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{{Multiple issues|{{advert|date=July 2015}}

Revision as of 18:48, 8 November 2015

Ritesh Agarwal
File:Ritesh Agarwal Founder of OYO Rooms.jpg
BornNovember 16, 1993
Bissam Cuttack,Rayagada, Odisha
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO of OYO Rooms

Ritesh Agarwal (born November 16, 1993) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms. At 21, Agarwal is considered to be one of the youngest CEOs in India. Agarwal started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 17. He is, supposedly, the first Indian drop-out entrepreneur to have had a successful run. He is also the first resident Indian to win the Thiel Fellowship.He has never been to IIT but has recruited many from IIT and havard going against the traditional way of IITians doing everything in India.He is inspiration to millions of NON-IITians Indians and people have lauded him on social network for giving them confidence and defining how new indians should think.

Agarwal's story of forming Oravel Stays at the age of 18, and then catapulting it into OYO Rooms has been widely covered by the media.[1] OYO Rooms, currently, is the largest network of branded hotels in India. The company operates in more than a 100 Indian cities and has an inventory of more than 20,000 rooms under its umbrella. It also features among the companies which may become the next start-up unicorns according to CB Insights research's findings, published in The New York Times.[2]

Agarwal has won many awards and accolades for his work including the Business World Young Entrepreneur Award. He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurial conferences and institutes across India and the world.

Early life

Agarwal was born on November 16, 1993, in Bissam Cuttack. He was raised in a middle-class Marwari family. His father works with an infrastructure corporation and his mother is a homemaker. He has three siblings.

Agarwal went to Sacred Heart School in Rayagada, Odisha.[3] After finishing class 12th, he enrolled in Indian School of Business & Finance, Delhi.[4] However, Agarwal didn't continue with his education and dropped out to start his own company without his family knowing of this move. Agarwal has often talked to the media about how he was scared of his parents getting to know that he has dropped out of college.[5] In an interview with the Economic Times, Agarwal said, "When the newspapers started reporting it. My dad came to Delhi and was perplexed to see the office. It took me a day to convince him. My mom was very unhappy because she felt who would take me for a groom? You needed to be at least a graduate."[6]

Agarwal has also talked about how he felt that college education could come in the way of what he actually wanted to do. In a blog post on The Huffington Post Agarwal wrote, "I dropped out of college within days of joining because I felt that attending classes would slow me down from doing what I really wanted to do - building my own start-up."[7]

Professional life

Agarwal started travelling extensively across India at the age of 17. His various stay experiences at budget accommodations inspired him to launch Oravel Stays in 2012. Oravel was modeled after Airbnb.[8] By 2013, Agarwal realized that mere aggregation of bed and breakfasts couldn't address the problems of budget travelers in India and hence, he pivoted Oravel Stays into OYO Rooms.[9]

In the same year, Agarwal was selected for the Thiel Fellowship. The fellowship created by PayPal founder, Peter Thiel, provides $100,000 to college drop-outs under 22 years of age to pursue their idea.[10] Agarwal is the first resident Indian Thiel fellow.

OYO ROOMS

OYO Rooms is India's largest budget hotel chain and is present in over 120 cities across the country with 20,000 rooms under its umbrella. OYO Rooms is not merely an aggregator of budget hotels but instead focuses on the standardization of hotels in the non-branded hospitality sector. OYO Rooms is considered to be one of the very few start-ups which are non-copycat.[11] According to Agarwal, OYO Rooms was founded to solve the problem of the lack of predictability, affordability, accessibility and availability at budget stays.[12]

Rewards and Recognition

Agarwal was the first resident Asian to win Thiel Fellowship, 2013.[13]

He was named one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurs in 2013 by TATA First Dot powered by NEN Awards.[14]

Agarwal is also an NCSE Awardee and was among the finalists of Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards-India.[citation needed]

Agarwal was named one of the '8 Hottest Teenage Start Up Founders in the World' in 2013 by Business Insider[15]

Agarwal was awarded the TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in 2014.[16]

He was awarded the Business World Young Entrepreneur Award in 2015.[17]

Public speaking

Agarwal is an active speaker at TiE Delhi.

He was one among the panel of speakers in Think EDU Conclave 2014[18]

Agarwal is an active speaker at VCCircle Events[19]

References

  1. ^ "At 21, He's the Mind Behind Multi-Million Dollar Start-Up OYO". Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  2. ^ Times, The New York. "50 Companies That May Be the Next Start-Up Unicorns". Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  3. ^ "Prestigious Thiel Fellowship to Odisha boy Ritesh Agarwal, Odisha Current News, Odisha Latest Headlines". www.orissadiary.com. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  4. ^ Ritesh Agarwal CEO & Founder OYO Rooms at ISBF Orientation Ceremony, retrieved 2015-09-02
  5. ^ Energized Entrepreneurs Live Ft. Ritesh Agarwal, retrieved 2015-08-27
  6. ^ www.ETRealty.com. "Meet OYO Rooms' Ritesh Agarwal: The dropout who dined with Peter Thiel | ET RealEstate". ETRealty.com. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  7. ^ "10 Things I Learnt As A Thiel Fellow". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  8. ^ "Ritesh Agarwal - Yo! Success". Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  9. ^ "Oravel Shuts Down; Founder Launches OYO RoomsNextBigWhatNextBigWhat". www.nextbigwhat.com. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  10. ^ "Thiel Fellowship". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ Rai, Saritha. "Why A 21-Year-Old Is Building OYO As An Uber (And Not An Airbnb) For Hotels In India". Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  12. ^ "Budget hotels was a massive problem to solve, says OYO Rooms Founder : In conversation with Business Today: Business Today". www.businesstoday.in. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  13. ^ Mark Bergen. "Oravel founder Ritesh Agarwal wins Thiel Fellowship". http://www.livemint.com/. Retrieved 7 September 2015. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  14. ^ "How successful is National Entrepreneurship Network in it's mission? - Quora". Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  15. ^ "2. Ritesh Agarwal is revolutionizing accommodations in emerging economies by providing tech-enabled inns and affordable hotel alternatives. - Business Insider India". Business Insider. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  16. ^ "TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence Award". The Unbiased Blog. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  17. ^ "ritesh agarwal | BW | Businessworld". www.businessworld.in. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  18. ^ "Think EDU Conclave". Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  19. ^ "Ritesh Agarwal". Retrieved 7 September 2015.

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