Subrat Kar, Founder, Youthmania.net

In a Typical student's life, there is a question we have heard ever so often… What do you want to be when you grow up? Honestly I really cannot remember the answers I must have spouted, however Subrat Kar definitely knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to be an entrepreneur, making a career choice and a vocation not many would aspire to. When other dreamed of staid jobs and conventional careers Subrat had already made his mind up. A student of Chemical engineering from IES-IPS Academy, Indore, he launched a youth portal providing inspirational, educational and entrepreneurial articles called "Youth Mania". Created in November of 2008, initially "Youth Mania" was using Blogger as its publishing platform and is currently hosted on a server. The portal has had a heady ride becoming one of the top leadership blogging sites in the world. Placing in at rank 20, Subrat is planning to top the list very soon. In testament to his vision, within a two month period "Youth Mania" had more visitors than any other such site across the world.

 However financial constraints and lack of manpower brought the dream run to a screeching halt. As we so often see even the best laid plans can go haywire. Not being one to give up though, Subrat details his thoughts on what the future holds. "As I am in the second year of my college, it is difficult to manage the site. But, I try to do it. I know that it is difficult to maintain other activities while studying. I want to remove the gap between academia and industry. With what little resources I have, I am trying to live my dreams. I am the editor, I am the team and I am also the leader for "Youth Mania". Apart from me, my friends Ankit and Manoj support me in my ventures."

Subrat has a plan for the future and is determined to make "Youth Mania" a successful Youth Portal site within a year. He is currently developing a service for youths where he can empower them with information and facts. Subrat says "The main motto of our organization is to inspire youth by providing things that are essential to change how we view the world. All my friends and young people across India benefit from it. We are currently providing information on campus events across the world. We only do business by satisfying our target demographic. We make the money we need to stay afloat from Google Adsense. When we were using Blogger, we dealt with a company named "Ideaforge tech", Mumbai to generate ad revenue."

With a vision in mind Subrat plans to take the site to a newer level of competition by focusing on making the site more Youth-centric. Subrat says "We want to give free services to our youth. This year I have planned to give a service named "self study". It will provide solutions to students on how to study and how to score better marks in exams without a tutor. We are currently in the development phase and are getting it done step by step.

 So how does someone go form being just a student to having such rock solid faith in Entrepreneurship? The answer is mundane but the results were not, Subrat was in class 11 when he found inspiration in the middle class entrepreneurial legend Mr.N.R Narayan Murty. Finding solace in the success of his idol he decided to become an entrepreneur. Subrat told Yourstory about his early ventures "Initially I was trying to start an alternative fuel and energy company. But huge investments were required and as I was a student, it was impossible to get funding .To be an entrepreneur, I missed one year of preparations for the IIT. At the time I wanted generate a media buzz by doing something different, and hoped to make a breakthrough with investors. I was involved in the plantation of the Bio Fuel tree-Jatropha. I sacrificed my studies to follow my dreams and did not crack any top entrance exam." Subrat does not have any regrets that he may have missed an opportunity to study in an IIT as he believes that his dreams are worth it.

He chose entrepreneurship as a career to do his part in a developing India. He reasons that in a regular job he cannot do what he really wants to. There is also one underlying factor that drives Subrat; he seeks to remove the gap between our academics and industry. With such dreams there are also numerous hurdles that one has to cross. He says "The only challenge for me was a shortage of money. When I started, my faculty members advised me not to take up such an activity. Even now they want me to focus on my studies, but I follow my dreams and visions as always."

In the face of such disapproval and scarce resources he believes that it was no mistake to start "Youth Mania". Fully aware of the difficulties and risks of his ventures, he still moves steadily towards his goals. Every profit or prize is turned into a resource. When he won the national level Tech and B-plan contest, he used the prize money as seed capital for his venture. Youth Mania is this youth's dream of not just making money but also making the youth aware of the potential they possess. Subrat has left no stone unturned in his quest to be successful. By 2010 he vows to make Youth Mania into India's premiere youth portal. To his fellow entrepreneurs who are seeking a foothold in this world in much the same way as himself, he advises "Do what you want. Follow your own dream". With this in mind we too wish Subrat Good Luck in fulfilling his dreams of inspiring the Youth of our Nation.