DIY - The New Career Trend

A rented place, few friends, lots of coffee, the smoke of burning cigarettes, arguments, discussions, laptops and new ideas, well that is the perfect recipe to make a business venture successful. I learnt the term entrepreneur in class seventh but it is very recently that it has become a part of my daily conversations. What led to the frequent usage of the word were the continuous discussions of great and unique concepts for a new business shared by my friends and colleagues. 

What actually inspired me to do my research was the story of a group of friends who came up with this idea which didn’t appeal much to me in the beginning. And Bang! It just took them a couple of days to make me take back my words. The idea was to give a pick and drop service of mobile phones from the consumer to the customer support centre and back. All you need to do is, pay a little extra while buying the phone to avail the services. Very random right? After all how many of us would actually go that extra mile especially when we always tend to exceed the planned budget while buying gadgets? Anyhow so I hear their story and within 72 hours they get a funding from Samsung. Samsung collaborated this idea with its Galaxy S5 giving free a pick and drop service to its consumers. Luck? No! I think it was more of the concept and the right target that worked well for this group of friends.

The highlight of becoming an entrepreneur is that your degree does not hold you down. It is very essential for you to gauge the level of competition and scope in every sector. You need to go down the inverted pyramid to be able to conceptualise your ideas. There are a few who already know the trick, but majority of people need classes to get to the basics. Hence people are now opting for courses on Entrepreneurship. There are a number of universities offering these courses and the takers are increasing every year. It is mostly an MBA in Entrepreneurship that helps people in helming the ship towards success. 

After flipping through a zillion success stories, scanning the share market and mapping the industry trends I have compiled a list of the most favourable sectors for Entrepreneurs to explore today.

Food

Little did I know prior to my research that my only source of happiness can offer such good opportunities to the young entrepreneurs. Food literally wins the race when we speak about the varied options available today.  What amazes me is that people are actually going back to the roots adding a little flavour of the modern era, rehashing and repackaging the old trends and selling them to the audience. The ‘dabba system’ which was primarily famous in Maharashtra is now spreading all over the country. There are these new healthier options in these as well which offer food according to a diet plans.

Small cafeteria’s or restro- bars is the latest trend in the metro cities. Though there is a lot of competition, yet people never hesitate investing in this segment, says Ekansh Bansal. Ekansh who excels in jewellery and furniture designing and is also a known architect, had his interest in food since childhood. He started with opening up a café cum lounge in Dehradun which was followed by opening up White Waters in Delhi. His latest addition is Aquarium Lounge in GK2, New Delhi competition doesn’t bother him, his main focus lies in serving food with a style. ‘Food is something everyone is passionate about, so was I and that is why picking this sector was more like following my own passion’, adds Bansal, a 25 year old young and energetic Entrepreneur.

The latest addition with low investment is the midnight food delivery units. Midnight Munchies is just one example out of the many that are available today.

Gifting Solutions-

I remember receiving ‘Bikaner’ sweets on Diwali during my childhood. The trend started changing with age and now gifts in the festivals seasons and wedding invites have this unusual attraction towards them. Corporates now have a different budget for these gifts. It is this changing culture that has given rise to a new buzz in the market by the name of gifting solutions. We are a class which is health conscious and image conscious. Our gift should reflect the same. Going to the market spending hours and settling at those special festive combo’s is not something that appeals to the audience today.

The search is for unique concepts in affordable prices, and that is exactly what these gifting companies are providing the people with. Handmade chocolates, designer cakes, specially designed plants and personalized merchandize are the current demands of the market.

Another upcoming segment is landscape designing which is also a mode of corporate gifting. These people usually get bulk orders from big corporate giants and are sorted for a few months.

Second Hand Utilities

Have you outgrown your old clothes? Planning to throw them away? Think again because the next thing you will know is someone is making millions with those. The deal with our generation is that they can earn well only because they have the potential to sell, re- sell and re- re- sell. It started with second hand clothes, which is an established business in the western countries, but it is slowly opening up to gadgets, books, furniture and home appliances.

People were initially apprehensive about the response because of the lack of trust in second hand utilities. However, the rising prices and the constantly changing trends have urged the Indian audience to try their hands on these options as well.

Organic is the new trend

The world is going organic and there are a lot of options that one can opt for in this domain. Organic is a relatively new concept that has recently picked up momentum due to the growing awareness about health and fitness. Organic has stretched its arms to a variety of fields, food, beverages, skincare, health, wellness, organic fresh produce, gluten free and vegan, pest controllers, seeds, rooftop and terrace setup are few of the popular ones today.

“With the advent of more and more toxic vegetables, grains and food products; there is awareness among people to take charge and grow something on their own which is fresh and organic. However this awareness and zeal still needs to be converted into an action. People still feel that kitchen garden can only be grown if there is sufficient piece of land at home and requires lot of upkeep. SankalpTaru is among those organizations which are instrumental in creating awareness and enabling people to overcome challenges, say Apurva Bhandari founder of SankalpTaru, an initiative in the organic world to make India greener.

Laundry

Back to the basics yet again, our traditional ‘Dhobi’ is the new laundry guy. Keeping in mind the changing trends of the society laundry service is a concept which is really picking up. The target is the working class and the students who are living on their own away from the families. The number of ‘Dhobis’ have gone down and it the availability of a laundry store and the services offered by them is leading to the popularity of these laundry outlets.

An inspirational story in this segment is that of Wassup which is a laundry and dry cleaning service, started in 2011 by Balachandar R. Wassup arranges for a pick up for the garments to be washed. They wash, iron and deliver. They have an annual turnover of Rs. 3.2 crore, and their projected turnover next year is around Rs. 8 crore. 

Health, events, sports, pets, kids and the e- commerce digital space are few of the other promising sectors for the future business strategist to lay their hands on. Entrepreneurship off late has emerged as the most popular career choice amongst the youth. Our Gen Z today is ambitious, they are daring and they have an ocean full of creative ideas with them. It is the thirst to establish their own thing, the desire for professional independence, big goals for life and the urge to follow their passion that is leading to the mushrooming of Entrepreneurship in India.

The entrepreneurship bug is on the loose and can bite anyone who dares to follow their passion and dream big!