Md.Khalid Hasan did his diploma in electronics engineering and later took admission in bachelor of engineering in electronics and communication from JamiaMiliaIslamia.An entrepreneurial spirit by nature, Khalid founded ElectroArk blog after working for MVL Telecom as a service engineer.
In December 2013, Khalid realized his passion for social activism and thus, conceptualatedAapka Times, which is a youth-oriented online news portal that covers national affairs with a special focus on Indian Universities and Colleges.
Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.
Aapka Times is a youth-oriented online news portal which covers national affairs with a special focus on Indian Universities and Colleges. Aapka Times has the privilege to be the only news portal which covers news across the Universities and Colleges. We also provide a strong platform for students to nurture their journalism skills. We have been making constant endeavours of partnering with colleges fests. A recent step is a partnership with the annual feasts of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Miranda House, JamiaHamdard University, JamiaMilliaIslamia University, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW) and much more. Our network is growing exponentially. Moreover, our chain of reporters enables us to catch campus news in an instant. Besides this, we tap every big news as well as that news which is lagging behind and is not picked up by others. We believe in creating awareness and showing the true colors of news.
What inspired you to build the above product/ service?
I an interest in writing since childhood. I’ve always been interested in events happening around me. Due to this interest, I had an idea to initiate an independent news portal. However, I didn’t have a clear picture of how to begin. But as fate would have it, a call from a friend who was a reporter in a reputed newspaper, followed by long hours of the conversation wherein we discussed the idea and all the Knitty gritty involved in the same, was the beginning of Aapka Times. Hence, I came up with a wonderful plan of not only creating a news portal but also of encouraging students to hone their writing talents and provide them with a platform to showcase their talent. On December 8, 2013, we launched our news portal.
What is your life mantra?
I believe that nothing is unachievable. An undying faith will help us make efforts to achieve what we want, and success is guaranteed.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
Initially, we needed a huge amount of money to start the news portal as charges of website designers were pretty high which was almost out of our budget. Instead, I started learning online how to create websites for news portals and learnt to design a website and designed it myself.
How did you overcome those challenges?
I have an excellent team of people who are making constant efforts for Aapka Times on a personal level. No challenge is big enough as long as I have the support of those people.
Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.
We have not actively looked out for funding from investors.We started with a limited amount that came from personal savings and monetary support from friends.
How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?
We hire our team members selectively and almost all of our team members have been with our organization from colleges. We create a progressive and productive environment for our team members where they have fun while learning. We also conduct regularly scheduled activities and meeting with our teams, which include team building exercises and stress release activities that also keeps them fresh and aligned with company goals.
According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?
Belief, determination and communication skills
Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?
Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, Plagiarism Checker
Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.
I have a problem-solving attitude. This helps me in being productive.
Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.
I wish to develop my self- confidence.
Answer in less than 50 words
Dream, and dare to follow it. Never stop yourself from taking a step thinking it’s too late- it’s not!
- One mistake you believe every individual must avoid
Being unprofessional. Letting personal life affect professional life and procrastination are the biggest enemies of a business person.
- One most important lesson that you have learnt till now
Always try to keep intelligent and skilled people in the team instead of unskilled friends and relatives
What are your plans for next 3 years?
Our plan is to connect all the universities and colleges of India through Aapka Times and recruit campus reporters in each and every college and make it to India’s top youth-oriented website. We have a plan to set up university chapters in different universities to start regular social activities as well as campaigns on various social issues. We have planned to launch our printed newspaper in other cities of India too including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Patna. In the next 3 years, we are also planning to hold training sessions and online journalism related workshops, where our main goal would be to acquaint students with online journalism, its opportunities, and demands, and to encourage them to see online journalism as a new avenue of journalism where they can make their career. We would make them learn the nuances and techniques of news reporting. We would also provide internships to students across different universities in India. Moreover, we are planning to get in touch with all the central universities, IITs, IIMs, national schools of laws, dramas, design etc.
If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?
I am an engineering student. If I had a chance to go back in time, I would be more expressive about my interests and study arts or business.
What are your top three getaway destinations?
1. JamiaMillia University campus 2.Pune 3. Shimla
Share a quote that inspires you the most.
Great minds must be ready not only to take opportunities but to make them too