SARATOGA, CA: With over half-a-million businesses starting each month in the United States, entrepreneurship skills have become a vital part of America’s economy. Thanks to Charlotte Councilmember Dimple Ajmera’s initiative, the Silicon Valley Young Coders’ Club (SVYCC) was launched October 2017 in Charlotte, NC with the help of Vipul Shah and Naresh Arora, the 12th location, the very first outside California. The response was overwhelming, as an excited group of students from Charlotte became part of the very first semester of the startup boot camp program geared for middle and high school students.
SVYCC was founded by Saratoga High School student, Shivaum Kumar in June of 2015 to provide a fun, learning environment for the youth of Silicon Valley, enabling hands-on collaborative startup experience, to blossom the next generation of inventors and innovators. “My object is to seed innovation and opportunities in every part of Silicon Valley and America. When I found an opportunity to launch this program in Charlotte, I was thrilled!”
Middle and high school students participated in a challenging 10-week program, learning every aspect of a business under the tutelage of Vipul Shah and Naresh Arora. Students learned aspects of entrepreneurship, such as how to start a business, to what makes a successful entrepreneur, to how to protect your intellectual property and were able to see the inner workings of startups via many case studies and success stories.
Many of these students formed teams and excitedly launched their own startup. The course ended with a Pitch-Fest challenge, where teams presented their startup business plans to a group of business and technology experts.
Team MyFood who developed a comprehensive health app won the first place consisting of team members Sanskriti Deva, Sanskar Deva, Aaryan Vemunoori, Saskia Seepersaud, Aakash Shah. The parents mentors were Sudhanshu Kulshreshtha, Vivek Vemunoori.
“The program was really insightful, it helped show all of us how to achieve our dreams and how to make the world a better place.” said participant and winner Sanskriti Deva from the MyFood team.
The 2nd place winner was Soar Innovation who designed a solution for broad home security. The student team members were Ojas Panda, Aryan Shah, Aaditya Malapati, Nikhil Kamisetty, Neel Patel, and were mentored by Archana Shah. “The innovation in the next generation is mind-boggling to see.” said instructor Vipul Shah, impressed by the depth of the business plans.
The top two teams have been invited to be part of the Silicon Valley Annual Business
Plan Pitch Fest that will be held at Saratoga California on December 17, California. The top two teams from each of the 12 SVYCC locations will present in front of valley executives, who will evaluate and declare the top winner that will take home seed money to build their product prototype.
Both the Charlotte teams are currently making travel plans and are expected to make this a learning experience by visiting Tesla, Facebook and Google – arrangements are being made currently by the SYYCC team. Councilmember Ajmera was very happy with the outcome. ‘We’re thrilled to see amazing local talent showcasing their passion and improving the world through innovation and technology. I wish them the best.”
India Post News Service
