Meet Young Sparks Entrepreneur – Ashwin Mehta

Over the winter school holidays, Young Sparks ran two entrepreneurial courses for children who were wanting to learn more about the business world. The courses were run by Young Sparks, in partnership with Australian School of Entrepreneurship (ASE), over the duration of 5days, where they ran through business principles, such as marketing techniques, how to make a business plan and the importance of understanding profit and loss, and budgeting and pricing. We had a terrific group join us for the program, with a diverse range of ages, locations and backgrounds. Some students had no business experience, and some had already started their own businesses, like 15-year-old Ashwin Mehta.

Before coming into the course, he had already successfully started his own clothing company, and actually used the course to learn more and improve on his weaknesses. I was intrigued to learn more about him, so after a few emails, I arranged to sit down and have a chat with him. I shortly learned that he was very driven for a young child. More so wanting to learn about the person behind the business, I wanted to know why he wanted to succeed so badly? And he simply responded with, “around the age of 11 or 12, I knew I wanted to succeed early in my life and that hunger for success wouldn’t go away until I achieved it”. He further explained to me, that he initially didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he knew he had to do something he was passionate about; and after playing around with a few ideas, he stumbled across the clothing industry and didn’t look back. He now has his own website and his clothing is currently listed in a few clothing stores (To see his clothing brand for yourself, please visit the following link: http://www.xashwin.com/)

(Ashwin Mehta)

Wanting to learn more about the course and how it helped Ashwin with his business, I asked a few questions about it. His response was so warming to hear, “I loved the course! It taught me how to normalize a business structure and improve on the one I already have. My presentation skills were also tested, which made it challenging for me, but in a way that I wanted to learn more. I’m very grateful for the opportunity. It was just so easy to soak-up all the information.” For us at Young Sparks, to hear that we have helped this young boy work towards something he is passionate about, it puts a smile on our faces. This is our main goal, to help children and encourage them to strive towards their dreams.

He then went on to talk about his family and his gratitude towards them. To his parents, he’s so thankful that they have been by his side supporting him in any way they possible can – he continued on to say that without them, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve what he has so far. To his brother Ajay, he thanks him for his ongoing support and wanted me to know that he is so smart, and his sister, Anushuka, how she is a born natural at helping other people develop their ideas and expand upon their own thinking.

Anushka also commenting on her experience in the business course and how much she loved the experience. “I loved the Visualization Board and the SWOT analysis”, mentioning how there are multiple meanings put into one word – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, “helping me realize potentials that I never had”.

Finally, Ashwin had some advice to give to children who were also wanting to start their own business; “build a business about something that you are passionate about – do some deep research, explore your options, and then once you’ve found your niche, think outside of the box and do something that the world hasn’t seen before. If you can, also take part in Young Sparks business course – you won’t regret it.”

If you would like to learn more about our business course or enroll for our next session, keep an eye out for more details!

Ashwin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwin-mehta1/

Written by Victoria Argyropoulos