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Top 8 start-up opportunities for college students

Prof Kaustubh Dhargalkar, Associate Dean-Innovation, Prin L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) comes up with rare insights and ideas for college/MBA students who want to start a business.

My hobby is to collect consumer pain points and look for opportunities arising out of these.

Since all of my work keeps me associated with bright, young students, who are constantly on the lookout for the next big thing, this hobby of mine comes in handy.

Based on my interactions with students and a little bit of my own reading, I feel that the following is happening in India.

I am going to put forth certain trends which may not read as start-up ideas, per se, but there are a lot of opportunities that will arise out of these trends.

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1. Watch out for the pop culture!

The aspirational youth is making a statement all the time and this is throwing up many opportunities:

The youth in the countryside wants to get comfortable with the English language, so English teaching (offline as well as online) is a service that is generating tremendous demand.

The youth is taking to the consumerist ethos of the western world rapidly.

The Mall culture is throwing up a lot opportunities for genuine, trustworthy e-commerce

People are following sports other that cricket these days. Football, hockey, basketball telecasts are getting encouraging TRPs.

T20 games, of course, beat everything else hollow.

2. Digital content

Couple the pop culture with ever-increasing digital influence on our lives:

India is the largest market for mobile phones, so much relevant and  useful content can be made available at the fingertips through these devices, not just in English but in so many of our languages.

3. Online tax return filing

The institutional framework in India is strong and robust

We have independent and fair regulators like the SEBI, TRAI, RBI that make online return filing a great opportunity for Public-Private partnerships.

2. Social activism

Indians are getting connected digitally (Facebook has 70 million Indian users) and sharing their concerns vocally over many platforms.

Two of the issues being raised vociferously are corruption, wildlife conservation and environmental degradation in general.

5. Holiday planning

Indians are spending a lot of money on holidaying.

Of late, even the snobbish Britains have accepted this and are aggressively wooing Indians with fancy advertising.

6. Multi-cultural services

Migration within India is throwing up a lot of opportunities for:

• Cultural offerings
• Language coaching and translation services
• Niche catering services
• Migration is naturally leading to inter-community marriages, which is throwing up a lot of multi-cultural opportunities.
• New, faster and reliable mechanisms of transferring money to folks back home are also in demand.
  

7. Freelancer jobs

A lot of educated housewives are looking for temporary jobs for extra income.

Platforms for freelancers are mushrooming across the Indian cyberspace.

8. Credit

Of late, Indians are warming up to credit.

That is opening up a lot of opportunities in the m-payment and e-payment space.

One of the most promising among them includgebackground checks of consumers etc.

So explore these spaces ...an entrepreneurial career may be waiting for you here!