These school kids in Kerala mean business with their own IT startup
Think entrepreneurship is no child’s play? Within a span of 18 months, students of KVUPS, a school in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, have managed to start their own startup to provide services like website development, domain support, and web designing.
In today’s age of entrepreneurship, enterprising individuals are building opportunities for themselves and even providing them for others. From college dropouts to experienced veterans, everyone can start up if they have a great idea these days.
And school kids don’t want to be left behind either.
Take Haleela Fathima, for example. Just having completed Class VII last year, she is now the CEO of an IT startup called Grolius (Grow like Us). Studying in KVUPS, Pangode in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Haleela’s 18-month-old IT firm provides services like domain support, website development, and website designing, to name a few.
The team of Grolius (Image: Youtube)
If you have now stopped to wonder if this is all a joke, let us assure you that it is not: the students who run Grolius along with Haleela charge anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000 for website design. What's more, these students organise IT workshops in schools and engineering colleges as well.
Speaking on her IT firm, Haleela told She The People,
“We aim to help people get customised websites for their specific needs.”
So, how did it begin? It all started with an effort by Tolrop, an IT firm, to create technological awareness and instil knowledge in students regarding the IT field. Heading this project is Anas AM, working as an operating officer at Tolrop.
Speaking to She The People, Anas said,
“Most IT graduates do not have practical knowledge and that’s where we gave our special attention.”
In the initial stage of the training programme, 24 students participated in the first round, after which 12 children were chosen for the final round. In a span of 14 days, the selected students were trained - they were taught to write code and develop programs.
Eager to learn, these Class VII students learnt quickly and surpassed the expectations of their teachers as well as the trainers.
Speaking with The New Indian Express, Anas said,
“Each day, about 45 minutes were set aside for training the students. Astonishingly, they learnt web designing in 14 days. And in a short period, they evolved into the level of IT professionals.” After training, and with the help of their school, a few IT experts and alumni, these students started their own firm, Grolius.
The kids are being supported by their school management to run the startup, and will remain a part of Grolius even once they finish school.
AM Ansari, the Headmaster at KVUPS, told TNIE,
“They can choose whether to become IT experts or not. Even if they opt for different streams, they will have the added advantage of having learnt a technical skill.”
According to Anas, this year, the students will be introduced to blockchain technology and artificial intelligence in the workshops as well.
Will the next big blockchain startup be built by students in Kerala? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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