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"Adding Value to Service"

They say the power of one is the power to do something. About four years ago, three students from Kerala got together to do exactly that! Meet Sony Joy, Sanjay Vijay Kumar and Vivek; the founders of MobMe.

Their venture has already become a popular name among the cellular circle of the country and their story from young students to corporate know-who's is indeed a remarkable one. MobMe is a mobile entertainment related business venture of the student startup Torque. started by students of College of Engineering, Trivandrum, it has a valuation of over $10 million and has had organic and inorganic growth since the last three years. In their own words, their venture is a vibrant Mobile Media & Entertainment company focused on Value Added Services for Mobile Phone users & Carrier Grade Solutions for Network Operators.

Sony tells us the story of how they all got so far. "We wanted to do something different. There were these regular college campus placements.... but we wanted to look beyond that. We had the energy.... the time and so we thought to make use of it..."

So how did they go about doing it? They first approached BPL and presented their business idea. Their request was to launch a customised cellular SIM card for students which they would sell for the company. BPL gave them 200 cards and a time of a few months to sell them all off. Three days later they were back to the company – after having sold all the SIM cards! Their clever marketing strategies and energetic approach baffled everyone and in the first three months they had sold 14000 SIM cards all across the state!

They soon launched their domain with the name Torque and look ahead to build on their success. Sony and his team invested back all the money they had made from their revenues in the first three months. Soon they had gathered a tech team and were incubated as a student company at Techno Park. "That gave us a lot of coverage and we were soon making  big buzz! Some media houses covered us and we were a soon a name in our own might," recalls Sony.

Gradually they got an office space and even roped in a few actors and NRI's to promote themselves. In December 2006 they formally launched MobMe Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Sony, Sanjay and Vivek soon had their venture bases all over the country with offices in major cities like Mumbai, Trivandrum, Gurgaon, Chennai and Kochin; and a coverage of all the states across the country. They started operating through ad agencies and have major telecom companies as their clients.

Today MobMe has grown to heights that were never expected of young students like themselves. They have a team of more than seventy people and their average age is just 24 years! "We started young.... which was a very helpful factor as a far as innovation and experimenting is concerned but we lacked experience and were a little in doubt about sustaining what we had started. But then again we had a friendly business environment to help us and also ours is a great team... we work together" Sony tells us about his experience.

MobMe has also bagged a deal with the Kerela Government for implementing Mobile-governance. These young entrepreneurs want to be leaders in their feild of operation and simultaneously aim to maintain a different touch and performance. "We aim to maintain our strong DNA and excite users with our small team."

This exciting venture has a wide base of customers and users and has registered over 3 million users with their service they provide to Airtel in the last month. MobMe was offered a grant  setting up a  Telecom Innovation Hub in Kerala. The motive of the grant is to incubate 100 VAS companies focused on the Telecom domain. It is funded by Department of Science & Technology (DST) and will help them continue the incredible work they have been doing. They had helped the telecom giant Aircel zoom to heights with their applications which provide rich content and experience on the mobile as well as on the internet.

And their efforts have not gone unnoticed either! The then President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had met these enterprising entrepreneurs to encourage them and they have been all along supported by techies like Nandal Nilekani of Infosys for their feats. In 2008 they were awareded the Best Entrepreneurs Award by ISBA. NASSCOM has recognised their works twice, awarding them the Nasscom Innovative Award and the Nasscom Emerge 50 Award.

These entrepreneurs who had made a million in their first three months of operation, are now looking to bag in five times in the coming years. "We would like to expand to other countries as well if it all keeps going smooth... ans our revenue target in the coming years is around $5 millions!"

They have an excellent team idea where everyone supports everyone. This is also edified by their friendly work ethic and is up for public eyes on their website too! "A good team that compliments perfectly is what our USP is.... and we are very happy with ourselves.... maybe this is the tip we would like to give the people who wish to become entrepreneurs..." Sony says with a smile as he signs off.

YourStory.in is very much in awe of these young minds that seem set to zoom in the coming years. Our best wishes go for the success of MobMe.