Ask a kid what he or she wants to be, and one gets stock answers like a doctor or engineer. At the most, in today’s times, one would get to hear of a lawyer or a management expert. But not many kids would think of being an entrepreneur, at least in India, where entrepreneurship is considered to be ‘other’ people’s job. But Kanthi Dutt proved people wrong at the age of 13.

Well, yes, you did read that right. At 13, when he was in standard VII, Kanthi started his own event management company, Spartans Media, which would organize events. He was bullied in school as he spoke of business and money and was disliked by his teachers. Then there was pressure from family and friends.

But Kanthi says his parents were wonderful and let him choose his path. Today, 10 years later, Kanthi is a successful entrepreneur and happens to be the co-founder of SustainKart. Incidentally, Shilpa Reddy happens to be his partner in the venture.

Kanthi believes in projects that are environment-friendly and positively impact climate change. He says children of today’s generation are rather lucky as India is ‘ready’ for entrepreneurship. There are angel investors, and India is getting investments through the venture capital market.

The 23-yr-old says that kids of today have a choice of turning into entrepreneurs if they have a vision and the perseverance to go with the dream. His immediate future plans include launching a few D2C consumer brands in the next few months, though he says he will focus on SustainKart.His big goal is to start an institute where kids can focus on the ‘one’ subject they like and pursue it to the best of their abilities. He says his has been a journey of ups and downs, and he wraps up saying there were no regrets, only lessons.