Stroke of true enterprise

Agnishwar Jayaprakash has one too many accolades for a person at the age of 26. We catch up with the young entrepreneur, who is representing India as the Outstanding Youth Delegate for his work towards sustainable development. A former international swimmer, he decided to quit the sport to take up entrepreneurship. Although his career may have flourished as a swimmer, he wanted to help others build a career. It hasn’t been and is not an easy life for him. “I was not born with a silver spoon. My father started off as an employee in a photocopying company and went on to establish the Agni Group of Companies. It’s your typical rags to riches story. But how it helped me was by making me understand the importance of money and hardwork.”

Agnishwar started swimming at the age of three — it came to him naturally. He started competing at the age of 14 and until three years ago, he had taken it up as a career. Quitting it was hard, but he doesn’t regret it, explains Agnishwar. “It’s not like I was forced to quit swimming. I realised that I had talent and ideas that needn’t be confined to a swimming pool. I consider myself a creative person who can come up with solutions for problems by efficiently using the resources at hand. And yes, to be honest, I think entrepreneurship runs in the family and it came to me easily.” Although he gave up his career in swimming, Agnishwar says that swimming contributed a lot to him in life too. “Swimming is like a full-time business by itself. I used to spend 12 hours working out everyday. And competing internationally meant meeting many people from different nations, and that helped me with my people skills too.”

Being an entrepreneur now has improved Agnishwar’s social life considerably. “My social life was pretty much non-existent then. I met the same people every day and my only focus was on swimming. But now, I get to meet so many new people and learn many things from them,” he says.

While Agnishwar and his team of students designed drones to help social groups, we prod him about his affinity to technology. “These days, tech-savvy just means being active on social media, I guess. But for me, I am all about using technology that can be put to material use. What was new 10 years ago, is now obsolete. So, it is important to evolve along with evolving technology. I am always excited for what the future holds, but yeah, you can say that I am pretty selective about the gadgets I possess,” he says.

Amidst his different activities, Agnishwar’s pet peeve is film making. “I love to make and edit films,” he admits. He conceptualises the Doordharshan TV show Ezham Arivu about innovation and ideas among school and college youth. The show has now crossed 90 episodes and is top ranked in the channel. “To take this show up seriously and produce them in 20 regional languages is my goal as of now,” Agnishwar says, signing off.

Agnishwar Jayaprakash has one too many accolades for a person at the age of 26. We catch up with the young entrepreneur, who is representing India as the Outstanding Youth Delegate for his work towards sustainable development. A former international swimmer, he decided to quit the sport to take up entrepreneurship. Although his career may have flourished as a swimmer, he wanted to help others build a career. It hasn’t been and is not an easy life for him. “I was not born with a silver spoon. My father started off as an employee in a photocopying company and went on to establish the Agni Group of Companies. It’s your typical rags to riches story. But how it helped me was by making me understand the importance of money and hardwork.”

Agnishwar started swimming at the age of three — it came to him naturally. He started competing at the age of 14 and until three years ago, he had taken it up as a career. Quitting it was hard, but he doesn’t regret it, explains Agnishwar. “It’s not like I was forced to quit swimming. I realised that I had talent and ideas that needn’t be confined to a swimming pool. I consider myself a creative person who can come up with solutions for problems by efficiently using the resources at hand. And yes, to be honest, I think entrepreneurship runs in the family and it came to me easily.” Although he gave up his career in swimming, Agnishwar says that swimming contributed a lot to him in life too. “Swimming is like a full-time business by itself. I used to spend 12 hours working out everyday. And competing internationally meant meeting many people from different nations, and that helped me with my people skills too.”

Being an entrepreneur now has improved Agnishwar’s social life considerably. “My social life was pretty much non-existent then. I met the same people every day and my only focus was on swimming. But now, I get to meet so many new people and learn many things from them,” he says.

While Agnishwar and his team of students designed drones to help social groups, we prod him about his affinity to technology. “These days, tech-savvy just means being active on social media, I guess. But for me, I am all about using technology that can be put to material use. What was new 10 years ago, is now obsolete. So, it is important to evolve along with evolving technology. I am always excited for what the future holds, but yeah, you can say that I am pretty selective about the gadgets I possess,” he says.

Amidst his different activities, Agnishwar’s pet peeve is film making. “I love to make and edit films,” he admits. He conceptualises the Doordharshan TV show Ezham Arivu about innovation and ideas among school and college youth. The show has now crossed 90 episodes and is top ranked in the channel. “To take this show up seriously and produce them in 20 regional languages is my goal as of now,” Agnishwar says, signing off.