YOUNGEST ENTREPRENEURS OF INDIASHRAVAN AND SANJAY KUMARAN

INTRODUCTION
This is an incredible achievement by two brothers Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran as they have launched their own mobile applications firm. Aged only 12 and 10 respectively, Shravan is the Co-Founder and President of Go Dimensions while his brother is Co-Founder and CEO. The two brothers are the youngest chief executives of India and also youngest promoters of a company who are studying in Class VIII and Class VI at a Chennai school. When most adults have trouble understanding Java code, these two kids have used the code to build mobile applications. The brothers have together developed four apps for the Apple Store, which have been downloaded more than 10,000 times from 20 countries. Clad in grey suits and ties, these two highly-confident children demonstrated their apps to the media, on the iOS and Android platforms, for games, education and entertainment. Students of Vaels Billabong High International School, both Shravans and Sanjays interest in computers started early at home when their father got them a desktop computer. Starting with Paint and games on the PC, the two started to make presentations at school and teachers encouraged them to do more. Thats how they turned into mobile app developers.

FIRST PRODUCT OF THE SMALL WONDERS

The first product Catch me Cop, a mobile application was showcased at Apples App Store in only two months of its launch. In the CatchMeCop game application, a convict escapes from prison and there is a nationwide hunt for the convict. The convict has to run through a desert, a beach and a maze to outsmart the cops. There are multiple levels of this application, which saw nearly 2,000 downloads in the first month of development. In fact, tech media Web site CNET has reviewed this application too. The popular applications include Apples App Store Alphabet Board which is a learning app for iPhone and iPad, Prayer Planet for religious prayers of distinct communities and Colour Pallette, a learning app for kids to learn colours. Cnet.com approaching with lists of well-known apps. The apps are free for download, says Shravan. The company will make money on advertisements in their apps, he said. The brothers are currently working on another application with an Olympics torch which will be surely appreciated by the people world-wide. Christened as Olympic Thief, they are striving hard to bring it to the stores during the games held in London.

WORDS OF THEIR PROUD FATHER

The proud father of the wonder kids, Kumaran Surendran, 45, is a techie himself and the director of an IT firm. He said his sons are aware that Apple keeps 30 per cent of the advertisement revenue. The boys got attracted to computers as Kumaran used to work from home. "Their

curiosity for programming knew no bounds and I decided to channelise their interest. When I taught the elder one, he was barely seven years old and the younger one too joined in. Within three years, they mastered three languages - Cobol, Basic and Objective-C and started to create mobile applications," the proud father said.

WORDS OF GRATITUDE OF KIDS FOR THEIR FATHER

The duo acknowledged their father's help in reaching such heights. "Initially, dad helped a lot. It was he who groomed us in programming. It is only because of him we have come this far," Sanjay said, with Shravan nodding in agreement.

AREA OF INTEREST OF BOTH THE BROTHERS

Shravan favours Apple while Sanjay prefers Android. These youngsters were encouraged by their dad who taught them Powerpoint, Qbasic, Java etc. But their thirst did not end there and they both learnt application development languages themselves to work on Android and iOS. The brothers are still not pros on mobile operating systems application platform because they feel it has its own share of drawbacks and difficulty levels. Shravan and Sanjay aspire to develop a tablet called GoSheet, which they want to be the thinnest and lightest tablet in the world. They are very excited when talking about it and say, that the tablet would be a customizable tablet, which in the hands of a 7-year old can be used to play adventure games and for a 25-year old can be used for business purpose. This would be possible, as the tablet will allow multiple users to be added with every person having a different login on the tablet and who can access the applications which they prefer through their respective logins. Shravan and Sanjay are no strangers to accolades. They have spoken in various events like TEDx, IIMB flagship event Eximus and CII Chandigarh among others and have also been honoured by former president of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. But these young kids know the value of sharing and want to share 15% of their profits with the poor and needy.So if you guys want to become programmers like Shravan & Sanjay, then you need to learn Qbasic and excel in it says Shravan. He also says its important to be good in Math to learn programming. And Sanjays advice to those of you who want to be an entrepreneur is to start early. And if you want to do anything with computers then being good at algorithms is important. It is kind of easy but you need lots of patience, says Sanjay.

AND THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

They have built four applications Colour Palette, Prayer Planet, Alphabet board, Catch Me Cop which is available in both Apples App Store and Googles Android Play store. Their next app is called Emergency Boat which was inspired from their own experience when Sanjay fell off the skateboard and tried calling his dad in vain, who only responded after 30 minutes. They have made this app for use during emergencies where you can set up important contacts along with six emergency contact numbers (recommended) like 911 or 100, fire and medical assistance a total of nine numbers that can be dialed during emergencies. Once assigned and in case of an emergency, it gives an immediate call to the assigned number as well as sends an SMS saying emergency. Their applications are quite popular on both the Apple and Android stores and have

received close to 24,000 downloads since launch by word of mouth marketing and showing the application to the people they meet.

WHAT ABOUT THEIR STUDIES NOW ??

Kumaran, however, ensures that his wards do not lose interest in studies. "Studies are very important. They should study at least an hour a day," he said. He also admitted some companies had evinced interest in tying up with Go Dimension. Prodded about their future plans, the brothers said they have set their sights on developing tools for education with appropriate applications. "Our aim is to bring accessibility and affordability for all," CEO Sanjay explained. What will they do with all the money they will earn? Pat came the reply: "Invest it to help the poor." Besides coding, both the brothers like animation, reading books, painting and making caricatures and cartoons. But all their computing passion is not interfering with their regular studies. Shravan says they follow a timetable, and only program from 6:00 pm to 7.30pm. They sleep by midnight and attend the school punctually from 8:20 am to 3:00pm. A lovely surprise for them was that a promise from their Dean V. Venkatachalam, that if they continued with their business with the same enthusiasm and success, they would be exempted from home work and attendance restrictions. And the boys modest reaction to this We are happy but we still want to write our exams!

THEIR VOW !!!

They promised that 15% of their revenue will go as charity for poor. Thus, they proved that they are ENTREPRENEURS WITH BRAIN AS WELL AS HEART.