PREPARED BY ABISHEK .P REG NO: 23203509 CONTENT ● INTRODUCTION ● EARLY LIFE ● PERSONAL LIFE ● CAREER AND EDUCATION ● STRUGGLE AND EARLY ENTREPRENUERIALS VENTURES ● STARTUP IN COLLEGE ● ONE 97 ● PAYTM ● AWARDS AND RECOGNITION INTRODUCTION ● Vijay Shekhar Sharma (born 7 June 1978) is an Indian technology entrepreneur, multimillionaire and business magnate. He is the founder and chief executive officer of One97 Communications founded in 1997 and its consumer brand Paytm which he started in 2010. ● In January 2022, the ICANN-supported Universal Acceptance Steering Group appointed him as UA Ambassador in India. As of September 2022, he had a net worth of US$1.1 billion according to Forbes ● So, let's take a walk along the journey of Vijay Shekhar Sharma AWARDS AND RECOGNITION ● Won the Best Serial Entrepreneur Award at the Rural and Urban Development Summit and Awards 2022 presented by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India ● Ranked the Youngest Indian Billionaire by Forbes magazine In 2018, he was named the Entrepreneur of the Year by AIMA ● Honored with the Yash Bharati, the highest state civilian award of the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2016.Awarded the Impact Person of the Year Award in 2016. EARLY LIFE ● Vijay Shekhar Sharma was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 7 June 1978, the third of the four children of Sulom Prakash Sharma, a school teacher, and Asha Sharma, a homemaker. ● He did his schooling from Harduaganj, a small town near Aligarh. ● He enrolled in college at the age of 15 and graduated with a B.Tech degree from the Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University) at 19 years old PERSONAL LIFE ● Vijay married Mridula Parashar Sharma in 2015, and they have one child. He is a true lover of all kinds of music and is a massive fan of Jim Morrison, Coldplay, and U2. He is also the resident DJ at One97 parties and often forces his colleagues and teammates to listen to the music he likes and discovers. ● In 2022 Vijay Shekhar Sharma was reappointed for another five years as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of One 97 Communication, the parent company of digital payments app Paytm. Around 99.67 percent of shareholders voted in favor of Vijay Sharma’s reappointment. Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma and Masayoshi Son of Softbank are his inspirations. CAREER AND EDUCATION ● Sharma started his career in 1997 with indiasite.net and sold it two years later for $1 million.He founded One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, in 2000. As of June 2021, One97 is among the most valuable unicorns in India. ● He founded Paytm in 2010 and in 2018, Warren Buffett invested around $300 million in the company. ● Sharma is a B.Tech. graduate from Delhi College of Engineering (present-day Delhi Technological University). He is married to Mridula Parashar and the couple have a son named Vivaan Sharma STRUGGLES AND EARLY ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES ● Vijay’s journey was marked by perseverance and relentless ambition. He faced several setbacks, including rejections from colleges. ● his determination led him to secure admission to the Delhi College of Engineering. During his college years, he developed a keen interest in coding and software development. ● Vijay started his first business venture, XS Communications, while still in college. Despite facing initial challenges, he managed to sell the company for a small profit. This early taste of entrepreneurship only fueled his ambition further. STARTUP IN COLLEGE ● While most of the young and bright engineering students were excited about the prospect of being placed in big companies, Vijay decided to be an entrepreneur. He made the internet his playground while making Yahoo and Sabeer Bhatia his inspirations. ● He learned to code all by himself and built his first company XS Communications, a college-based startup that created content management systems with his college mates. After some time, some of the most prominent news publications, including The Indian Express, used his company’s content. ONE 97 ● For Vijay, things started to look better when he founded One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, in 2000. At that time, less than 10 million Indians knew about the Internet. His company offers ringtones, Bollywood movie songs, and search services before landing on the idea of digital payments. ● The big turning moment for him came in 2011 when he first pitched the idea of entering the payment ecosystem in front of his boardInitially, the board was not convinced by his idea as he was talking about betting the company’s money on a non-existent market. ● To convince his commission, he put 1% of his equity, which was about a $2 million round in 2011, on the table and said, “If I waste the company’s money that we put on the site, this is for all of you,” PAYTM ● With his willpower and self-belief, Vijay launched the first avatar of Paytm. Soon this Pay Through Mobile app became the next big thing in the Indian startup ecosystem in India. Since then, there has been no looking back. The rest, as they say, is history. ● Paytm business suddenly soared in November 2016 when the Narendra Modi government eliminated 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes to end corruption. Paytm went from a new thing to a must-have overnight as more than 75% of the country’s paper money disappeared with a pen stroke. THANKYOU
