Kolkata boy Abivanth Kanoi has launched two utilitarian attempts to help out female-led small businesses and daily wage earners. The 17-year-old marketing whiz has started two initiatives namely Vidbizz and Bachcha; while Vidbizz helps out women entrepreneurs with social media marketing, Bachcha was planned as a means of helping people with financial literacy.
“Social media is a really effective marketing tool right now. You just need a few minutes of brainstorming and you need to share maybe 10 pictures from your line and you can find out who’s interested. But there are so many small-scale entrepreneurs who are a little lost as to how to go about it. That’s where Vidbizz comes in. Bachcha, on the other hand, was aimed at helping people manage their savings in more convenient ways. Through this endeavour, I help domestic help workers gain basic financial literacy. I hope this initiative would help in increasing financial inclusion in the country,” shares Abivanth. So how did this La Martiniere student and teen digital marketing maverick accomplish all this single-handedly? Abivanth helps us understand:
Tell us what got you started….
Vidbizz and Bachcha both started last year. In May I took up an internship with a marketing firm and I got to learn a lot about social media marketing and how it can help boost businesses. I live in a joint family, and in my home, there are 4-5 women who have started their own ventures or labels. My aunt Ruchi Kanoi is a designer. I started out with her. I realised not everyone who runs a business knows the essentials of social media marketing, like clicking pictures the right way or how to style an Instagram page. So Vidbizz started along this thought, to help women with their homegrown businesses, for free. In my free time, I help out people build websites, digital design or whatever they need in terms of a virtual presence.
Vidbizz is meant to help out small businesses run by women…
Yes, homegrown business and emerging women entrepreneurs. For instance, I recently helped an interior designer, a woman who started her own Khakhra line from her home and an export firm. It helps women (especially those who are just venturing into the world of business) digitally market their small products through Facebook and Instagram.
After my ICSE I will get a few months' time and I really plan to boost Vidbizz as a national platform that can help female entrepreneurs around the country, since I plan to pursue digital marketing as a specialisation in the future
Tell us about Bachcha
This is also something that was inspired by what I saw at home. So we had this staff who had to sell away his land to afford his daughter’s marriage. He hadn’t managed his finances too well or saved up over the years. Bachcha attempts to inculcate monetary planning and functional ways of saving to people who really need it. At this point, it’s word of mouth since I have limited resources but I’ve worked with more than 50 daily wage workers
Do you plan to expand in some way?
For Vidbizz, definitely. I plan on connecting with students from different cities with the same vision, so we could also take this to those cities.