Contrary to the popular belief that all killer apps flooding internet space are invented by little wonders doing their thing in metropolitan India, Abhik Saha, the 13-year-old promoter-CEO of Arnabhik Corp (estb. 2014), operates out of Chalsa, a small town in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. A class IX student of the CISCE-affiliated Don Bosco English Medium School, Oodlabari, over the past two years, Abhik has conceptualised and developed six free mobile applications — four of which are currently registered with Google — which can be downloaded on Android devices. The apps are: Birdingo, Math++, Task 24, Abcd planet, Arnabhik website builder, and i-Learn. The elder child of school teacher Shefali, and Alok, a plywoods trader, this town hero has exhibited organisational skills beyond his years, dividing his web design and mobile applications businesses into three subsidiaries — Arnabhik Lab, which creates computer software, Arnabhik Apps Platform for developing mobile apps and games and Arnabhik Web, which handles web design. “My inspiration was a success story of Chennai-based brothers Sanjay (12) and Shravan Kumaran (15), who had similarly promoted a mobile app company in 2012. They hugely inspired me and kindled my interest in computer programming. Going by the logic that people use mobile phones more than computers these days, I decided first to concentrate my efforts on developing mobile apps which enable students to enhance their maths learning capabilities,” says Abhik. Looking to the future, young Abhik hopes to crack the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) of the IITs after his higher secondary education, and study computer science engineering at IIT-Kharagpur even as he continues to develop apps and grow his business enterprises. “After my class IX final exams this month, I plan to engage in some aggressive marketing so I can commercialise my businesses and start hiring professionals to manage my divisions,” says Abhik, who loves his hometown but laments its poor internet connectivity. “My dream is to consolidate my company and transform the youth of Chalsa to become tech-savvy global citizens,” he enthuses. God speed! Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp
