Middle and High School Students from private and public schools across India, present their start-up ideas to an esteemed panel of judges in the National Finals of the Global Ideas Pitch Challenge, India’s First International Video Pitching Competition for Students. Participating students were coached by founders of Youth Startup Network, the organizer of the competition, and mentored by students from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C).
During this pandemic and the global new, students from different schools of India participated in the first of its kind competition on entrepreneurship development organized by Youth Startup Network, for the promotion of the Startup India Mission. Middle, High School & College students thought of solutions to real world problems in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) declared by the United Nations (UN).
Using innovating thinking and a guided coaching program, students explored various aspects of entrepreneurship. They learnt about problem identification, discovering passion, ideation, solution thinking, business models, customer acquisition, public speaking, and pitching. Over the past three months, the students also participated in various webinars, entrepreneur interactions and mentoring sessions to sharpen their ideas. The students from India’s premier institution, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) also volunteered and mentored the students to help them refine their business solutions and pitches; as part of the mentoring program devised by Youth Startup Network.
On Sunday, September 6, the program culminated with the organization of the National Finals of the Global Ideas Pitch Challenge. 14 finalists out of many, who participated, presented their pitch decks (presentations) virtually in front of the judges. Important to note is that the current pandemic situation and lockdown did not deter these students and they actually presented some interesting solutions to these problems also.
“The program has completely changed me, earlier I hesitated to share my thoughts, now I am presenting in the finals!” one of the finalists Simran Jain from The Amity International School, Gurgan shared with all.
“As a participant in the Global Ideas Pitch Challenge, I am learning about entrepreneurship and working on my knowledge of taking a business from idea to execution.” Keyyshav Seth, The Srijan School, Delhi and also winner of the challenge in the high-school category.
“My son does not enjoy traditional subjects much and hence lags in the class; this challenge has opened a new world for him. He has participated with energy and done his tasks. It is a new child I am observing, thank you Youth Startup Network” mother of Agam Singh, winner of the middle-school category from The Indraprastha International School.
The challenge – Global Ideas Pitch Challenge – is India’s first video pitch competition for students, launched after the country underwent lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. The vision of the program is to inspire kids and help them participate through their ideas in rebuilding for the future. In effect they also develop Entrepreneurial Mindset and Skills, which will enable them to be Job Creators in the future.
