principal of The Hyderabad Public School, Mr. Suheim Sheikh from YCH Sports Foundation, Himanshu Tambe from ISB & SMUCEO Cosmode Consultants, and Mr. Sarat Naru, specializing in career counseling.