Lesly Joseph By Express News Service BENGALURU: Samarth Gupta enjoys playing with toy cars just like any other six-year-old out there. But this young one actually bought the prized possession with his own earnings. Like Gupta, Smaran RK, Dhyan RK, Yash V Kowdley and Niranjani Omkar too learned the age old tricks of addition, subtraction and calculation of interest not through mathematics classes in school but by running profitable businesses that fall into different categories like arts, culture and food. Taking us back to the start of their journey, Smaran says the idea to start Indigo Tent came to him, his brother and cousin brother three years ago. “We wanted to provide children a platform to express their talent in different mediums. The common opportunities available are some competitions but in those, only a few are appreciated for their work. We wanted to make a change here and promote every single child’s creativity,” says 16-year-old Smaran, who started Indigo Tent along with Dhyan and Yash. Through this initiative, which has a registration fee of `5,000, the trio organise camps, events and workshops for children. They also arrange sponsors and many a time, they reach break-even point for an event. What was initially conceptualised out of passion and creativity, today made these three children realise the importance of self-sufficiency. “It may be less but we are earning money none the less. But we want to open an account to save money for our future,” says the youngest of the three, Yash, who is 11 years old. Samarth Gupta (on top) has earned Rs 2,000 through selling cookies; Dhyan RK, Smaran RK and Yash V Kowdley started their company three years ago ? Nagaraja Gadekal Six-year-old Gupta, on the other hand, has already opened a bank account to save the money he earns from selling cookies and has `2,000 in it. “I love baking and learned it from mom. My regular customers are four uncles and aunties from my apartment,” shares Gupta, who has a YouTube channel called Healthy Living with Samarth. While Gupta’s passion is baking, nine-year-old Niranjani Omkar makes terrariums and sells it for `300. “My company’s name is Green Genie and I have `2,500 now. My next order will come up to `5,000,” says Omkar, who is also planning to use social media to her advantage in order to market her products. Both Gupta and Omkar are homeschoolers who are trained by their parents. But it’s not the earning capabilities that has left these young ones’ parents impressed. Shruthi Rathan, a preschool owner and mother of Smaran and Dhyan, explains, “We are not encouraging these kids to earn money. In fact, during their first event, we bore the loss. We want them to get the right exposure. They met many CEOs and have been to Shopper’s Stop and Dayanada Sagar Management School to deliver a talk on entrepreneurship. These are the things we look at as parents.” Currently, Smaran is studying at Christ Junior College and his younger brothers Dhyan and Yash are studying at Pramiti School, Kanakapura road. Agrees Gupta’s mother, Supriya Narang, who says that while schools teach childrent hat 1+1+2, they often don’t dish out practical exposure. “How will they prove their efficiency in business in the real world? These kinds of skills should be taught from the beginning. This is all what we want,” adds the mother.

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