As Henry Ford has said, "when everything seems to be going against you, remember aeroplanes take off against the wind, not with it" and as Mark Twain has said, "the secret of getting ahead is getting started, in my opinion these two quotes sum up entrepreneurship.
In 2019 when conflict was peaking up in Kashmir, education and business establishments were closed for nearly 6 months, it occurred to me that the most affected part of the society was youth. I realised that entrepreneurship could serve as a way to change this scenario and help the youth expand their horizons to further develop and establish Kashmir as one of the leading entrepreneurial hubs of the country.
After doing research and understanding the youth culture and inclinations when it came to innovative ideas, it was clear that among youth, artists were the one suffering the most due to various reasons, be it internet shutdown or lack of professional exposure, unavailability of opportunities to showcase their talent and culture.
In a conflict zone where youth is turning to drugs and other social evils, me and my friends were looking for ways to divert them and bring out their creative side.
Around mid-2019 after joining SRM COM, I was exposed to a huge number of opportunities. The College of management always puts emphasis on holistic development of students and it helped nurture, improve and solidify my ideas with tangible knowledge through the experienced faculty. The guidance I received at SRM helped me realise my shortcomings and how they could be turned into opportunities that could be monetized.
It was 2020 when the pandemic was at its peak. Me and my friends came up with a plan to start a production and distribution company based in Srinagar, Kashmir called "The Urban Sufis". Our mission is to empower artists and promote art in every way possible. We make sure we provide artists the platform where they are exposed to bigger opportunities and get highlighted in the industry. Our projects have been promoted by Bollywood celebrities like Zareen Khan who recognized our efforts to create a platform where the youth can express themselves and their culture in their own way.
The Urban Sufis staying true to its values and vision facilitated team members in getting opportunities to showcase their talent by doing projects with big players in the industry like Zee Music e.t.c. The Urban Sufis are also in talks with one of the foremost authorities in the music industry – Salim Merchant, for a project in collaboration.
Apart from music and film making, we also stepped in line production and got the opportunity to work for brands like Monte Carlo and Purple Thoughts India.
We're planning to take The Urban Sufis forward with the help of our talented team members and mentors from various verticals and establish The Urban Sufis as a premier production house that serves artists PAN India and in the future all over the world.
Simultaneously we also observed that the standard of living was depreciating and there was a lack of affordable new age technology in the market not just in Kashmir but across India.
After seeing the size of the market and the increasing demand we decided to establish a robotics company named “Sefarium” as a cell of innovation and technological excellence. Our products will be accessible to all segments of society irrespective of their financial bracket.
With “The Urban Sufis” and “Sefarium” we aim to bring positive changes to society and uplift the standards of living.