It’s a fact that most engineering graduates across the country, especially in core branches (Electronics and Communications, Civil, Mechanical, Automobile) are hardly ready to occupy positions in industrial and manufacturing sectors. Many change streams, most of them switch over to the IT sector in quest of jobs and others prefer heading to foreign universities for better prospects. Many feel the employment situation in the country hasn’t improved.
JNTU Kakinada mechanical engineering alumni Rahul, Shankar Kumar, Prakash Kumar and Anil (all from Bihar) who experienced a similar struggle, decided to explore a different route. They went on to start Seven Motors, an online portal that trains students to build All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) bridging theoretical learning and practical exposure. “We wanted to bend the rules. A physical location has limitations and poses challenges in terms of time and expense when training students. Our goal is to bring together students from all over India to connect with experts and teachers, sans these constraints,” reveals Rahul.
Now a year later, a major part of the infrastructure is ready. Reaching out to teaching faculty across the country, Seven Motors enables individual interaction between a teacher and a student with regular webinars. A student can also download the entire video interaction to his system. “We’re putting in a 24x7 facility to clear doubts of students,” they add.
Their revenue model works on the membership provided to students for several services including the physical infrastructure for a vehicle.
By hosting an annual event — ‘Student Grand Prix’ — where students are tested for their mettle to design vehicles, the Seven Motors team has begun reaching out to colleges across the two Telugu states.
“Either we or the college management help form a team of 25 students who would do the external design of the vehicle. After monitoring that, we make them undergo workshops (fabrication, assembling, testing) to see if their vehicle is ready for the circuit,” Shankar explains.
The event also promises to facilitate hiring for companies, as they’d be a direct witness to the expertise of students and their capabilities of working in an industrial environment. Our target is to minimise the money that’s put in making an ATV. As part of the event, we’re ensuring that the deserving also get sponsorships from top companies,” Rahul adds.
Are they also helping students find interesting ideas for their mini and major projects? “We are coordinating with colleges to setup a Seven Motors training centre, that’ll be open all 365 days in a year for guidance. Of course, the plan is to move beyond ATVs,” Rahul elaborates.
Seven Motors also has a library (both physical and virtual), a magazine for the student community and is ready to launch tutorial series in future. “We are on a mission to make students avoid all the difficulties that we faced. Job wasn’t a priority for us and even if the finances are a little tight, our entrepreneurial dream is progressing well,” Prakash smiles.
