Kerala’s Young Entrepreneurs Going Places

• Profoundis, based in Startup Village, is the first Indian company chosen for the Silicon Valley-based Blackbox Connect accelerator program.

• The People’s Company is a venture by six engineering graduates who have shunned MNC jobs to help revive the traditional handloom sector.

TechnoparkToday.com>> Sep 8, 2013: Two fledgling companies that have charted their own paths to success typify the new face of entrepreneurship in Kerala which has undergone a sea change in the past year thanks to a combination of positive governmental action and the sheer energy and inventiveness of youth.

Profoundis and The People’s Company are both the brainchildren of young people who have stepped out of the traditional mould of thinking in Kerala which has tended towards job-seeking and risk-aversion; they have both been the beneficiaries of a new eco-system that favours innovation and enterprise; and their diverse functional areas demonstrate just how dynamic this new entrepreneurial culture is.

One month after Startup Village was inaugurated as India’s first telecom technology business incubator in April 2012, four engineering graduates set up their data analytics company, Profoundis, at the new facility. Fifteen months on, Profoundis has become the first Indian company to be chosen for Blackbox Connect, a unique accelerator programme designed to help non-US startups access the resources of Silicon Valley in the US and scale globally.

Profoundis CEO Arjun R Pillai and COO Jofin Joseph will travel to the US in the first week of October for a two-week immersion programme consisting of training workshops, seminars, networking opportunities and visits to major IT companies to familiarise them with the successful entrepreneurial and work culture of Silicon Valley.

“As a software products and services company, a chance to experience the world’s biggest IT hub first hand is invaluable for us,” says Arjun. “It will be a launch pad for the next global phase of growth for Profoundis.”

Profoundis’ core product is a testimonial management system called iTestifyIt designed primarily for e-commerce website and other online selling portals. Still in beta stage, it already has notched up more than 260 sign-ups. Clients for Profoundis’ other web services range from telecom major Vodafone to a Finland-based NGO.

“We were the third company to be incubated at Startup Village. Besides the obvious gains of infrastructure facilities, being here has given helped us connect to mentors, investors and customers,” said Jofin .

Another group of youngsters riding Kerala’s start-up wave, albeit in a different direction, are Raqib Rasheed, Ashik Salim, Syamkrishnan P.A, Anto D Akkara, Shehaz V B and Muhammad Junaid, who shunned job offers at multinational companies to take up a project for reviving Kerala’s handloom sector where more than 50,000 traditional weavers are struggling to survive.

Even before passing out of the College of Engineering in Thiruvananthapuram last academic year, the group got together to float a start-up venture – The People’s Company– that has now won a contract from the Kerala Government to support the ailing handloom sector as part of the first phase of gradually reviving sick public sector units.

Under the two-year contract, effective from July this year, The People’s Company will integrate all weavers’ societies into a single production system and create linkage between new generation fashion designers  passing out of national institutes, and traditional weavers, with the larger goal of breathing fresh life into the industry.

“We were very actively involved in social causes even while at college. In May, towards the end of our course, we approached Additional Chief Secretary (Industries and Commerce) Shri V Somasundaran with our blueprint for the revival of sick PSUs. Impressed by our proposal, the Government gave us a two-year contract with the target of helping revitalize the handloom industry, keeping the weaver community as the major beneficiary,” said Raqib.

According to the plan, all products will be commissioned as per approved designs and market viability. Besides redoing and renovating the showrooms, the programme will also try to expand the market for handloom products. A key element of the project is to create a platform to connect the existing infrastructure and industry with the vast number of new generation fashion designing and arts graduates who are also looking for jobs.

“It is wonderful to see energetic and proactive youngsters like them come forward to revive the handloom industry – a move which will be of great benefit to marginalised weavers of Kerala. Connecting traditional handloom weavers and young fashion graduates is a great concept. The government will extend all support for such innovative ventures, “observed Principal Secretary (Industries) Shri P H Kurien.

“These youngsters could have had dream jobs in multi-national companies through campus placements, but they chose to attach themselves to a social cause. It signals a new revolution piloted by our enterprising youths,” said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman of the Startup Village Board of Governors. “We are happy that Startup Village could ignite this spark and the Government is nurturing this eco-system through policies and incentives.”

One of the most important initiatives of the government that has made ventures such as those of Raqib and his team possible is the landmark Student Entrepreneurship Policy (SEP) announced at the Emerging Kerala Global Connect in September last year.

“As we celebrate Entrepreneurship Day on September 12, I can vouch that many such ventures like Profoundis and The People’s Company are quietly taking shape in the school and college campuses of Kerala,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, the CEO of Startup Village.