Raghuraman Column | Entertaining Entrepreneur Turn Boredom Into Business

N. Raghuraman, Management Guru

What do you do when life comes to a standstill, anxiety starts increasing and you feel trapped within four walls? I often see this situation among new university students, especially hostellers, who don’t know what to do in a new city on a Sunday. Their first thought is to run away from here.

They mindlessly scroll through videos, binge watch until their eyes hurt, or get lost in video games. This gives them relief for some time, but in the end they feel empty. In short, they consume entertainment but hardly think of creating it. But what if one of your simple ways to relieve boredom, a late-night stress-relief doodle or a joke about your pet dog turns out to be the seed of a multi-crore global startup?

This extraordinary story of Lucknow sisters, Mrinalini Mitra (27) and Nyonika (26) is a great lesson for any youth sitting in a hostel room today. This proves that when you approach entertainment with a spirit of innovation, even a simple living room task can turn into a global business.

A few years ago, Mrinalini and Nyonika were standing where many ambitious youth of India dream of reaching. Mrinalini was a graduate from Oxford University and Nyonika had a degree from the London School of Economics. Prestigious corporate internships abroad and brilliant global careers awaited them.

Then he heard that his mother had cancer, so it was a big shock for him. Without even thinking a moment, both the sisters left all their plans and returned to their home in Rajendra Nagar, Lucknow to take care of their mother. The atmosphere at home was heavy and there was immense emotional pressure on both of them. To deal with this, the family made a rule that board games would be played every Sunday. It was a means of giving a little happiness to the mind in difficult times.

Just like chocolate is mixed with vanilla ice cream, their simple family story became an example of entrepreneurship when the sisters mixed innovation in entertainment. Most people just buy a simple board game from the market. But the Mitra sisters decided to innovate with entertainment and created a world of their own.

Inspired by their pet dog ‘Yasu’ who brought moments of happiness to the house in difficult situations, the sisters started sketching some characters. Infuse mythology, hand-drawn artwork, original music and personal stories onto blank cards. In the beginning, it was just a form of stress-relieving therapy, so they could make each other laugh and be happy in everyday life.

He did not make any business plan. Just discovered a better way to have a little fun. But when he shared his hand-drawn characters on YouTube, they started being seen on the internet. Got tremendous engagement from people. Even strangers started asking from where they could buy this game.

It was at this moment that the sisters realized that their personal stress-buster also had business potential. At a time when tech startups are turning to AI-generated artwork to save costs, these sisters took a bold and unconventional path – creating each painting by hand. Earlier this month, his ‘living room stress-buster’ earned a revenue of more than one lakh dollars (about Rs 95.45 lakh). This game has buyers in 40 countries.

The bottom line is that When you make your fun innovative, document your ideas and share them online, and recognize that your imagination is not just a pastime but a potential asset, then even a simple game can become the seed of a global business.

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