Ishwar Jha, Founder, Digital Media Convergence Ltd.

The world of Entertainment has something for everyone, from tear jerkers, reality shows, soap opera and sports to cartoons for the young and the youthful at heart. Entertainment has come a long way in India from the days of yore when Chitrahaar and the sunday telecasts of The Mahabharata were considered top notch content. The latest offerings on the horizon not only break the norm but are also straddling multiple formats. Ishwar Jha, a Young Indian Entrepreneur elaborates on his company which is ushering in the future, he says "Digital Media Convergence Limited (DMCL) is an Essel Group venture envisioned to foray into the emerging business opportunities of digital entertainment. The company envisages facilitating personalized entertaining and informative content (multimedia and textual) across multiple devices. DMCL has set its sights on the future of entertainment – convergence of devices and of networks. "

"The core business focus of DMCL is to facilitate end-to-end products and services related to digital content for emerging entertainment content consumption devices using wired or wireless telecom platforms such as Mobile, Internet, Podcasting and IPTV."

They are also not restricting themselves to just the Indian audience, the world is ready for Indian entertainment according to them. They aim to -"Entertain audiences across the globe with Indian professional content. Entertainment through devices (PC) at home and office or while on the move through Mobile Phone. Around 6 Mn Broadband Internet audience and 42 Mn mobile subscribers with GPRS connectivity can benefit "

Digital Media is about entertaining audiences and creating a revenue model through advertising. They offer innovative advertising ways to target a consumer and thats where they drive home the difference between them and any other media house. Ishwar says "We see a huge opportunity in consumer connecting and consuming entertainment content on digital IP platforms such as Mobile, Internet PC, Gaming consoles and other emerging devices. Consumers want to interact with content and do more rather than just watching it passively. We are gearing up with the necessary technological knowhow, manpower and management teams to address these emerging trends and lead from the front in developing the consumption habits while leading the customer through digital innovations."

He also voiced his thoughts on his entrepreneurship saying "Rather than an entrepreneur I would like to call myself an Intraprenuer who with ideas, passion and business sense is trying to develop a profitable digital business for media conglomerates such as Zee which has over 35 television channels and reaches to over 500mn households across the globe."

"The digital entertainment platforms are mature in terms of software and services however, it is still at very nascent stage in terms of bandwidth and revenue opportunity. The challenge to keep the management excited about the business and then deliver the expected result is the biggest challenge that I have faced.Also, since we chose the open source technology platform to minimize the investment and deliver high performance applications for consumers, the acquisition and development of skilled manpower has been another challenge. "

Yourstory asked Ishwar if he had ever made a mistake he replied "I would not like to call it a mistake – rather learning that has made me perfect. I remember an instance that happened in IBM when an executive lost $10mn, the CEO said "you have made me learn the lesson for just $10mn". I feel that as an entrepreneur if you fail – you must fail fast, fail early and fail cheap. There have been some failures but it has culminated into great learning."

With approximately $3mn funded by Essel Group his business had a boost to begin with. They currently operate with 2 branches and 140 employees. He says "We have just moved to the growth phase from the incubation phase as in for the first 2 years we have developed the product and services and its time now to monetize and start reaping the benefits."

With such momentum they have also made a few heads turn, Ishwar says "We ranked among the top 20 entertainment websites in India within 5 months of the launch. Within a short span of time we have created our niche as a professional content entertainment portal. We have launched a few unique things:-"

"First video portal to offer revenue to consumer for hosting the content on revenue share basis."

"Mypopkorn.com Creative Awards for people whose creative ideas are scrapped due to non-availability of funds"

"Built the product on the emerging web 2.0 features evolving around Personalize, Socialize, Participate and Integrate."

Ishwar is highly motivated and explains his fortitude and belief in Entrepreneurship saying "I would like to take a clue from one of Kabir's Poems – Man Laago Yaar Fakiri mei. Entrepreneurship is like an addiction, once you get into this you would not enjoy a 9-5 job. There is excitement, passion and above all a purpose to become the life changer for people who contribute and work for you."

They are aiming to become the most respected and profitable digital entertainment portal this year.They have already made a start, says Ishwar "We were the first ones to focus on a professional content entertainment portal and also produce content as a webisode (make entire 23min of TV show within 5 minutes) and publish it within 3 hours of the show's broadcast on the channel.We are also the first to sign leading broadcasters like Star, Sony and Zee on the single web platform."

To the few and the daring who take the entrepreneurial path he advises "Especially for Indian entrepreneurs the journey has to be focused on making India a pride for the global citizen. India needs special focus in terms of bottom of pyramid innovations – a business model that has been developed keeping the Indian citizen and Indian market requirements in mind. I would also like to tell them that since we are nation of over 1.15bn population with over 35% population as young adults we need to think about the model where we can create employment, global opportunities and also work for the welfare of society." Yourstory salutes Ishwar for his thoughts and his refreshing take on patriotism and prays Digital Media Convergence Ltd..becomes the last word in entertainment.