As part of our constant endeavour to identify and share with our community some of the unique and compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, this week we spoke to Team Youth India Foundation to understand more about their journey, their vision and the way forward. Youth India Foundation, is a social entrepreneurship platform where youth from across the nation unite to share their knowledge and skills for a good cause. Let’s read their unique story!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with the team:
Why did you start a non-profit organization and what are the scopes of this NPO?
Regarding the first half of the question, the reason why I started this NPO is that I have always been somehow affiliated with these kinds of management activities and wanted to serve society in one way or another.
It has been one of my childhood goals to start an enterprise or businesses or this kind of organization which focuses on giving livelihood to people rather than filling their own pockets. Youth India started with this aspect along with my interest towards leadership, management and making more and more enterprises.”
Youth India is a Nonprofit Organization, it is a social entrepreneurship platform which focuses on empowering youth particularly, giving them a chance to start social enterprises through our platform by doing a lot of strategically planned events, collecting surplus funds and utilizing them in the startups established by them using their own ideas which have a sustainable business model.
Employment and education are what make life sustainable, we here at Youth India help the underprivileged in both employment and education terms. We also give entrepreneurs a chance to make their company or startup bloom through such a huge mass of people and resources along with creating a lot of employment through these startups. We intend to tap youth talents and ideas and use them productively under their own name.
Could you please share with us a brief about the founders of the organization?
The founder of this organisation is Subhankar Nanada, a student of Delhi University and IIT Madras, pursuing a dual course in economics and accounting finance and data files and programming. I started this on 11th Feb 2020 and the idea model concept is something which I thought in 2019 which ended up with the creation of youth India.
The co-founders of this organisation are Aanis Narnolia, the first person to join this network. He is a student of Symbiosis Centre of Management Studies, Pune. He is also the trustee of this organisation. Aanis took this mission from Bhubaneshwar to Maharashtra and led to the involvement of the whole state.
Pushney Mahapatra is another co-founder, who is pursuing a B.tech in Biotechnology Genetic Engineering from SRM Institute of Science and Technology. He has a versatile personality and can handle anything from finance to management to painting to dancing.
Another flower in the bouquet, our Cofounder is Sangram Sahoo who is an engineering student at SRM University and is also a professional photographer. He also co-founded and helped the formation of the Tamil Nadu team.
What is the mission of your foundation?
We at Youth India believe in permanent solutions rather than temporary ones.
We involve college students, train them in various departments, giving them real-life experiences. Students host events and derive funds out of them which gives them direct market exposure and assists them in building various other qualities.
The funds generated are then used for setting up sustainable social enterprises which are set up and managed by the youth of this nation.”
These enterprises work for society further by creating employment opportunities for many underprivileged people. These entrepreneurs also work for social upliftment which can either in spreading awareness or promoting education in underprivileged sections of society.
Our current mission is to achieve our 5-year goals which include setting up 500 social enterprises all over the country in 29 states and starting 50 entrepreneurship in our international branches, which are about to come up.
The mission is to impact 1-2 crore people through our outreach activities and employ 1 lakh, underprivileged people, we also aim to impact the lives of 10-15 lakh people.”
What would you consider as your short term goals, particularly for 2021?
For 2021 we have already announced and will ensure that we establish 50 social enterprises in the active states and to bring the number of states covered to 15 and expand in 5 countries namely UK, USA, UAE, Australia, India. Along with that ensure that 1 lakh young people in colleges are connected with us.
So far we have achieved a lot in 2021, highlighting the Covid Relief Initiative which has saved over 500 lives across India. With the fundraising amount raised, we will be assisting the education of school students who lost the only earning member of their family in this pandemic.
We have already generated a sum of about 1.5 lacs and are expecting much more. Moreover, we also have Your Friend, a community where people of any age can be evocative for help. We have a meticulously planned e-school that will not only serve the purpose of distance learning but also won’t compromise on the students’ health.”
Our initiatives do not just end here, we have been working on many more such initiatives like youth India placement cell, youth India e Karton, Kala Tirth etc.
Why is this short term goal important?
We have a 5-year goal and we need to break it down in a smooth way so that we can achieve it. They are the steps of the ladder to success. We create certain goals everyday and with the help of our team we achieve them every day.
This foundation was laid to ensure changes in society and borders don’t exist for us. We believe in bringing worldwide changes.
Since you mentioned that it is a NPO, how much money do you need from donors to accomplish their goals?
We are against donation as per concept with Youth India we do have a separate wing where we accept donations and 95% of donations to the public, 5% for administration cost of that particular initiative.
Social entrepreneurship, we believe that even if we receive a single penny from the person we should give some value to the person who has invested in us. Whether it is a charitable organization or non-charitable organisation we believe we should be giving back to people then and there rather than promising something in the long term.
We believe in at least giving back to the person who is investing in us and giving the surplus to others using that fund only. In that manner what happens is that economic activities are well balanced on both sides.
What type of help can a person give you, if they are unable to give financial donations?
We keep updating about all initiatives and events organized by YOUTH INDIA FOUNDATION, if any donor wants to reach out to us they call send their proposal on [email protected] and our team will make sure to revert back in 24 hours. We welcome people who are interested in entrepreneurship and launching their own initiative.
We can help with management and our wide range of networks is always available for opportunity seekers and those who wish to bring about change. We have our placement cell running efficiently which liberates/exempts the companies from the hassles of market research, a search of a potential candidate, filtering of various resumes, scheduling interviews and aid companies find their appropriate candidates. Our covid relief initiative is also accepting funds and help in kind.
Whether it is monetary help or any help in kind we are open. We have a lot of verticals including events, initiatives or social enterprises or outreach activities. Feel free to reach out on Instagram, mail or any other social platform.
Till now, what is the accomplishment of the ‘Youth India Foundation’?
Talking about till now accomplishments and goals as of the first year we have achieved them very successfully. We are currently present in 7 states namely, Delhi, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra. We have ensured that we have at least 50 college societies or clubs created under our current system and we are moving under expansion by the end of this month we would be having more than 70 societies in each state.
We have targeted a turnover of 25 lakhs from events and the initial starting of about 8 social enterprises. Targeted government tie-ups regarding our enterprises to support them, they have been achieved. Along with this, we currently are having 7000 to 8000 members working with us pan India.
Since you have launched so many campaigns, can you share a success story regarding any campaign?
The starting of Youth India is a success story, every campaign is a success story. Before starting YOUTH INDIA FOUNDATION we gave our time to another organisation and now we have expanded a lot across space, we had some disagreement in terms of concept and we had to start YOUTH INDIA FOUNDATION basically from the ground level and the amount of support which we got during the initial launching of youth India only says a lot.
In the first 3 months, we had an immense group, we started as 3 states and soon west Bengal joined us, on the first day within 5 hours we had 2000 people connecting us on Instagram and to having 5 national events in a span of 2 months and collecting 2-3 lakhs in first 3 months without any media presence and social presence, we started your friend, a community where people of any age can evocate, during a pandemic when everything was shutting down we were launching up.
We didn’t lose hope in the second wave of the pandemic, rather we started the Covid relief initiative which has so far saved numerous lives and is still running actively. That’s the most touching and best campaign story. (Add about covid relief, placement cell as required in the para)
How many branches do you have?
We will establish our headquarters in Delhi as soon as this pandemic ends, currently, we run online and have no physical branch. We are working efficiently in 7 states and each one of them operates separately. We have over 50 societies in these seven states and they have their individual media handles.
As of organizational structure, we have Initiatives, Outreach and core team. The core team and outreach are divided into National and states. We are expecting 50 new initiatives this year. We also have a separate wing for charitable events.
Why did you choose YOUTH INDIA FOUNDATION as the name?
We found that it might be relatable to many people, they might be able to connect with it. When starting an organisation or product which has to deal with a huge mass of people it must also appeal to a huge mass of people. Every single division of the country will be able to resonate with Youth and India.
India is the youngest country in the world, we believe that most of the power of the youth is going untapped. Hence we thought, that this talent must not go vain and must be used at its utmost potential.
Did you name it as YOUTH INDIA FOUNDATION because it deals with young people?
We deal mostly with college students and young people because we believe that they are a storehouse of energy and talent, which remains untapped for the most part of their lives.
The dreams and ideas of young minds can leave one speechless, we intend to transform those ideas from paper to reality. We also believe in setting the youth of this nation into doing something productive and choosing the righteous path on their own as well as guiding others.
We also wish to be a platform for everyone who wishes to do something for society. Also, we believe that every person has youth in them that spark just needs some fuel to turn into fire. Age is no bar here.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
