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By Dr Nikhil Agarwal, Founder Entrepreneur Cafe
The biggest startup lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t succeed without embracing disruptive technology. It might seem like a buzzword, but it's true: Disruptive technology is what makes or breaks a business. Specifically, I mean technologies that make your product obsolete overnight—and there are plenty of examples to prove this point. Disruptive technology refers to an innovation that fundamentally changes the way a particular industry or market operates. It can create new markets, disrupt existing ones, and displace established market leaders. Disruptive technologies often start as simple, low-cost alternatives to existing technologies, but as they improve and become more widely adopted, they can have a significant impact on the industry. Examples of disruptive technologies include the personal computer, streaming services, and ride-sharing apps. Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen is credited with coining the term "disruptive technology" and introducing it in his 1995 article "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave," which he co-wrote with Joseph Bower. "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave" is a seminal article published by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower in the Harvard Business Review in 1995. The article introduced the concept of "disruptive technology," which refers to a new technology that disrupts an existing market or creates a new one. Christensen and Bower identified two types of technologies: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining technologies are incremental improvements to existing technologies, while disruptive technologies are fundamentally different and can create new markets or disrupt existing ones. The authors argued that established companies often struggle to adopt disruptive technologies because they are focused on improving their existing products or services, and are not willing to take risks on unproven technologies. In contrast, startups and new entrants are more likely to adopt disruptive technologies because they have less to lose and are more willing to take risks. The article provided several examples of disruptive technologies, including the personal computer, mini steel mills, and discount retailers. It also discussed strategies for established companies to respond to disruptive technologies, including creating a separate division or entity to focus on the new technology, acquiring a startup that has developed the technology, or partnering with a startup to bring the technology to market. "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave" has become a classic in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship and has influenced many business leaders and academics. Disruptive Technology and Startups Disruptive technology is often viewed as a double-edged sword. While it can create enormous opportunities for those who embrace it, it can also pose significant challenges for those who are slow to adapt. Businesses and industries that fail to keep up with disruptive technology risk becoming obsolete, while those that embrace it can gain a competitive advantage and thrive in the new market landscape. Whether a startup should focus on disruptive technology depends on several factors, including the market they are targeting, the competition, and the resources available. On one hand, developing a disruptive technology can give a startup a significant advantage over its competitors, as it can create a new market or disrupt an existing one. It can also attract investment and media attention, which can help the startup grow and succeed. On the other hand, developing a disruptive technology can be risky and expensive. It may require significant resources, including research and development, as well as marketing and sales efforts to educate potential customers on the benefits of the new technology. Additionally, the market may not be ready for the technology, and the startup may struggle to gain traction. Ultimately, it is up to the startup to weigh the potential benefits and risks of developing a disruptive technology and determine if it aligns with their goals and resources. Some startups may choose to focus on incremental improvements to existing technologies or business models, while others may pursue more radical innovation.  Drishti sharma is a young digital journalist working currently in the freemedia.She believes in using her voice to let people know what's actually going on at the ground level. Besides this, shes a wildlife enthusiast.
The red city had its first Entrepreneur Cafe meeting, June 30 was the day where different persons from Marrakech gathered and shared their ideas and opinions and made new connexions. This meeting showed how much the youth in Marrakech, needed this kind of initiatives. The participants are now very excited to be part in the next meetings. Big thank you to the Club Lions red city to be part of this meeting and also to everyone who was present.
La ville rouge a connu son premier café Entrepreneur, le 30 juin a été le jour où différentes personnes de Marrakech se sont réunies pour partager leurs idées et leurs opinions afin de créer de nouvelles connaissance. Cette réunion a montré à quel point les jeunes de Marrakech avaient besoin de ce genre d'initiatives. Les participants sont maintenant très enthousiastes à l'idée de participer aux prochaines réunions. Un grand merci au club Lions la ville rouge d’avoir participé à ce meeting et à toutes les personnes répondu présentes. 1st May Entrepreneur Cafe: Global Association of Entrepreneurs is pleased to announce two appointments for State Governors for Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in India for Entrepreneur Cafe GAE. Ram Kumar Varma will be serving as State Governor for Andhra Pradesh till December 2020 and Naheed Khan will be serving as State Governor for Rajasthan. Along with State Governor's appointment - three City Mayors for Kolkata, Pune and Marrakech. Vishal Naik is appointed as City Mayor for Pune, Reda Tamanine as City Mayor for Marrakech and Himank Dixit as City Mayor for Kolkata. We congratulate and welcome the new leaders in the eCafe Community. FUTUREPRENEUR, A future Beyond tomorrow Powered by STEMLABS’s (www.stemlabs.in) DICE INITIATIVE in collaboration with FORUM SHANTINIKETAN Mall. A Launch Event of the platform for the kids to share and showcase their ideas and talents, so that we could help them realize and live the passion that drives their happiness. A Democratic platform for the children, by the children, and of the children. This event provided an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to help, support and learn from each other, while developing skills to start and grow their own ideas and innovations. A push to drive our youngsters to break free, express themselves, showcase their talents, articulate their ideas, be themselves, and develop confidence to move forward. An evening mix of ideas presentation, Music Performance, Ambition sharing, Mentor Talk, App development for kids, Amazing Scribbles, Kids magazine. Fusion and western song performance by kids took our breath away. Indianized classical version of blockbuster Believer song proved that India is set to rule the world whether it is business, music or any other field. Many kids ambition to become soldier was assuring and emotional for many. High pitch response by 5 years old kid to HOW’S JOSH assures that India is in safe hands with this and next generation. Impromptu sharing of ideas and song performance by kids was simply amazing and reflected the level of confidence this generation carries. The kids’ confidence and their conviction to transform the society to more of Job creators than Job Seekers with aim of 100% MAKE IN INDIA resolution is surely going to set the path for India to become World Superpower. A weekend evening was well spent with 100+ kids and parents and learning from their eagerness to do beyond the regular and normal. This testified that GENZ is all set to create NEW NORMAL of the self-sufficient society. More information about Futurepreneur Program can be found at - https://www.entrepreneurcafe.org/futurepreneurs.html  Futureprenenur powered by STEMLABS is the platform to promote and support kids entrepreneurship, enablement and enrichment
Meet our Core team from Bengaluru. Subranil (Subra) - Overall driving the initiative, event plan, coordinating with venue and other partners JoAnn Ponce (Founder of a startup and US Citizen) - International Collaboration, partnership and mentoring Guru and Pavana (Founder of Stemlabs , Experiential Learning education based company) - Stemlabs support to the initiative including driving STEM model activities, driving DICE program, Snacks for the kids. digital marketing Anitha (Seasoned HR Manager, Entrepreneur, Kids upskilling expert)- Collaboration, promotion, kids membership and kids enrichment and enablement program. All the best to our Bengaluru team to make it happen. 12/14/2018 Meet India's youngest entrepreneurs whose ideas will be game-changers in the futureRead Now When was the first time that you heard the word entrepreneur? A friend asked me this question a few days ago. I pondered. I must have surely been over 14. Also, I remembered how I had a hard time figuring out the spelling back in grade XI and learning the right way to pronounce the word. Both of us, being in our mid-20s, laughed about it. Two days down the line, there I was, waiting on a sofa, right next to a brightly decorated Christmas tree, in the reception of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. The college and Entrepreneur Cafe, a global movement for entrepreneurs to meet and discuss ideas, where hosting their fourth Annual Global Convention. The 24-hour-long event had a panel for entrepreneurs below 16. A quick look at the profiles of the panelists and I was surprised. They were 14, 13 and 10 respectively and each of them was an entrepreneur!
Five minutes later, I saw three children outside the glass door of the room. They were my interviewees. Ishaan Gangabasi (10), Surabhi Kashyap (14) and Krishiv Agarwal (13) sat down in front of me. All of them, (shorter than the five-feet-tall Christmas tree next to me) had a lot to share — from the stories of their companies to their views on the education system. At the end of the conversation, I couldn't help but ask myself, 'What was I doing when I was their age?' The maker of desi Siri Krishiv, a class IX student in Ambitus World School, Hyderabad grew up in a household where the word entrepreneurship was more commonly used than coffee. Son of Nikhil Agarwal, the founder of Entrepreneur Cafe, Krishiv's idea for his AI bot ALPH was born out of his hatred for smartphones. "I hate smartphones. They're cramped and kill everything that is natural," he tells us, pointing at the Jio Phone he uses. When we asked him to tell us more about his product, Krishiv was more than happy to explain. "It is an AI-based bot that manages everything from relations to finances to social media. In simpler words, it is a cheaper version of Siri. Not just that, it has emotional intelligence and understands you better. And by the way, it is not restricted to Apple phones," he says. Krishiv conceptualised it a year ago and developed the prototype a month back. Full article on IndianExpress - Click here Atal Innovation Mission under the aegis of NITI Aayog, has selected 2400+ ATL schools across multiple states of India. AIM targets to have at least one Atal Tinkering Lab in every district and proposed Smart City of India.
In the last one year, more than 50,000+ school students have been engaged in ATLs. Earlier in July 2017, 600 students from more than 50 schools across the Delhi National Capital Region took part in a two-day Tinkering Fest, which was a 48-hour ideathon for school students to introduce and expose them to the world of Tinkering and Innovation. More than 100 different prototypes were created by these students. This is the power of innovation, that you can learn to build prototypes in just 48 hours! In order to ensure that the Atal Tinkering Labs In-Charge understand the philosophy of the labs, and are suitably technically equipped to guide the students, AIM organized training workshops across India. Called Unbox Tinkering, supported by two large technology firms, these workshops lasted over 100 days and were conducted at 10 locations. 500+ teachers have been trained and hundreds of prototypes created by teachers from different streams of science, mathematics, history etc. Several other initiatives, including ‘ATL School of the Month Challenge’, are conducted frequently to engage the ATLs. Additionally, a six-month long ‘Atal Tinkering Marathon’ was conducted across 6 focus areas that align with the national mission – Clean energy, health, smart mobility, smart agriculture, waste management and water resources. It is a platform to identify and showcase best performing ATLs. An estimated 30000+ students participated, 650+ innovation entries submitted. Top 100 were identified across 30 different states and union territories. From the top 100, best 30 have been identified from 20 different states and union territories. Mentors will work closely with top 30 to refine their solutions, and test them in the community. With all this activity and engagement, some of the top performing ATLs participated at multiple external events including World Robotic Olympiad, Maker Faire, Nobel Prize series and several other robotic, technology innovation challenges across India. In fact, some of the ATLs are also representing their schools at international level events of innovation. Students are enjoying ATLs, teachers and principals are exploring ATLs. And we are planning to soon engage Parents also into ATLs, to be able to build a complete ecosystem that supports and encourages innovation and entrepreneurship at the school level. With ATLs, AIM is taking its step towards creating a new India of 2022.  Written By Chhitra Subramaniam. The first time I met Ashley Lobo 13 years ago, he was different from the other choreographers I had worked with. His language, grammar, style of teaching, all of it was different and awe inspiring; but I was not sure that he and his dance would ever be accepted in India, especially in Bollywood. He was doing jazz and ballet. It was pure, pristine and breathtakingly beautiful. I am glad I have been proven wrong because today Ashley’s Danceworx and Navdhara have taken India by storm with at least 6,000 students annually learning, living and breathing dance. Ashley has succeeded in his goal of bringing international dance to the Indian audience and has made his permanent mark in Bollywood, beginning with his groundbreaking “Dhoom Machale Dhoom” song followed by so many films, like “Jab We met,” “Guzaarish,” “Love Aaj kal” and “Cocktail.” He also judges one of the leading dance shows on TV, making him a household name. He has put India on the world map of dance with his creation “Amaara,” a breathtakingly beautiful dance theatre musical that is wowing audiences across continents. What’s his groove? What were the steps he took to get here? Getting Started Ashley Lobo is from Chembur, Mumbai. His father, an army officer, and his mother, a banker by day and an acclaimed opera singer in her free time, understood Ashley’s creative genes. He attended St. Mary’s boarding school in Mount Abu, and later studied at St. Xavier College in Mumbai. During vacation, to keep him out of trouble, his mother got him involved in one of the musical theatre productions that her friend, Salome Roy Kapoor, was directing. He soon became a starring dancer in local community shows that ran dozens of times per weekend and quickly realized that this was both a fun way to get attention and attract girls. His grades fell and his mother pulled him out and told him to pay for himself if he wanted to chase dance and the girls. (He finished college through correspondence.) He wasn’t earning much with the theatre productions, and whatever he was getting he was spending on going out after hours with the cast. After graduation, he got himself a job in a clearing and forwarding company, riding on the back of trucks from Bhutan to Kolkatta, sleeping in dhabas, and going hungry for days for lack of money. He was just 19. By then, his mom was the CEO of Chase Manhattan so he continued to live in two extreme worlds — swanky corporate cabins and grungy, downtrodden trucks. It was a struggle. He saw hunger in the eyes of children, poverty, but it started shaping his vision of the world. “ The universe has a plan, and we don’t always understand it,“ he says. Choreographing West Side Story His job took him to Delhi. He worked hard, his salary improved, and he managed living in a oneroom apartment. He became a survivor because his mother had put him on the street at a young age to learn and appreciate life. He says, “I learned to be self-reliant because of this.” One day, one of his supervisors told him he had to leave early to audition for “West Side Story,” a Modern School production. Lobo decided to go along with him. Once they had auditioned, they found out that the choreographer, an American, was not going to show up, so the producer asked Lobo if he could do the choreography since he had some previous musical theatre experience. Always one to look at every opportunity positively, Lobo agreed. He had fun choreographing the musical, which was successful in Delhi and received many accolades in the newspapers, particularly for the young choreographer. Lobo decided that this was more fulfilling than the forwarding and clearing work and decided to pursue it as a career. After struggling with a decision on what was practical and what was his dream, his cousin told him: “Pick what is your passion because it will never feel like hard work. And you can do it 24 x 7 with joy.” With great hesitation, he asked his mother for financial assistance — as an opera singer and artist herself, she understood his passion — but it was clear that he had to return the money he borrowed — $10,000 — to study dance. He chose to go to Sydney, Australia to be close to his sister who lived there. Hitting Bottom in Australia Lobo studied dance for three years in Australia. He was able to pay his mother back in eight months by doing odd jobs, such as working as a janitor in a nursing home. He was so tired from the grueling schedule that each night he would just eat beans straight off the can and go to bed. At first, he was embarrassed in front of the other students because he lacked their technical training, but after three years of diligent study, he started dancing professionally and earning as much as $1,000 per show. His success did not last long. During a production of “The Wiz,” he popped a disc in his back because of an on-stage error on the part of another dancer, and he could never ever dance again. He had no money for therapy so he went without food to pay for his treatment, until one day, his roommates offered him their food. In his depressed state, he continually delved into self-pity and wondered why he was being punished? One fine day, fed up, he got into his car and drove straight from Sydney to Brisbane, where his sister lived. As his eyes were shutting from the long road trip, he lost control, and his car skidded to the opposite lane, where a huge truck almost crashed into him. But miraculously he was saved. He then realized that he had spent too long being a martyr and had wished this near death upon himself in his downtrodden mental state. The reality jolt of near death woke him up. Sitting on the side of the road, grateful that he was alive, he says”, “I wanted to live, I wanted to start my life again irrespective of whatever I would have to start with.” Bouncing Back On arriving in Brisbane, his brother-in-law helped him with preconditions. Lobo would have to prove his commitment by first getting a job independently, and only then he could get into business with him. He got two part-time jobs: cutting fish and delivering ice cream. After he had saved some money from these activities, his brother-in-law hooked him up to sell beads imported from India at the crafts market. Lobo was able to save up to $25,000 through this trade. In the meantime, he was also teaching dance in Brisbane and taking dance classes for himself as therapy. Finally, he took a vacation to India. There he realized that people still remembered him for choreographing “West Side Story,” and he got several requests to do other shows. He felt perhaps he was meant to be a choreographer, and not a dancer: “I have always been a person who believes in being in the moment. If you are given something and you don’t have a choice, you might as well have fun with it.” He did three musicals and received a few advertising awards. While he was choreographing “Fiddler on the Roof,” he met his wife, Ramneeka. She was one of the actresses. Making It Despite his success in Delhi, he returned to Brisbane because Ramneeka’s parents had stipulated that the couple remains apart for a year to test their love. They stayed in touch and were eventually married. They moved to Brisbane, where they started a clothing store. Lobo was dancing in his spare time, and things were going well for the new couple. One day, he told Ramneeka about his true dream, which was to start a dance academy in India. He loved teaching dance, feeling dance, and living dance, and he wanted to share it with others in a country where many people did not have the opportunity to follow their dreams and where international dance was not widespread. She supported him fully. In what seemed like madness they sold everything they had in Brisbane and moved back to India. Lobo’s company Danceworx has been active for 15 years now with 6,000 students learning dance every year. He begins each dance lesson with a meditation period because he believes that “ the body needs to come to nothingness and become uncorrupted of prior experiences before it is given something to do.” One day, he noticed that one of his students was always falling asleep during the meditation sessions. In anger he brought him a nightgown to send a clear message. To his astonishment, he found out that the student, who was from a poor family, had moved to Delhi just to study dance with Ashley, and in order to make ends meet, he worked as a night guard on a construction site. Raju became the impetus for the “Going Home” project, which Lobo founded to support students like him. Funded by Lobo’s personal earnings, he pays for housing, food and travel for students who cannot afford to become dancers, regardless of whether their families are poor or not (some families just choose not to support their children even if they have the means). Raju today is an amazing dancer and artist. Lobo says” He is amazing because he has paid his price: “If one does not find their death, then they don’t find their crest”. Although his dance company has made it in Bollywood and the world stage with “ Amaara,” Lobo aims to turn Navdhara into one of the top 10 dance companies in the world that would tours 200 days a year. “I want Navdhara to be in the top five dance companies in the world, so that youngsters can train professionally instead of copying steps off TV, and take this to smaller towns in India so that kids like Raju can pursue their dream.” He is also putting finishing touches on his first Bollywood theatre dance musical for the world audience and gearing up to start Danceworx in 15 cities in India in three years. Asked what his mantra is, he says: “Its important to finish what one has started. Do everything that you take up, properly. Don’t be in the in-between zone, as life is about being there fully. That’s what my dad told me. If you become a sweeper, then do it really well.”  Written by Anand Tomar: (Lecturer, UK College of Business and Computing, London) Why are we paying tax? A critical question was asked by my son ‘Aryan’, who is just 10 years old and studying in his year 5. I answered that our government needs money to maintain the Parks, Gardens, Roads, Rails, Buses, Pay the Salary to Police, Council Workers, Doctors, NHS Workers, Royal Mail Workers and so on. The next question was, how do we know if we are getting all these right for the money we pay? This is certainly a very big question to answer. I was thinking that I did a good job by providing him the satisfactory answer to the first question, but the second was bothering me from thenAs our lives are defined by the IT in this Hi-Tec era where information on anything is available on our fingertips I knocked the door of our ‘Google Uncle’ for getting the correct answer. I found following:- Taxes are collected from citizens by the government to accomplish a series of objectives, namely:
There is a thought in the back of mind that some Tax Free countries successfully existing on this planet earth, they are-
Can every single country in the world become tax free? The answer is ‘NO’ because only nations with their own central bank and their own currency have the ability to create their own money and use it as they see fit. Countries for example Greece, France and Germany cannot do this because they use the Euro and are therefore dependent on the European Central Bank to create money for their economies. But nations such as India, America, Iceland, Japan, The UK can create their own money and spend according to their wish without borrowing from any other nations. It is my strong opinion that nations should create their own money and inject it right into the vein of the economy to cure financial flu (crisis) and help their citizens. So The UK should create its own money, there is in fact no need to borrow it from private banks. It can just "borrow" from the Bank of England which is what happens in the case of quantitative easing. Although it wouldn't really be "borrowing" in the usual sense because it owns the Bank of England, so would be borrowing from itself. Either way, if the government doesn't need to borrow money from private banks, it doesn't need to pay them interest. (Huffington Post UK) How the Government will operate without taxes? Revenue for the nation can be generated by developing travel and tourism, infrastructure, good opportunities for talented and skilled human beings rather than by imposing taxes. If every nation practice this then they will become tax free country, which allows the citizens to enjoy and spend their hard-earned money as and when they wish to. So with the help of this article, I would like to place a humble request to the Policy Makers/ Politicians/ Prime Ministers/ Finance Ministers and each and every person who is directly or indirectly involved in the process from all the capable nations to think on it and come up with this applicable and practical solution and get rid of these heavy taxes. The answer to the second question is, the benefits of taxes are often perceived or intangible sometimes. Something like an Insurance, a Hospital or an emergency service that you may not use it every day – but you need it most when you need it. Hence, we need to pay the tax, while exploring the avenues on how governments can think of revenue generation with less tax implications. References
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