Words have the power to pump your spirit, invigorate you with energy and make you believe in yourself again. With this belief, Prudhvi Tammana started Vijayawada-based Wissenarie, a start-up that conducts Wission Talks (Wission is a play on the word 'vision'). These talks boost the morale of upcoming entrepreneurs and motivate them to keep striving to achieve what they have set out to do. Started in 2017, they have covered 40 colleges till date and via a collaboration with Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), they have conducted these talks in ten colleges so far. Wait, there’s more. Post-July, they are ready to conduct bootcamps via the same partnership. "The key is that we invite established entrepreneurs, who have already seen the highs and lows of the field, as speakers," says the 23-year-old. And guess what their vision is? Nenu Local Versatile Visionary!
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But serial entrepreneur Prudhvi himself has needed truckloads of motivation to pull himself through the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship. He began food delivery start-up Hunger Bee while he was pursuing BTech from KL Deemed-to-be University. Then came Tech Ambush, a technology product-based start-up, and a few more in between. Various problems forced him to abandon each of his start-ups and hand it over to the co-founders. But now with Wissenarie, he is helping others navigate the stormy seas of entrepreneurship. "Even today, some college managements treat me like a kid, but the brand of our speakers is such that they cannot help but admit that we add value," says the Guntur-born.
Wission Talks is marketed as a full-day programme with five speakers delivering interactive talks for about 30 to 40 minutes each. "When we conducted the talks at IIIT Nuzvid, we were scheduled to wrap up by 3 pm, but the students went on interacting with the speaker and we concluded the session only at 7 pm. That's the power of true, on-ground stories," shares the youngster with a smile. They also offer to connect students with mentors and even investors so that they can take their ideas to the next level. They have already left their mark on colleges like VR Siddhartha Engineering College, PSCMR College of Engineering and Technology, NIT Warangal and Sreyas Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad, to name a few.
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Wissenarie recently received a seed investment of `15 lakh from Teck Team Solutions (provides technical and innovative engineering services) and are raring to go. They want to start expanding to Bengaluru and slowly, to other cities as well. "The biggest lesson I have learnt from my entrepreneurial journey is that we must be careful with who we put our trust in. Students don't have to always learn lessons the hard way, they can listen to our speakers and learn this way too," he says and concludes.
While in lockdown
- They organised an entrepreneurship course of 15 days for 150 people
- With APSSDC, they conducted We Conclave virtually and over 15 speakers were invited
For more on them, check out facebook.com/wissenarie
