Amit Agarwal is a 21 year old young and dynamic entrepreneur, India is now looking at. Life was not a cake walk for young Amit as he had to travel 108 km to reach his school every day. His early inspiration came from his mom and dad who always struggled to make a living and their dream of being known by his name always kept him motivated. He also loves to paint and travel.
In talks with Amit:
1) How did entrepreneurship sparked within you?
I was always keen on making stuffs which are innovative and unique. I followed industry giants who made it big from scrap. Criticism , I faced in my school helped to build stairs towards success. For me an entrepreneur is just not a person doing business and having a millions of net worth. For me an entrepreneur is one who paves a way amidst difficulties and finally emerge as a warrior who has fought a victorious battle. I created my own path which may be a guide to aspiring entrepreneurs.
2) Tell us about UpCart
UpCart not only aims at solving the problems of carrying luggage upstairs but also other issues such as :
- People who travel and stay in hotels , generally don’t prefer to unpack their luggage into the cupboard. Their clothes get crumbled. UpCart offers racks within the trolley which will help them to use it as a mini cupboard
- People generally have the fear of their luggage getting lost during their vacation and they don’t really end up enjoying their vacation. To solve this problem we have given a built-in tracking system which gets connected to the owner’s phone, so people can enjoy and relax their tour
- Luggage is mostly space consuming and bulky which becomes a major problem. UpCart is designed in a unique folding mechanism and is more economical.
- UpCart provides an ergonomic handle with a full 360 degree rotation with the help of which users can easily and comfortably change their hand position.
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3) What is the reason behind the birth of UpCart ?
It was a regular weekday, my mom had returned from my grandmother’s place with heavy luggage. I was told by my mom to take the luggage to my house in the third floor. It was not my cup of tea, so I asked a rickshaw driver to help me carry the luggage for which he charged 50 bucks to which I readily agreed. My mother scolded me saying , if money was to be paid for carrying the luggage, she wouldn’t have asked me rather she would do it by herself. I thought about this for weeks to come up with a solution which was a problem not only for my mom but also for the people living world wide. Then I came up with a wheeling mechanism that could roll on any terrains as well as upstairs conveniently.
4) Share with us your experience on being selected as topmost young entrepreneur of India by the government.
After winning the prestigious NASSCOM e-summit 2016, we started with the R&D with reference to the luggage carriage , found out many problems and then finally delivered UpCart as an universal solution to all the luggage carriage problems. I participated in the global entrepreneurship programme initiated by the Government of India’s Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship, Make in India. It included personal questioning, interview and 3 weeks of regular scrutiny.
5) Tell us about the phone call you received from the ministry.
I got 112th rank among 21,08,000 participants all over India. I received an official letter from the government declaring that I have been nominated as top 10 young entrepreneur of India and will be felicitated by our Honourable Prime Minister , Shri Narendra Modi, on the coming 28th of September at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The following week , I received a sudden call from the ministry, stating that they will be having an online group interview. I was very nervous , but I gave my best. The next day around 9:33 am , I received a call from the ministry congratulating me that I was the top among the 10 entrepreneurs and received a formal mail from the ministry declaring the results.
6) What advice would you like to give to other aspiring entrepreneurs of the country?
I would advice them never fear to take risk and end up making your start up a plan B. Work towards it, there will be lots of criticism and failures during the process, but for you, only you are your toughest competitor. Accept things as it comes and use it as a step to reach the success.
