As I sat across Amit Kumar, I was filled with wonder and awe. The guy is just 26 and is one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the Blogging field!! He began his start-up with just 5 authors in October 2016. Now, in the year 2018, Buddymantra has more than 300 authors writing 24/7 for the website.
He is an extremely grounded and humble. The way he speaks and acts make for a warm company. The fact that he is a Development Professional, a successful entrepreneur with hundreds of people working under him only adds to his responsibility and not ego. Success came to him at an early age but after a lot of strife and struggle.
On his request, I will only cover the story of his first start-up. This guy no doubt is extremely shy. It is on his request, I will stick to the topic of Buddymantra only. Maybe, next time, we will get to know the brain behind Buddymantra, personally.
The first question that came to my mind was, obviously the motive.
What was the thought behind your start-up- Buddymantra?
“Knowledge and education,” it did not take him a second to come up with an answer. “I am an ardent follower of APJ Abdul Kalam. You can call him my mentor, guru or lodestar, it is him I follow. His quote, “Ultimately, education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth. It is endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment.” My aim is to work for my cause as long as I live.”
What is your cause?
“To spread knowledge and education. My dream is to make India a literate nation. It is disheartening to know that India has the largest number of illiterates in the world. If you go by the reports of the English daily, ‘Times of India,’ it confirms that one in every three illiterate persons in the world belongs to India. With the 34% of the illiterate population in the world, the percentage of illiterates in India tops the world’s illiterate list. What is more disappointing is that Bihar is the least literate state in India.” Amit shrugged his head dejectedly as he shared the sorry facts of India’s illiteracy rate.
Do you think Buddymantra has helped you achieve your dream?
“Too soon to reach there but yes Buddymantra has been a revolutionary concept. But why do you ask me about the realization of the dream? Don’t you think knowing the whole story right from the very beginning is important (laughs).”
Feeling sheepish I apologized.
“Oh come on, don’t be so formal with me. I know I work for a serious cause, but I believe in doing things in a light mood.” His assurance made me relax marginally.
How did Buddymantra come into existence?
“Well, to answer that question, I will have to first answer why did Buddymantra come into existence. It started with a rejection of Internship, I wanted to write articles in professional blog but most of the bloggers allowed guest post with Predefined topics and you had to write on to it. It gave me idea why not start a Blog which will allow writers to write whatever they want and they should be paid for it. You see, two years ago, we did not have any solid platform for budding authors. Back then, the content writers were and are still produced in abundance. The market for Indian writers was both good and bad at that time. The content writers used to create contents tirelessly but there were not many who got the proper recognition.
At that time, I decided to create a platform for them. You see these writers are not highly educated. And I wanted the very best warriors for my cause. The content writers were tired of working like machines.” I started the blog and from the very first post we started paying for every content. (Except Anjum).
How did Buddymantra help these writers?
“I did not give any topic, keywords or guidelines to my writers. They were free to do whatever they wished. Buddymantra acted like a wind under their wings helping them to soar high. My only rule was, NO PLAGIARISM!!!”The career category has helped students a lot.
How many hurdles did you face in your journey so far? Tell us more about your struggle story?
“I am sorry, I cannot use any flowery words to create a dramatic story (laughs)”
Okay then tell us about your story in simple words (I laugh)
“Buddymantra was established year 2014 but due to fund crisis I had to shut it down in 2015. After a year I started it again in October 2016. At that time, I had only five writers. They wrote about various topics. I had also posted ads for writers in various job portals. Soon, new entrants began to write. The payment was slightly low at that time. But the writers were more than happy to work freely. Moreover, I also created the author’s profile for them. They felt elated to see the stories published under their name.
At times, credit and recognition matter the most.
It was a slow start, I must say but in no time, the site topped the list of unique websites. And in just two years’ time, Buddymantra has more than 300 interns and contributors.
We have more than 1800 posts published till now. Writers get paid from 5$ to 10$ per post.
Daily, we get 5k visitors approximately. The number is increasing day by day.
We have more than 12k followers:
5k+ followers on Facebook.
3.5k+ followers on Twitter.
2k+ followers on Instagram.
Wow, that’s too much, touchwood!
Yeah, yeah touchwood (laughs again)
This is how we wrapped up the interview. Amit is a very down to earth person. He loves to be with his family and friends. In his own words, he says, “No matter how busy or occupied I am, I am never too busy for my friends.” This is the reason why he always returns their calls or texts, at times, during meetings too. His heart bleeds for underprivileged children.
Buddymantra is open to all. Anyone can write on anything anytime. The rules are simple, follow your heart!!!
Media Contact
Company Name: Buddymantra
Contact Person: Amit Kumar
Email: Send Email
Phone: (0651) 2284471
City: Ranchi
State: Jharkhand
Country: India
Website: https://buddymantra.com/
