Honing Leaders

Isha Vidhya constantly strives to nurture the hidden talents of its students, in addition to providing them with quality education. Recently, around 80 Isha Vidhya students and alumni participated in 'Pitch Fest' organized by Moonshot Jr's Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development Program (ELDP). Their ideas ranged from a Gardening app providing consultations, tips and tricks, to apps like 'Uvarpu', addressing mental health needs in the prevailing pandemic situation, and Clean O2, an app to monitor pollution in real time and make the user aware of how long they are spending in polluted areas. All the pitches were very well-received and two of them were runners up in the event.

Besides offering quality education to students, Isha Vidhya continuously strives to hone every student’s innate talent in academics, sports, art, and more.

About 80 Isha Vidhya students and alumni participated in the ‘Pitch Fest’ by Moonshot Jr’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development Program (ELDP) in January 2022, and demonstrated their acumen to become future entrepreneurs.

Read about their journey that culminated at the Pitch Fest.

About The Event

In August 2021, Mr. Dayakar Veerlapati (Day Anna), CEO of S2Tech and founder of Fortune Fund, sponsored 80 Isha Vidhya students and alumni who had the aptitude and were inclined towards leadership roles, to participate in ELDP.

After the preliminary Toastmasters session, global coaches trained the participants. In addition, a boot camp was also conducted for them. 20 teams were formed based on their progress and underwent mentoring sessions with their coaches.

Eight teams (including a team from Isha Home School) made it to the final round, where they made video presentations of their business pitch to an international jury, and thereafter, answered their questions. Interestingly, all pitches by the Isha Vidhya teams aim to improve life situations in their immediate surroundings rather than just focus on making money.

Preparing for the event has not only broadened the students’ outlook, it has made each of them more confident and articulate.

The Isha Home School team stood first and two Isha Vidhya teams were runners up. Besides winning cash prizes, the winners at this Pitch Fest will undergo training at IIMs and also intern at S2Tech.

Gardening App

This mobile app was a runner up and has been devised for urbanites seeking gardening guidance. Its multiple features include online and offline consultations, solutions, tips and tricks, and expert guidance for all gardening needs. The team came up with this idea as a solution to assist in creating greenery in urban homes.

Subha Sri, a Class 12 student of Isha Vidhya Erode, is a class topper who dreams of becoming the Principal of her school. She says working with a team for this program has helped her to ideate, vocalize and exchange ideas, learn new things and become more confident.

Village Brand

This pitch was also a runner up. The mobile app aims to connect village potters with end customers on their e-commerce website that will showcase their wares. It will compete with companies like Amazon by offering the potters better profit margins. Besides, the team felt an urgent need to revive and sustain traditional arts and crafts.

As an artist, Sadhana, an alumna of Isha Vidhya Coimbatore pursuing B.V.A – Sculpture, at Karnataka Chitra Parishath, Bengaluru, relates to the app and found the program helpful in learning time management and working with a team.

Farm Eazy

This mobile app aims to help farmers market their products themselves without any middlemen. The app will make farming profitable for the farmer by integrating technology in the supply chain and providing complete traceability and transparency.

Senthoornathan, an alumnus of Isha Vidhya Coimbatore, overcame stage fright and spoke more fluently during the sessions. Working with a team helped him appreciate varied points of view. He is currently pursuing IMSc – Physics at the Central University of Tamil Nadu and aspires to become a quantum computing scientist and entrepreneur like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs.

Ludo Kids Learning

This mobile app is for students of classes 1-5 that will primarily provide progress cards to help parents monitor their child’s growth while playing games like puzzles, word hunts, picture games, board games, and subject-oriented games that will keep the student engaged in learning in a fun way. Deepika, an alumna of Isha Vidhya Salem, says this program has helped in enhancing her English communication and problem-solving skills, and also in thinking objectively. Sheis currently pursuing B.Com and aspires to become a chartered accountant.

Uvarpu

This mobile app was designed to address the mental health needs in the prevailing pandemic scenario. Uvarpu will console users with anonymous interactions, connect them with psychologists, psychiatrists, and communities. It will empower them with logic and critical thinking, and meditation sessions.

Paranthaman, an alumnus of Isha Vidhya Villupuram who is pursuing BCA and working simultaneously as a junior software developer, soaked up the leadership and responsibility lessons learned while participating in the program and says that working with the team helped him appreciate sharing tasks and finally merging them.

Clean O2

This mobile app will monitor air pollution in real time and make the user aware of the pollution level in their surrounding space and even analyze how much time they spend in differently polluted zones. Besides offering solutions to fight pollution, Clean O2 will also offer affordable air purifiers.

For Srimathi of Isha Vidhya Cuddalore, the program was an opportunity to participate in a team, share ideas, compile data, and develop leadership skills. She is already seeing a difference in the way she now completes her class assignments.

Hair Shaman

Hair Shaman will be 100% natural hair products and provide online consultation with hair experts and naturopaths to help customers deal with hair-related problems. The team zeroed in on this product category after studying ads and the current trends on the importance people give to their hair and its appearance.

Mouleeswaran, a Class 12 student of Isha Vidhya Salem, wants to become an IAS officer and ELDP has helped him in group discussions, improving his communication skills, being open to varied opinions, and broadening his thoughts.

All these pitches can be viewed on YouTube.