The Class of 2018 : Entrepreneur 35 Under 35

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They are the set of millennials who have worked towards etching their names in truly golden words. Entrepreneur magazine is glad to present the game changers of 2018 as they represent the very idea of leadership not just in the workplace but across society in general. For us, they have the power of taking charge.

Our fiery set of 35 under 35; second year in a row now has become a bar of achievement for many. Interestingly, N R Narayana Murthy had an ambition of becoming an entrepreneur before turning 35.

This time, ironically, we have Mr Murthy's son Rohan Murty on the cover for charting his own path. This year's list is an interesting mix of artists, yogis, sports champions and entrepreneurs from host lot of industries doing path-breaking work.

(This article was first published in the February issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)

The Murty Moorings - Dr. Rohan Narayana Murty, 34

A man is known by his conversations and when you are talking to Rohan Murty you really have to keep up with every word. His work necessarily requires him to split time every month between Boston, London, and Bengaluru.

Leading A Goal Galore - Sunil Chhetri, 33

Being born to footballer parents, Chhetri had passion towards the game since childhood. Over the years, he simply became determined to carry it as a career. "My parents were avid footballers and are big sport fans which meant that football was always a part of our conversation," states the soccer team captain.

Language No Bar - Umesh Sachdev, 32

When Umesh Sachdev was building Singularis, his first company, he realised that there exists a huge global problem which needs to be addressed. Even though we were amidst a digital revolution, more than half of the country remained disconnected.

The Sketching Star - Tanmay Bhat, 30

When Tanmay Bhat started doing podcast with Gursimran Khamba, their only dream was to perform in front of about 300 people. With time, they grew ambitious and the numbers just increased.

'Rap'ping It Up The 'Pendu' Way - Diljit Dosanjh, 34

After winning awards for 'Udta Punjab' and hearts for 'Phillauri', the singerturned-actor Dosanjh is definitely the hottest Punjabi import to Bollywood. He got his performance skills from his school days when he began performing in Gurudwaras in front of people.

Tieing Blood With Business - Karthik Naralasetty, 28

Being a technology geek, blood was not his first love. The Rutger University dropout, Naralasetty started Socialblood, a social media application that connects patients with compatible blood donors through a Facebook chat group.

The Awakening - Akshar, 34

At the age of 17, Akshar got introduced to the world of Yoga. His initial tryst with it was not a professional calling, it was to live happily and lead a good journey. He did some odd jobs as a consultant, banker, but those never made him happy.

What's Worth Fighting For - Hardik Patel, 24

Politicians and politics, both refine with age. But Patel, leader of Patidar Agitation in Gujarat, has defied all odds and has become one of the most famous faces giving way to counter cultures and pluralism in the Indian society.

Voicing A Concern - Gurmehar Kaur, 20

In the age of digital trolling, the one who survives runs the show. Kaur has been there, done that and now, in her words, "It doesn't bother me anymore." Kaur came into limelight when she was trolled for saying "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him."

The Life Saver - Arun Chandru Raju, 32

The acute shortage of human organs available for transplantation can be met by lab-grown human organs to save and extend life. That's the first of its kind effort that Chandru and Dr Tuhin Bhowmick has been putting at Pandorum Technologies - Bengaluru based biotechnology company. The duo co-founded the company while pursuing their doctoral programs at the Indian Institute of Science in 2011. "Human tissue engineering has the potential to positively impact millions of lives," he adds. Chandru and his team are now developing 3D living human mini-livers and corneas.

Doing His Bit For The Environment - Aniruddha Sharma, 30

Not every memory behind an idea is a fond memory. For Aniruddha Sharma, the inspiration to building Carbon Clean, a company to regulate industrial (air) pollution and use it to make by-products, could be traced back to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

Informal Education - Gaurav Munjal , 27 l Roman Saini, 25 l and Hemesh Singh, 25

In India, when education is still distantly achievable for the mass, accessing technology was out of their radar. However, bridging the gap and utilizing technology for the masses, Munjal, Saini and Singh formed Unacademya digital education platform in January 2016.

Momo Mania - Sagar Daryani, 31 l Vinod Homagai, 32 & Shah Miftaur Rehman, 31

Building fortune out of a street side delicacy is not everyone's cup of tea... errr momos! But things were different for Homagai and Daryani, who set up Wow Momo in 2008. Later, Rehman also joined the team as their third co-founder.

Going Against Conventions - Trishneet Arora, 24

School dropout, Arora is one of the youngest ethical hacker India ever had. "Since childhood, I was intrigued to learn about ethical hacking. It was quite challenging for me to prove that even without formal education you can actually pursue a passion to build a fortune," says Arora.

A Perfect Piece Of Time - Gaurav Mehta, 34

Gaurav's fascination for watches began at a very young age. The first watch he owned was an HMT, a gift from his father at the age of 12. The childlike enchantment with the watch made him open up the machinery and reassemble it, which soon turned into a hobby.

Building A Hip Office Culture - Ritesh Malik, 28

Picking up an officially classified 'heritage building in Connaught Place, doctor turned entrepreneur Malik wanted to establish his foothold into starting a co-working space. This simple idea was sown as Malik experienced lack of a community led office spaces in the city.

An Uber For Ambulances - Prabhdeep Singh, 29

At the inception of StanPlus are personal stories of three co-founders, Antoine's Poirson, Jose Leon and Prabhdeep Singh. StanPlus has serviced over 10,000 patient calls in last 12 months. On an average, it receives over 60+ calls per city every day, with each one answered in less than 15 seconds.

Accessorizing The Millennial - Shuchi Pandya, 34

It takes a moment to realize where your passion lies and what can lead you to success! Similarly, a former Wharton MBA Pandya reveals what made her think of the winning idea Pipa+Bella.

The ‘Bharat’ Innovator - Rakesh Deshmukh, 34

During his second venture moFirst Solutions in 2013, Deshmukh realized the gap in the way around 800 million smartphone users, who primarily spoke in their native language, understood smartphone usage and the way smartphone makers perceived it to be.

The Task Manager - Kabeer Biswas, 33

When Biswas was running his first start-up a few years back, he realized that he never gets time to take care of his personal chores. And, that's how Dunzo app was conceived in 2015. "I thought why not start running other people's' tasks to see if there was a business to be had," shares Biswas.

Re-cycling Pollutants Into Paints - Arpit Dhupar, 25 l Kushagra Srivastava, 22 and Prateek Sachan, 23

Three IITians Dhupar, Srivastava and Sachan created a device that uses soot emitted from diesel generators to produce paint and ink. Using a patented technology, their venture, Chakr Innovation is on a full spree to bring about sustainable reduction in air pollution levels

Fintech Fanatics - Harshil Mathur, 27 l Shashank Kumar, 27

Digital payment for businesses was not accessible unless the IIT duo Mathur and Kumar established Razorpay by end of 2014. Mathur shares that his initial journey was really tough.

Creating Experience Out Of A ‘Thaal’ - Munaf Kapadia, 29

One fine Sunday afternoon, roughly three years back, Munaf got into a fight with his mother over watching TV. She frustratingly told him, "I don't have anything else to do." "The thought struck me hard. And from then on, I started looking for options to keep her busy," says Munaf.

An Artisan Food Retailer - Richa Talwar, 33

Three years ago, Talwar quit a career in advertising and decided to go to Institute of Culinary education in New York for an artisanal bread baking course. It was kind of an inner calling, she reveals.

A Brotherly Act - Sahil Vora, 33 l Rushabh Voral, 31

While Sahil was working at a hedge fund in New York, he read Richard Branson's book "Screw it, let's do it!" Ideas started brewing in his head, and that is how he started Sila in 2010 with his brother.

Counting On Blood - Ambar Srivastava, 32

In a country like India that houses 51 percent of anemic women and children, measuring hemoglobin efficiently is a costly job. Having said so, this former IITian has bridged the gap between innovation and entrepreneurship with his Hemoglobin measurement device Hemometer.

Beauty Within - Manushi Chillar, 20

Hailing from a family of doctors and scientists, an aspiring gynecologist and cardiac surgeon Manushi Chillar was crowned as Miss World in 2017. "I was always focused on my studies and wanted to be a doctor, but like every girl, I would also dream of participating in a beauty pageant at least once in life," she says.

The ‘AirBnB’ Of Fashion - Shreya Mishra, 27

Despite of having a systematic and a wardrobe full of dresses, we are always short of clothes. Creating an opportunity in this space, three IITians Surana, Saxena and Mishra gave birth to an online fashion rental portal, Flyrobe in 2015.

Nurturing Health With A ‘Shot’ - Shalabh Gupta, 32

Back in 2008, when cold pressed juice was still not adapted in the Indian market, Shalabh Gupta then residing in the USA understood that Indians required Ayurvedic beverages owing to the unruly lifestyle.

The ‘Chat’ing Heroes - Farid Ahsan , 25 l Bhanu Pratap Singh, 26 & Ankush Sachdeva, 24

While studying in IIT Kanpur, Ahsan, Singh and Sachdeva started building their product back in 2012. Post several trial and errors, they realized the urgency for Indian language platforms where content could be browsed. That is how ShareChat happened in October 2015.

Sharing The Laundry Load - Arunabh Sinha, 34

The idea of setting up a laundry business was born when Sinha saw his wife losing her cool one day over laundry at home. In 2016, he launched UClean - a laundry startup which was based on quite a different business model unlike other modern day laundry start-ups.

Hitting Live - Jinder Mahal, 26

Yuvraj Singh Dhesi, aka, Jinder Mahal, is the very definition of a self-made man, having battled his way to the WWE Championship. And 23 years later, Mahal arrived on WWE TV for the first time. His initial short run in WWE was interesting, to say the least.

Playing A ‘Boonwand’ For The Specially Abled - Janhavi Joshi, 25 and Nupura Kirloskar, 25

The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 360 million people worldwide with a disabling hearing loss. Joshi and Kirloskar of Bleetech, aims to break barriers between the usual lot and hearing impaired communities by focusing on humancentric design solutions.

Building The Dream Of ‘Largest Online Hospital’- Satish Kannan, 28 l Enbasekar Dinadayalane, 29

Back in 2012 when India was still preparing its digital race, reaching doctors conveniently was a challenge unless the former IIT Madras friends Kannan and Dinadayalane formed DocsApp in 2015.

A Place To Crash - Anindya Dutta, 34 l Sandeep Dalmia, 26

While Dutta was based in London and working at Oaktree Capital, he got an opportunity to closely observe and evaluate the international student housing space, particularly in Western markets. This led to the idea of Stanza Living.

The Class of 2018 : Entrepreneur 35 Under 35 This year's list is an interesting mix of artists, yogis, sports champions and entrepreneurs from host lot of industries doing path-breaking work