Vijayawada becomes a nesting ground for start-ups

While Hyderabad is renowned for housing a plethora of start-ups and providing an impetus to entrepreneurs, the new State capital region Vijayawada too does not lag behind. Many youngsters have created start-up companies to give priority to entrepreneurship

Driven by passion to be an employer rather than an employee, many enthusiastic youngsters have setup start-ups in the city. Crunch Prep, SIDMAR, SolvEL, Look My Place, KISS, Krafts and Wraps, Campusify, Start-ups Oxide and Illumnistudios are some of the start-ups currently operating from Vijayawada. The services offered by these start-ups includes web designing, creating search engines, designing apps and even making greeting cards.

What’s interesting is that the brains behind these ventures are hardly graduates. Vijayawada Start-ups is one such company where budding entrepreneurs meet regularly to discuss business and marketing strategies and to give shape to innovative ideas.

Co-founder of the start-ups, P Ritchie Shelson, who is pursuing third year engineering, says, “When we all came to know that we share a common interest in taking our life into our hands, we immediately setup a group to share, discuss and promote our ideas. We are planning to organise life skill courses for government school and college students to enable them setup small business units. Our group also welcomes and supports youngsters who come up with innovative ideas.’’

M Siddhartha, Sachin Koundinya, Y Chaitanya, P Gideon Paul, D Sainadh, Jharna, S Monica, Y Harshitha and V Asish are just few of the names from the city who have made a mark as new age entrepreneurs.

“Vijayawada is a potential market for start-ups, especially in the wake of the capital buzz that is attracting investors from far and wide. Many enthusiastic youngsters are raring to go but do not know how to go about the whole exercise. We intend to float an association which will do the hand-holding for the aspiring youth and educate them on the nuances of the ‘start-up world’,” says Marupeddi of Sidmar Design Co, a start-up design and brand agency.

The range of services provided by these start-ups is diverse. One such start-up which is making waves in the city is ‘Entrepreneurs Mingle’. The company is currently working with IBM in building an ecosystem for start-up enthusiasts in the country.‘CrunchPrep’ is another incubation h

ouse which provides comprehensive online prep course for GRE. A start-up named ‘SolvEl’ deals with software services, web design and development, SEO and branding for various businesses in the city. In fact, it has even developed a website for the sub-collector’s office in Vijayawada with a grievance monitoring cell.

KISS is a customised greeting cards and merchandise manufacturing start-up launched by two engineering girls. The group is open for anyone who is interested in starting a business in Vijayawada. College students with innovative ideas can attend its monthly meetings for self-empowerment.