For my Entrepreneurial Skills in the Communication Industry Class, we had to do a feature story on an international media mogul. Many persons chose seasoned veterans in the business then spoke about how they made it to that point. I, on the other hand, chose someone younger than myself, who was still learning from his mistakes, and is turning heads before the age of twenty. Check out my feature story below followed by our Young Entrepreneur Highlight section with a live interview of Farrhad on CNN:
What Could You Do With US$10??
Have you ever thought of being the owner of the next multi-billion dollar enterprise?
Often as young adults when we talk of owning our own business we begin with the words, "When I grow up…" or "One day when I'm older..." or even, "In the future I would like to...." But what is it that really separates us from our dreams? Why do we see them only in the future tense rather than as present continuous?
The saying goes that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. For one young man, the journey to living his dreams began in the 8th grade with just a US$10 loan from his parents. His name is Farrhad Acidwalla.
Farrhad Acidwalla was born in Pune, India on November 16, 1993. Eighteen years later he is now known as one the world’s youngest entrepreneurs; founder of Rockstah Media, a web development, marketing, and advertising company. Rockstah Media, now in its third year, has a full-fledged team of developers, designers and market strategists that caters to a global clientele.
At the age of thirteen Farrhad used his US$10 loan to purchase his first domain name. He went ahead to develop an online community dedicated to aviation and aero-modeling. The site went on to become a huge success. He later sold the website for US$1200 to a fan and invested US$400 as start-up for launching Rockstah Media.
When asked what he believes is the single most important reason for his success Farrhad says, “I’ve never sat on an idea. If I get something, I act on it.”
Our problem today as young people is not our lack of ingenuity, intelligence, or even passion but our lack of confidence in acting. In the words of Tim Blixseth, famous American business man, “Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.”
As one of India’s youngest international business owners, Farrhad continues to demonstrate the skills and traits of what Blanchard and Hudson (2007) describe as that of a successful entrepreneur.
First on the list of twenty attributes of a successful entrepreneur (Blanchard and Hudson, 2007) is being resourceful. In life we are all afforded many opportunities. You never know what form your US$10 loan will come in. The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes (Benjamin Disraeli). Farrhad was resourceful enough to use his $10 opportunity to do something he loved that would later reward him greatly.
Risk taking is also high on the list, if success as an entrepreneur is truly desired. Making the decision to sell his website was not an easy one for Farrhad. “Business is all about taking the leap,” says Farrhad.
Taking that critical leap is often times the difference between those who merely achieve, and those who achieve greatness. Many would have settled for simply having a successful website, but not Farrhad. Risk taking however needs to be accompanied by another important attribute that is a must for the successful entrepreneur, being visionary. Farrhad explains, “The larger the vision, the larger the need to pave your path with skill and confidence.”
Currently, Farrhad is adjusting his focus to developing two new companies in the fields of entertainment and travel. Being as ambitious as he is humble, Farrhad explains that even if you get success early as an entrepreneur, it should not intoxicate you. “There are lots of things to do in life. You need to diversify and be innovative all the time,” he says. He however continues leading his creative team as CEO and founder of Rockstah Media.
Forming a company at the age of 16 was no easy task. The most difficult part, Farrhad says, was getting his initial clients as they always looked at him and had doubts as he was just a ‘kid’. Being salesmanship oriented and employing his problem-solving skills assisted him significantly in overcoming this challenge. What also helped him was the fact that he had been doing web design as a hobby between classes. His portfolio was able to speak of his innovativeness. Today he caters to companies such as M Dhruva & Partners (MDP), a progressive, entrepreneurial and innovative law firm based in Mumbai, India.
What makes Farrhad’s story even more outstanding is the fact that he runs his business while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Finance at India’s prestigious H.R. College of Commerce and Economics.
When asked why he has decided to stay in college despite already having a successful and growing business Farrhad answered, “Education never goes to waste. I know I can put the things I learn in college to use in my business. Business is something that’s never certain, there’s always a risk. But, if you have your education in place, it’s going to help you analyze challenges and deal with them.”
He went on to say that although it is not all about making money, while formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune. Self-education has indeed made Farrhad a fortune as his web design and development skills were all self-taught.
Juggling homework and business does have its challenges, however. Staying up all night on his Mac Book Pro is a habit Farrhad has had to acquire to stay ahead of the game. He has also had to convert his Dadar Parsi Colony house in Mumbai into a workstation for his web development and media company. Farrhad’s determination and purposefulness however gives him the drive needed to rise above the challenge. Farrhad explains that although college takes a lot of time, if you learn and make efforts to manage your time properly, and with the right business set up, your business can still strive.
Farrhad however understands that being an entrepreneur does not mean you have to stand alone. He attributes much of his success to the support of his team and his parents. Being both leadership-oriented and team-oriented are important to becoming and remaining a successful entrepreneur. On the Rockstah Media website the Rockstah team is described as “an award-winning team of designers, developers, consultants and market visionaries who work towards one goal – Creating Awesomeness.” Farrhad often boasts of his ‘like-minded’ team who can make up for him at any given moment. The 42 member team has achieved many awards for their innovative work in branding, marketing and web development.
All work and no play can however make for a very dull entrepreneur. Balance is key to the success of any entrepreneur. Farrhad ensures that he finds balance within his life as well, and not be totally consumed with school and work. He makes it a priority to make time to hang out with his friends, read, watch movies and play the guitar.
Despite his many successes, Farrhad, like all entrepreneurs, has to be careful to maintain his viability within the developing media market. Setting achievable goals for the future is important. When asked where he sees his business in 5 years Farrhad responds, “I haven’t actually thought that far ahead to be honest! I take each day as it comes.” While taking challenges bit by bit is more than recommended, it is still advised that we look strategically into the future and pre-empt obstacles and expand on successes.
The expansion of his company, Rockstah Media is however something that Farrhad and his team are looking into. He says in the future they plan to diversify and scale up the business by producing Hindi language entertainment programmes.
Currently, Rockstah Media focuses on marketing and branding mainly in terms of creating a visible image for its clients through web design and other collateral material. There is much room for more work to be done in the area of public relations, and events planning and coordination. Expanding in this area can help to give Rockstah Media an even further competitive advantage globally.
Although over the past three years Farrhad has travelled across India speaking publicly on his success and how he manages his business, more can still be done in the areas of writing, public speaking and youth empowerment. Farrhad’s journey is one that inspires all those who hear it. Youth around the world need to engage and interact with more young visionaries like Farrhad to motivate them to not sit on their dreams, waiting on an unknown future to act on them.
How many great ideas have you let go of so far? How many have you packed away in a box labeled ‘FUTURE’?
Isn’t it time we let go of the notion that our dreams of success can only be accomplished in the future? Isn’t it time we stopped thinking that leadership and innovation can only come from our parent’s generation?
Let us today take a leaf from Farrhad’s book. As he explained, "Being young is an added advantage as I can come up with many innovative ideas." Opportunity knocks only so often. What will you do with your US$10??
Farrhad was blessed to receive the opportunity to do a live interview via Skype on CNN. So for our young entrepreneur highlight today I wanted to share the video with you. Check it out!
 |
| What could you do with US $10? |
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there's only scarcity of resolve to make it happen. - Wayne Dyer
0 comments:
Post a Comment