INTERVIEW OF VIJAY( FOUNDER OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATIVE SOCIETY)!!!

Hey, I'm Saloni, and I'll be interviewing you today.

Yeah. So thanks for having me here. And I hope you are doing good .

Yeah, I am doing well. So I hope you're ready for the interview.

Yes .

Okay, so first of all, thank you so much for being here and for giving us the time. And before we get like, start into the heavier questions, I'll be asking you some icebreakers. , So describe yourself in three words? Okay, so I describe myself as an Assiduous Boy Having Intrinsically Nuanced Acumen for Vacuity.

That's great. So what are your guilty pleasures? Like? What do you like to do?

I like to solve problems, which impacts the society and that makes me motivate to go further.

That's awesome. And so this is just like, a fun question. So if you could have a fictional character as your friend, what would it be advice? Okay, so a fictional character, I don't see so many fictional movies or, animations, but I guess it would be Dr. Strange.

That's cool. And do you have like a particular reason as to why?

Like, he has phenomenally powerful magical abilities.

So, we'd like you to give our audience a little introduction about yourself. Yeah, so as you know, my name is Vijay Prakash and I'm 15 years old , residing in Ajmer district of Rajasthan in India, and I'm a social entrepreneur, and environmentalist. And soon I will be an author in this month as well. and about my organization, its global environment conservative society. Founded in this year. Basically, I found this organization to discover and solve environmental issues, such as, but not limited to climate change, and carbon capturing. And we do webinars ,research Like we go for, like sharing ideas and perspectives. And like, in terms of ground activity, we are also doing like afforestation, and some campaigns in different areas of the world.

That's awesome. That's really, really great to be doing that, at 15 years old. Like, that's amazing. Okay, so I went through your LinkedIn and your team is a combination of very different people from like, various countries and like different fields. So like, how did you all come together? And how did you manage to have a clear understanding despite, you know, all the differences? Yeah. So like, in two or three months ago, I was doing a research, you know, at international socioeconomic laboratory , from which I gather some people, like my secretary in the organization is from NYC and I got to know about her from that research program. And just like that, LinkedIn provide me some mutual connections to find them and I when I launched my application links, I got around 50 plus applications, like from various countries ,mostly I recruited to undergrad. But since they have, you know, good experience , that's why but that's not the majority. Like in my team, there's also one kid who is in just in sixth standard.

That's amazing. That's, so much diversification. So how do you manage to like, communicate with them and like, have so much clarity? Okay, so all the all the things like what we will be doing, what our next project will be I said to my director of communication, and managing director, and then they further tell the other departments like we have 8 departments currently and Yeah, we just have a board meeting and then we discuss further.

That's amazing. how you have everything like so organized and how it goes. Amazing. So what really like, inspired you to put, GECS to like Together like,What drove you to that? Okay, so, like, in early Feb, I was supposed to be a researcher at Stanford University with a professor, I'm not recollecting his name, but he's a professor, like interested in environment. And I'm connected with him. And he told me about, like, climate perspectives and other environmental issues. And he really motivated me to go further. So that made the change.

Amazing. As a 15 year old, you managed to like, do something, do a research at Stanford and get that inspiration. Yeah, but I didn't get into the program, because that's only for undergrad. So I got stage one. That's still very commendable.

That's amazing. Okay, so what are some of the hindrances you faced while quoting, global environment? conservative society? Okay, so well, first of all, I was weak, when I was starting the organization, what I will be doing and what I can further go for, and like, initial moto is to just to organize webinars. And I do know many speakers who can join as a speaker. So initial moto was that to organize webinars, but then I started like, I also had one Research Director, He's a senior professor at University of Mumbai. So that's really a great privilege for me. to have him as a research director, so then I started doing research as well. Soon, some of my research will be published. And i was very clear what I am doing so.

So you did not have any issues as in, like, working?

No. The issue I had and still have is like, is like people are from different countries. So having a particular time is quite, not manageable. So that's the thing.

Yeah, the time difference. Yeah, I understand that. That happens a lot. So like, now you're 15. So you must be in high school. So how do you like manage between school and work? Like, how do you manage the balance? Yeah, so during the COVID, and even after the COVID when my school was running online, and now it is running in person. So like we have, we have so many precautions and restrictions in school. So we only have school from 7:45 to 11:30. So that's really manageable for me. Like apart from school and organization, I have some other works to do as well.

Oh, could you tell us about those work? So, I'm also involved in some other environmental organization as well. Like there's a , I would say a nonprofit called greener is cleaner in South Korea. where I'm a managing director, so that's also one thing. And I also have some things like, involvement and community service.

That's, that's really, really good to be like doing that. I really appreciate what you're doing. Thank you.

What is a valuable lesson like that you learn by like, working in this in this startups? Okay, So basically, I'm not good in many skills, like, coming to my communication skill Like, right now. I'm a junior, but in my sophomore, and end of my freshman, I was not good in communication. And so some other skills, like, I didn't know what teamwork exactly is, I know what it is. But in practical terms, I didn't know. And some other things like problem solving, decision making, I was not practically aware of those things. And I learned by this and still learning and trying to improve that's really like the practical experience really matters.

It's great that you're learning so much through your organization's really nice. So now starting a NGO, like you did, like it takes like a lot of effort and a lot of work into it like so who was your constant support throughout the whole thing.

So my constant support. Honestly, I would say to me, because I was the only one like, there's no other co founder or any other. When I shared my idea. I was the only one with my idea to make it a reality. and when it become a reality, then my team supported me.

I totally understand that. But like when you're starting something, it's really hard to make others believe in, like what you are trying to do. And that's really great that you believed in yourself and started and did what you really wanted to do. So your LinkedIn tagline Like, your tagline is leaving a full stop replacing a question mark? Like, could you elaborate on that? Like, what do you mean by that?

Yeah. So Basically, we provide webinars with these speakers who are expertise in environment , or, like, other stuff related to environment. so we released our application, and people started asking questions, and the speaker tried to come to the best solution as he or she can. So apart from webinar, we also conduct questionable research, like the public perception towards climate change and other stuffs and we provide to you as reliable as you level we can provide solution.

That's amazing. That's really great, you are taking the initiative to clear people's doubts and everything. Okay, so, that my last question to you would be what according to you are other areas that one must be skilled to have like a successful startup? So, first of all, from the basic like startup or organization or group of people, they should have a common interest, which really motivates them to you know, to donate their time and efforts. So, first of all, having a common interest is a must and after common interest, they should have specific skills so they can excel that in working with the team. So and after that they should, like have teamwork, and this comes after having a particular interest and there are so many other things.

Yeah, I understand. And what would be your note or like a message to anyone who's willing to start a venture like you. So first of all, if if anyone is starting anything not limited to far more, but anything like even attempting to do anything. So first of all, people should have a clear mindset, what they are doing, as long as they know, the reason behind what they are doing. They really don't need any kind of motivation or inspiration. But they do need some practical skills which they can get by attempting those things.

Yes, I totally agree. Yeah, having a clear perspective is very important. Okay, Thank you so much Vijay to be here and to give us your time and for being here at the interview. Thank you so much. Again, and it really means a lot. It really means a lot for us to really. So Bye. Have a good time ahead.

Yeah, you to have a good day, Bye.