Vote for your Top Ten Young Turks of 2010

Vote for your Top Ten CNBC TV18 Young Turks of 2010

CNBC TV18 Young Turks invites you to vote for the top ten entrepreneurs of 2010. You decide from our list of showcased entrepreneurs this year.Our editorial team has shortlisted 16 young leaders and now you get to decide who among them will be the top ten for 2010.

Which Young Turk inspired you the most? Which Young Turk made the most impact? You

decide by voting for your favorite entrepreneur.

Voting has been closed. Thank you all for your participation and support.

1. Vikas Jain, Micromax

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Aired on : 18th Feb, 2010

Rate : {extravote 1}

Micromax, is the largest Indian mobile handset company, in terms of units shipped

during the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and the third largest mobile handset seller

as at March 31, 2010 (Source: IDC's India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, 1Q

2010, June 2010 release). Micromax has domestic offices across India and global

presence in Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri-Lanka. The company recently forayed

into the Middle-East market through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Micromax Informatics

FZE to target United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait and Qatar with its

handsets. Sequoia Capital and Sandstone Capital LLC have also acquired minority

stakes in the company recently. Micromax is taking a leap forward by launching an

IPO soon.Micromax handset sales have grown by 123.48% from 1.15 million units in

the quarter ended June 30, 2009 to 2.57 million units in the quarter ended March

31, 2010. Micromax also sells mobile data card for computers under their own brand

to service providers in India. Since Micromax’s entry into the Indian mobile handset

market in March 2008, our overall market share has increased from 0.59% for the

quarter ended September 30, 2008 to 6.24% for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 (Source:

IDC).Micromax focuses on innovation, design and using the latest technologies to

develop products at affordable prices. We believe that consumers in India have unique

preferences with respect to mobile handsets such as long battery life, dual GSM

capability, low-cost QWERTY phones, universal remote control and gaming phones.

In addition, the company also focusing on developing higher value premium products

targeted at urban populations. Since our entry into the Indian mobile handset market

in March 2008, we have introduced more than 40 distinct mobile handset models and

as of August 31, 2010 we have sold more than 30 distinct mobile handset models.Micromax

recently entered into exclusive partnership with Israeli based company Modu Limited

(“modu”), to launch modu T phone in India, which is a 3.5G touch phone was awarded

a Guinness World Records™ for being the lightest touch mobile phone in the world.

With the launch of its android phone- A60 Andro, the company aims to transform the

android devices market for the Indian consumers, providing customers a new age high

technology device at an affordable price. We believe that our product development

capabilities and unique marketing strategy have enabled us to establish ourselves

as a ground-breaking Indian mobile handset company and further develop our reputation

for innovation.

2. Mouli Raman, OnMobile Global

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Aired on : 19th May, 2010

Rate : {extravote 2}

OnMobile [NSE:ONMOBILE] , headquartered in Bangalore, India, with services in 28 countries, is the leading Value Added Services [VAS] company for Mobile, Landline and Media Service Providers. OnMobile offers an innovative array of products in Mobile Entertainment, Search and Discovery, Data Services and Mobile Social Networking and is a leader in the VAS Managed Services industry. The products span a range of channels including SMS, Voice, Video, WAP, Web, USSD and On-Device Portals, enabling OnMobile’s 92 telecom and media customers to generate revenues of over $1 billion in 2009. With over 1200 employees worldwide, OnMobile has offices around the globe, including London, Paris, Silicon Valley, Miami and Seattle.

3. Shashi Reddi, FX Labs

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Aired on : 11th Aug, 2010

Rate : {extravote 3}

Shashi Reddi’s entrepreneurial career spans over a decade and a half, a period in

which this IIT Delhi graduate and PhD from Wharton has nurtured 4 companies ranging

from IT to animation and gaming.

Coming into the spotlight with his venture Applabs, a software testing company in

2001 Shashi’s true entrepreneurial test came when he bet big on his gaming venture

FX Labs in 2004. Offering 2D & 3D animation and audio for gaming to international

entertainment brands the venture today has gaming labels spread across console and

Internet platform. With over 200 employees across its centers in US and India, FX

Labs today is one of the largest game development venture in India.

Just like in gaming Shashi seems to have mastered the art of running successful

ventures in niche and fast-growing outsourcing spaces. His venture AppLabs provides

testing services for software in areas of performance, ERP, security, certification,

test automation and managed testing. Funded by the Sequoia Capital the venture today

has 2000 plus employees working across 5 centres in US, UK and India. Rated as one

of the largest independent software testing companies in the world, the venture

posted revenues of over $100 million last year.

With the gaming business in India closely linked to entertainment and social networking

FX Labs has developed original gaming content for film franchise. With 2 gaming

labels on popular bollywood films like Dhoom 2 and Ghajini already a hit among gamers

Shashi is now looking at ‘advergaming’ or helping brand leverage games to reach

out their audiences as the way for forward for his gaming venture.

With his current portfolio of businesses in the upswing, this entrepreneur par excellence

has now turned VC with his venture Sri Capital.

An advisor with the Wharton Entrepreneurial Center, Shashi mentors 7 early stage

tech start ups in India and US. Sharing his experience and insights on entrepreneurship

with young emerging entrepreneurs the venture has invested over Rs 12 Cr last year.

4. Harish Hande, SELCO

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Aired on : 21st Jan, 2010

Rate: {extravote 4}

SELCO India (http://www.selco-india.com),

a social enterprise established in 1995, provides sustainable energy solutions and

services to under-served households and businesses. It was conceived in an effort

to dispel three myths associated with sustainable technology and the rural sector

as a target customer base:

• Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies.
• Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies
• Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities

SELCO believes that there is a strong linkage between poverty alleviation and sustainable

energy, thereby making the solutions to climate change a by-product. SELCO believes

in a model that caters to social, environment and financial sustainability with

equal priority.

SELCO’s key features include:

• Creating products based on end user needs: going beyond just being a technologysupplier but customizing its products based on individual needs.
• Installation and after-sales service: dedicating regional energy service centresto ensure prompt maintenance and service.
• Standardized financing packages: creating channels for end users to afford systemsbased on their cash flow.

SELCO's current product offerings include solar PV lighting systems, water heating

systems, improved biomass cook stoves and other customized products to meet specific

needs. SELCO currently employs about 170 employees in Karnataka and Gujarat spread

across 25 energy service centers. In last 15 years of existence SELCO has served

over 115,000 rural homes and small businesses with solar energy solutions.

SELCO has recently established ‘SELCO Labs’ the innovation and incubation arm of

the organisation with an objective to develop affordable technological innovations

and next-generation improvements in products those enhance livelihood or quality

of life of low-income rural households.

5. Padmaja Reddy, Spandana Sphoorthy Financial

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Aired on : 26th May, 2010

Rate : {extravote 5}

A chance encounter with a rag picker was the turning point in Padmaja Reddy’s life.

By accident she understood the power of micro finance well before it become fashionable.

The start wasn’t easy her formal foray in to the world of micro finance began in

1998 in Guntur district when she launched Spandana, to give the un-banked access

to finance. But in order to scale up Padmaja converted her 7 year old NGO into a

non banking finance company. From a 10 member team to over 12,000 employees in a

decade, Spandana today is today India’s second largest micro finance institution.

With 1.3 Cr loans accounts 1,600 branches spread over 12 states Spandana has dispersed

loans worth twelve and a half thousand cr. With an enviable repayment rate of 99.99%

Spandana has about 4,000 Cr as assets under management. Padmaja claims Spandana’s

operating costs are almost 5 times lower then comparable costs of banks and other

NBFC’s. With investors like JM financial India fund and Lok capital on board, Spandana

is gearing up to go global diversify and hit the markets in the next 12 months.

6. Harsha Moily, MokshaYug Access

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Aired on : 26th May, 2010

Rate : {extravote 6}

Harsha Moily is among the new breed of social entrepreneurs who gave up his lucrative

corporate job to give back to his roots.

Seeing the disparity in income between rural and urban India, Harsha, son of Cabinet

Minister for Law, Justice and Company AffairsVeerappa Moily, decided to branch out

on his own with Moksha Yug Access in 2006.

With an initial focus on providing loans and insurance to farmers for their cattle,

MYA has created a rural supply chain, beyond the traditional microfinance bastion

and offers a range of services to the dairy sector. Providing procurement of milk

on one end and upstream market linkages on the other, MYA helps finance the distribution

& logistics components of the dairy value chain.

Collecting 10,000 litres of milk daily from 112 milk collection points across 125

villages in Karnataka MYA has already grossed a turnover of Rs 2 Cr.

Combining microfinance, supply chain management and technology Harsha has empowered

the lives of over 500 dairy farmers providing them loans up to Rs 30, 000. Its milk

collection centers are set up in close proximity to dairy farmers to ensure minimal

bacterial build-up, resulting in quality milk to market and consequently better

prices to dairy farmers. Having partnered with Heritage Foods, for buy back agreement

of milk, Harsha also recently partnered with Baramati Agro for procurement of MYA

branded cattle feed. Having already raised Rs 8.5 Cr in 2008 from Silicon Valley-based

venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Unitus Equity Fund Harsha has plans for a next

round of funding to power MYA to 1200 villages in South India and 30, 000 dairy

farmers by next year.

7. Harsh Jain, Dream11.com

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Aired on : 16th Oct, 2010

Rate : {extravote 7}

Move over Vijay Mallya and Nita Ambani, anyone can be a cricket team owner thanks

to this man.

24 year old Harsh Jain was introduced to the concept of fantasy sports while studying

in the US. Seeing this as his entrepreneurial opportunity, Harsh launched Dream11.com,

the worlds first graphical fantasy cricket game in 2009.

Today, Harsh claims Dream11.com, is the worlds number one fantasy cricket game.

With over 5 lakh registered users the website enjoys over10 million page views every

month. Once you register for free, you have virtual money of Rs 100 Cr to buy your

dream team. After this the game morphs into the real world. Your team’s ranking

depends on how your players perform in real life matches, something that the site

updates round the clock.

Accelerating efforts to popularize fantasy cricket gaming to a wider audience in

India Dream11.com has partnered with other portals like cricketnirvana.com,

cricketworld.com, gamekhel.com

and oneindia.com for its content.

Allowing cricket fans to access the latest and most comprehensive statistics Harsh

boasts of a portfolio of 50 cricket games, the world’s largest collection online.

With initial investments of Rs 2 Cr into the venture Harsh is now hoping to break

even by 2011.

The next play for Dream11.com is to bring fantasy cricket on to the world map. Nominated

as the world’s best new website for fantasy sports by Fantasy sports trade association

this year Harsh has plans to venture into other sports as well. With increasing

broadband growth in India and the upcoming World Cup and the 4th edition of IPL

slated for 2011 Harsh is expecting to increase his user base by 50%.

8. Ashwin Naik, Vaatsalya

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Aired on : 13th Nov, 2010

Rate : {extravote 8}

70% of India lives in semi-urban and rural areas, while 80% of its healthcare facilities

are located in urban clusters. This skewed distribution of healthcare services,

prompted Dr. Ashwin Naik and his team at Vaatsalya into action. Launched in 2005,

Vaatsalya Healthcare is a chain of no-frills hospitals in Tier III and Tier IV towns,

and is centered on the mission to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable.

With a network of 10 hospitals in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, these low cost cure

centres offer four basic specializations in gynecology, pediatrics, general surgery

and medicine. Equipped with operations theatres, maternity services, neonatal and

adult ICUs, pharmacy and diagnostics the venture manages 750 beds across its centres.

Vaatsalya today serves more than 3 lakh customers every year and treatments at any

of their hospitals cost only 20% of what a city hospital would charge.

Vaatsalya’s frugal cost structure allows each hospital to treat 50,000 patients

every year ensuring break even within 6-12 months. A large demand pool and Vaatsalya’s

first mover advantage has ensured interest among venture capitalists. Raising 3

rounds of funds, the venture today has investors like Oasis Fund, Aavishkaar and

Seedfund on its board. In the works is a micro-health insurance product that will

allow it to extend its services to the bottom 30% of the population. Vaatsalya’s

vision is to expand its network of hospitals to 40 more locations in 4 southern

states in the next three years.

9. Jatin Singh, Skymet

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Aired on : 2nd June, 2010

Rate : {extravote 9}

For 32 year old Jatin Singh turning entrepreneur meant weathering off competition

from the government. He decided to do what the Indian Met department has been doing

for decades, forecasting the unpredictable weather.

So in 2003 he launched Skymet, India’s first and only private weather forecasting

firm. Collecting data from the Global Telecommunication Systemz, Jatine provides

weather derivatives and solutions that enable media, power, shipping, agriculture

and telecom companies to plan better.

Helping out farmers like Sanjay, Jatin today reaches out to the farming community

using the mobile phone. Skymet's clients include Nokia live tools, Reuters market

live and BASF agro chemicals. The mobile VAS product costs Rs 60 every month where

farmers receive daily updates on temperature, rain forecasts and humidity for upto

7 days. With the ability to provide agromet forecasts for more than 6,500 pin codes

in India Jatin claims the opportunity is worth Rs 100 Cr today with the power sector

being a key consumer of Skymet’s content.

Starting up with investments of Rs 18 lakhs 7 years ago, Skymet grossed a turnover

of over Rs 2 Cr in FY10.

10. Atul Phadnis, Whats On India

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Aired on : 31st March, 2010

Rate : {extravote 10}

With over 350 channels and 24 hrs of non stop programming, tracking what’s on TV

and when can be one daunting task! Well no more, helping you solve this maze is

What’s on India!

Started in 2005 by Atul Phadnis What's On India is your TV listing guide on TV!

Aggregating TV schedules and content from more than 300 Indian and international

TV channels Whats on India provides you real time updates of your favourite TV shows.

Powering programme schedules to over 10 million set-top-boxes across DTH, Cable

and IPTV this tube tracker today is live on air with service providers like Hathway,

Airtel, Reliance Big TV and Digicable. India’s first and only electronic programme

guide provider Atul struck upon the idea in 2004 while tracking TV ratings with

TAM!

And taking the journey forward, Atul launched his own TV channel What’s On India

in 2009. Earning licensing fees from its EPG business and advertisements on the

channel, What’s On India has grossed revenues of over US $ 2 million since launch.

With more than 11 million homes are turning to Digital TV and 50 new channels added

on the tele every year the opportunity sure is big, but starting up a TV business

for this Young Turk sure wasn’t easy.

That’s when Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners came to the rescue funding

the venture in 2008. Rated by Forbes India among the 5 top start-ups to watch out

for in 2010, Atul plans to reach out to 20 million homes in 2010. Already live online

with his website whatsonindia.com

and Atul also provides alerts and updates of your favourite programmes on mobile

phone!

11. Chaitanya Purandare, Stem Cell Biologicals

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Aired on : 14th July, 2010

Rate : {extravote 11}

Working with the building blocks of the human body- the stem cell, Chaitanya Purandare,

built his entrepreneurial venture.

A MS in medical genetics from UK, Chaitanya launched StemOne Biologicals in 2005.

Starting up with an initial investment of Rs 8 crores as a cord blood bank, the

venture today provides therapies cure life threatening diseases like Cancer, Thalassemia,

Parkinson’s and even Cardiac conditions. Among the first movers in the business

in India, Chaitanya believes the opportunity is only opening up!

With its association with NCRM Japan, a stem cell research & development agency,

the venture has developed 18 cell based therapies to treat neurological disorders.

Having successfully conducted over 350 stem cell based therapies to date, StemOne

today is the custodian over 6000 cord blood samples.

Storing cord blood samples at a fraction of the cost vis-à-vis its global counterparts,

Chaitanya charges 30,000 to 65,000 rupees to store samples for 21 years.

Raising awareness of stem cell therapies, now Chaitanya plans to take his venture

global. Starting up operations in Nigeria earlier this year plans are in place to

enter newer geographies in South East Asia, East Africa & the Middle East. With

the Bennet Coleman Group taking up a minority stake in the venture in 2010, StemOne

Biologicals grossed a turnover of 38 Cr rupees in 2009.

12. Harshvardhan Kheemani, Oye Happy

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Aired on : 30th Oct, 2010

Rate : {extravote 12}

Turning entrepreneur for this duo was no surprise, but their job is all about surprises!

Born with the marwari entrepreneurial DNA, brothers Harshavardhan Khemani and Varun

Todi got started on their business idea while still in college. Simple, with immense

potential, Harsh and Varun are in the business of creating happiness! Sounds cheesy

but it really isn’t, Oye Happy launched in 2009, plans, executes personalized, unique

surprises for your special some ones. Since its launch last year, the team at Oye

Happy has already organized over 300 surprises across the country.

Oye happy believes happiness can’t be bought off the shelf and it really is the

thought that counts and not the price tag. So Harsh and Vinod, think up of ways

to help you express your feelings in a unique and personal way. So from organizing

a Cinderella type setting complete with a carriage and a glass slipper for someone

getting ready to pop the question or a royal lunch in a private Haveli, Oye Happy

will plan it all for you! Starting from Rs 3000, Oye Happy can plan a surprise not

just for couples but also for a friend or a colleague’s promotion, birthdays or

any other special occasion. With over 40 surprises being ordered every month Harsh

and Varun are now looking at taking their services across India.

13. Rajiv Khandelwal, Aajevika Bureau

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Aired on : 13th Nov, 2010

Rate : {extravote 13}

They are giving millions of migrant labourers in the country, the power of Identity.

Rajiv Khandelwal & Krishnavtar Sharma’s Aajeevika Bureau works with rural migrant

labourers to ease their living conditions in big cities.

Established in 2005, Aajeevika manages migration chains from the 'source' that are

the villages in southern Rajasthan to migration 'destinations,' within the state

and outside. Each migrant is provided an ID card recognized by Labour Department

of the Rajasthan government. This ID provides registered labourers access to an

array of services, training programmes and social security schemes that help the

rural migrants to succeed in urban economies.

The mission has integrated financial services into its portfolio. Supported by The

ICICI Foundation, Aajeevika’s initiative, Rajasthan Shram Sarathi Association (RSSA)

provides loans to wean migrants away from the local thekedars.

More than 50 thousand seasonal migrants have directly accessed Aajeevika’s services

in the last five years. Spread across 7 districts in Rajasthan and Gujarat Aajeevika’s

model has been replicated by more than 30 civil society organizations in Bihar,

Orissa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Aajeevika charges Rs 15 from every migrant labourer for registration and fees for

its training programmes, this allows the model to sustain itself.

Grants from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Ratan Tata Trust and NABARD has helped the

mission spread the message.

14. Vinod Thimaiya, Humming Bird Suites

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Aired on : 4th Feb, 2010

Rate : {extravote 14}

Giving executives on the move an opportunity to enjoy the comforts of a home away

from home, that is the idea behind Hummingbird Suites.

A corporate stay venture that gives you the cozy living experience like that of

a Hummingbird’s nest was Vinod Thimayya’s entrepreneurial brain wave. He decided

to cash in on the needs of the long-haul business traveler providing them a good

quality yet affordable accommodation.

Started in 2005 with just Rs 3 lakh and a single property, this affordable accommodation

alternative venture broke even and turned profitable in the very first year. Since

then Vinod hasn’t looked back. Today Hummingbird Suites has a turnover to the tune

of Rs 25 crore.

The idea was helped with an investment of Rs 18 crores from Helion Ventures in 2008.

That gave Vinod the chance to let Hummingbird fly and he expanded its service lines

to accommodate the needs of his clients. These clients include over 45 corporates

houses like Accenture, Citibank, HSBC, McKinsey and Microsoft. Providing them space

to conduct trainings, workshops as well as stay and relocation services an option

for the traveling employees, Hummingbird's bouquet of services differentiates it

from other service apartment providers.

Providing customized and complete solutions to his clients, Vinod’s vision is to

make Hummingbird Suites a Rs 100 Cr company by 2011. Serving an over Rs 7500 crore

industry is a strength of more 65 employees present in 7 cities across India with

more than 20 properties and 550 rooms. Coming up are 15 more properties in tier

2 & 3 cities and even 2 locations abroad. In 5 years Vinod has created the largest

player in the corporate stay business today. Recognizing this effort, Hummingbird

Suites was awarded the CNBC-TV18 Emerging India SME Award in 2009 for Travel and

Tourism. This hummingbird is surely nestling in to the top spot.

15. Jay Gupta, The Loot

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Aired on : 11th Feb, 2010

Rate : {extravote 15}

A choice of over a 100 brands available at up to 60% discount all through the year!

Sounds like a steal? Shopping at The Loot sure is.

Meet Jay Gupta, the mastermind behind The Loot. His plan was to cash in on India’s

retail boom.

A series of hits and misses with exclusive stores and factory outlet formats, Jay

finally struck gold with The Loot store in 2004. Bringing together a wide range

of multi-brands at discounted prices in an exclusive store format under one roof,

The Loot was started with Rs 5 lakhs. Today this retail chain has grossed revenues

of over Rs 65 crores and operates through 150 stores across 80 cities in India.

Scaling up at 70% year on year, coming up are over a 1000 stores by 2015. In the

pipeline are plans to go regional. Rs 100 crore have already been set aside for

investments in technology, infrastructure and manpower for the next 3 years.

Another project Jay is looking at is the recent partnership with TCS to implement

SME ERP solution in order to streamline The Loot’s offerings. Jay and his team of

600 employees have won many accolades for their innovative ideas. In 2008, nominated

the Tata NEN hottest start up, The Loot was also selected one amongst the 12 ‘small

ideas, big changes’ series in the Hindustan Times in Mumbai.

16. GS Bhalla, Cocoberry

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Aired on : 4th March, 2010

Rate : {extravote 16}

He says he is a born entrepreneur. From setting up a book stall when he was just

6 to starting his own B2B sales venture in 1997, Guninder Singh Bhalla eventually

decided to cash in on the outsourcing boom. So he set up his KPO business, Horizon

in 2000. While providing back end services to healthcare companies in the US this

graduate from Harvard business school hit upon the idea of frozen yoghurt.

Familiar with the hot Indian summer, Guninder realized this cold treat could be

the perfect business option and launched Cocoberry in 2009.

India’s first frozen yogurt chain; Cocoberry offers a fat free desert option for

the health conscious. Started with investments of Rs 10 Cr Cocoberry in its first

year of operations has grossed revenues of over Rs 6 Cr.

After tasting success at its first store in Delhi Guninder today has 7 stores across

the country making this dairy product a new desert niche.

Giving yogurt a cool and contemporary twist Cocoberry has teamed up with The Climate

Group, to stir its business in the green direction. And this is done by using recycled

cups and napkins. Fresh fruits are sourced locally and Guninder claims that the

base is made fresh everyday and not batch frozen.

You also get to create your own delectable taste with a variety of toppings. Priced

between Rs 39 to Rs 329 this refreshing treat will set your taste buds tingling.

For its pioneering efforts Cocoberry won 3 awards for the best innovative concept,

best frozen yogurt and the best shake by Hindustan Times in 2009. Not one to sit

on his laurels Guninder has more up his sleeve. In the pipeline are plans to open

more outlets across India and also go global.