Surya Kiran, Founder, Voice of Ignited Souls (VOIS)
Tuesday September 01, 2009 , 3 min Read
Established in 2008, Surya’s maiden venture, VOIS – Voice of Ignited Souls seeks to provide information and marketing benefits to a growing group of members in a particular city, starting with Hyderabad.
From shopping discounts to job opportunities, the decision to not restrict to any one market has been intentional. Says Surya, “People want information on a variety of things. Its easy to have a single platform that can help you know all that you want to. Shared communication means better information. Hence whether it is by SMS intimation or through a social networking site for interaction, VOIS will do all such things as helps the people of Hyderabad stay tuned in to and updated with events happening around the city.”
On the other end, marketers are all too happy since for them the service translates into more reach. Through a simple tie-up, institutions like restaurants, shopping malls, health centres, coaching classes and others can directly market their offerings to the 4000+ members of VOIS, mostly the youth, a number that Surya predicts will touch 10,000 soon.
“We’re certainly not focussing on increasing branches but growing in numbers. We’d like more members and to capture a hundred markets.” Ambitious but not impossible for this dynamic man who says that being able to take risks is one of the perks of working for your own self.
Having started up with his personal savings and those of a supporting friends’, Surya takes pride in the fact that even though he made a lot of mistakes as an amateur entrepreneur, he was able to correct and learn on his own.
This learning is reflected in the success of the 15 member student team. They were awarded the ‘Young Entrepreneur’s’ award by the Passionate Foundation in late 2008, just a few months after they started operations.
The as-yet jubiliant entrepreneur adds candidly, “However, grabbing the attention of the media has been my biggest challenge which I believe we have now been successful at. An exclusive interview by Hyderabad Times, Times of India and on the I News Media channel.
And what does he enjoy most about his work? Meeting new people every day and interacting with associates of different sectors.
