At 29, Sanjay Vijayakumar is the founding curator of the Kochi Hub of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. “As the founding curator, I plan to set up the Hub at Startup Village, bring together leaders from business, academia and politics and mentor youngsters who will make change agents in the society,” he explains.
It’s a big deal. Because Kochi’s Startup Village is India’s first such public-private partnership venture, which began functioning in Kochi in April 2012 when Sanjay’s telecom firm, MobME tied up with the Department of Science and Technology and Kerala’s Technopark.
“Startup Village is a dream for any technology entrepreneur who wants to compete globally. We live in a world without borders and thus our startups have to compete with the best inlkk the world. And even though we are entering 2014, we are still in a technology ecosystem that would seem like America’s Silicon Valley of the 80s. Our aim is to bridge this gap, so that Indian startups have the best policies, world class tools and best in class infrastructure.”
The tech haven is already picking up. “We’re seeing 80-100 new startups apply every month and the number of applications are crossing 1,400,” adds Sanjay, who has also found his true calling.
“We started with a single-minded focus to see if we could make money. But after seven years and boot-strapping MobME from zero to around Rs 100 crore in market cap using just Rs 2.5 crore of investment, I’ve realised that it’s really not about money. There has to be something more than that motivating you because a lot of money doesn’t really tally up to more happiness.”
