CHENNAI: The road to success is a bumpy one, but with passion for what you do, every obstacle becomes a challenge that helps you grow — this was the message that more than 600 students got, after attending day one of the Youth to Business Forum 2011. The event was organised by student organisation AIESEC, on Saturday. It is the omnipresent street food of Mumbai. One that the city’s dirty pavements sell and the locals revel in: the Vada Pav. But for Venkatesh Iyer, a Mumbai-raised Tamilian, it was more than that. “The Vada Pav is a burger’s twin brother (it too is sandwiched between buns like the burger, he reasons). So I thought why not make a business out of it?” Thus started Goli Vada Pav, touted as the first Indian company in ethnic food, with over 115 outlets across the country. From being the humble offering of dirt-lined streets of Mumbai, the Vada Pav in its fresh avatar is completely made from an automated plant and passes through metal detectors and X-ray machines. “Every time we thought our business had stabilised, we faced a new roadblock. While these problems dried up our finances, they brought out the creativity in us. When Goli Vada Pav faced with the possibility of nearly shutting down in Mumbai, we expanded to interior Maharashtra, and later, to the South Indian markets. Running on a franchise model, there are Goli Vada Pav kiosks in Bengaluru, Chennai (Express Avenue) and even Coimbatore,” Venkatesh Iyer said, calling his entry in South India the veshti, vibuthi and Vada Pav phenomenon. Look for a local appeal in what business you wish to pursue, he said. “Though friends suggested that I name the product in English for universal appeal, I stuck to the quintessential Indian name Goli. You can’t serve idlis and call the shop Peter Idli Kadai instead of Murugan Idli Kadai, can you?,” he asked.Earlier, the world’s youngest CEO, Suhas Gopinath — who founded IT company Globals Inc when he was 14, appealed to students to become entrepreneurs and said they should focus on the area they were most interested in.The two-day Youth to Business Forum is an initiative to bridge the gap between industry and students.
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