Young techie from Nagpur collaborates with Iowa professor to co-create a community of story-sharers and hustles his way through fellowship by ‘helping’ people solve technical challenges

From the age of 15, Dnyanesh Chandewar embodied the mindset of creating the life he wants. Dnyanesh’s journey of proactively “creating himself” started young.

In 2017, in the midst of his board exams (that he cleared with flying colours of 97%), Dnyanesh was also working on freelance projects and involved in a paid internship with a film production company. “I felt that the pocket money I was getting was not enough to get the things of my choice, so I learned website designing on my own from youtube and other free platforms and began taking freelancing projects. That’s when I came to know that learning things on our own helps us act on our curiosity and develop ourselves much better.” said Dnyanesh.

Two years later, Dnyanesh travelled 1400km away from his hometown of Nagpur, to study Computer Engineering at the D Y Patil Institute of Engineering Management and Research, in Pune. While it was Pune’s vibrant IT ecosystem that attracted Dnyanesh to the city, this young man arrived  with an intention to connect with people and develop himself through different opportunities.

Although Dnyanesh enjoyed his academics, he did not want his growth to be limited by just what was offered in college. He felt he was not getting the kind of opportunities he wanted on his plate. He decided, “If I don’t get what I want on my plate, I want to make sure I cook up something which would be healthier for me. I wanted to explore how I can improve myself- grow my network, build public speaking skills and so on”

Thus, after the first week of college itself, Dnyanesh started participating in options beyond college to explore different things and prioritized the kind of opportunities he wanted. So he searched on Instagram and Meetup and over the next six months, utilized all of his off days to show up to different events and activities around town by himself- from meditation to trekking, public speaking to community service- Dnyanesh was dedicated to get to know the new city, connect with people and scout opportunities. He said “yes” to different opportunities and joined various tech-learning groups, a meditation group, started hanging out with the Toastmasters on the weekends to practice public speaking, won a couple of hackathons and did community service with Rotaract- to name a few. He came across the Enterprise India Fellowship on Instagram, was intrigued so attended a career clarity workshop, and then decided to join the Fellowship.

“Dnyanesh is someone who makes decisions. He says ‘yes’ to life and to opportunities” shares Aditya Jhunjhunwala. Enterprise Coach & Co-Founder of the Enterprise India Fellowship.

Dnyanesh started his fellowship journey with a truly entrepreneurial challenge- building something from the ground up. He along with Bhaskar Adari & Swaran Singh- two other Enterprise Partners (Partners = students who are a part of the fellowship) co-created a community story-sharing platform called the Green Room, with support from Enterprise coaches and guidance from Professor David Gould from the University of Iowa who conceptualized and teaches the Green Room as a course at the University of Iowa .

The Green Room is a monthly community story sharing evening hosted by Enterprise Partners, where changemakers and enterprising people from different fields join to let down their hair and share their story like in a theatre’s green room (the backstage room where performers prepare and can be vulnerable).

As founding team members, Dnyanesh and team were involved in all aspects- seeking thought partnership from Professor Gould, organizing the event, outreach to invite the community, doing preparatory calls with the changemakers, hosting the community space for people and making sure all of it happens smoothly.

“I have had the pleasure of watching Dnyanesh lead The Green Room – a community learning experience – on multiple occasions, and I have left each session inspired. Dnyanesh not only has a sharp mind and a kind heart – two of my favorite traits – but a resilient entrepreneurial spirit. The past year has served to amplify the cluster of global challenges that await the emerging generation. Dnyanesh is a problem solver and a leader, and I take great comfort in knowing that he will be leading the way” shared Professor Gould when asked about his experience working with Dnyanesh.

Along with working with Professor Gould, through the preparatory calls, Dnyanesh and team got to spend time and build connections with changemakers like Ajinkya & Satyajit Hange (organic farmers), Ajay Dalmia (educator), Arun Kalluraya (healthcare entrepreneur) and many more.

Dnyanesh Chandewar

Hometown: Nagpur, Maharashtra

Interests: financial literacy, supporting entrepreneurs with tech solutions

Fellowship Span: Jan 2020- Apr 2021

Fellowship Activities Sneak Peak:

-Worked on 5+ projects including Enterprise projects like #karo & Chandrayaan0.0, and projects with clients like Klug Avalon & Polymorphix

-Co-created the Green Room community in India with guidance from Professor Dave Gould from the University of Iowa, and organized & hosted 7+ Green Room community story sharing evenings with changemakers and entrepreneurs

-Created 6 blogs and 1 podcast

Plan after Graduation:– Working with his startup Cybercore to support businesses with their online presence

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After 3-4 Green Rooms, the community started to grow- in numbers and in the depth of the conversations, and each month, a new team of Enterprise Partners started leading the process of organizing and hosting it, which meant Dnyanesh had to transition into a support role and provide context, share intention and delegate tasks. Dnyanesh continued to be an active anchor for the Green Room for 7-8 months, after which the space was sustainable without him.

The Green Room community is now 14 months old, and along with the changemakers sharing their stories, it has also successfully emerged as a space for everyone in the audience to also share their stories, be vulnerable, and be inspired together. Over the year 200+ people have joined the platform.

Beyond the Green Room, Dnyanesh has worked on more than five projects during the Fellowship including in-house projects like #karo & Chandrayaan0.0, and projects with clients like Klug Avlon & Polymorphix through which he strived to keep improving himself, and supported many others.

In the Enterprise community, Dnyanesh has built a reputation of someone who always strives to improve and asks for guidance, and someone who is always there to help. “I’ve worked with Dnyanesh initially when he joined the Fellowship & was working on the Green Room and I have to say he was always very open to feedback, willing to learn and never walked away from asking for help. I can’t even count how many times I’ve reached out to him with some technical issue or the other and he has ALWAYS been there,” attested Ankita Parashar, Enterprise Coach & Marketing Lead.

“I’m taking away a strong network of enterprising people around me who will help me set my mind’s direction towards the right path for me,” says Dnyanesh as along with rocking his projects, he has not only built meaningful connections with other Enterprise Partners, but also with people he interacted with through various aspects of the Fellowship like- Robin Singh (an environmentalist worked with during #karo), Ruby Jhunjhunwala (a ceramic artist who joined as a Green Room story sharer), and also community members who attended the Green Room like Shubham Mukkawar. What is impressive is that Dnyanesh has sustained these connections- for example currently working with Shubham to support Nagpur people with grassroots covid relief.

“I’m passionate about working with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits to help them build their brand with the use of technology,” shared Dnyanesh. As he graduates from the Fellowship, and becomes an Enterprise Fellow, he has founded CyberCore, an IT consultancy firm working with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits to help them build their brand with the use of technology like websites, google  business optimisation, automations, digital marketing and so on.

Interviewer & Author: Akash Bhalerao
Video Editor: Hiral Narogi
Story Editors: Aditya Jhunjhunwala, Lubaina Cementwala, Yusuf Hakim, Ankita Parashar
Webpage Designer: Dnyanesh Chandewar

Dnyanesh started his fellowship journey with a truly entrepreneurial challenge- building something from the ground up. He along with Bhaskar Adari & Swaran Singh- two other Enterprise Partners (Partners = students who are a part of the fellowship) co-created a community story-sharing platform called the Green Room, with support from Enterprise coaches and guidance from Professor David Gould from the University of Iowa who conceptualized and teaches the Green Room as a course at the University of Iowa .

The Green Room is a monthly community story sharing evening hosted by Enterprise Partners, where changemakers and enterprising people from different fields join to let down their hair and share their story like in a theatre’s green room (the backstage room where performers prepare and can be vulnerable).

As founding team members, Dnyanesh and team were involved in all aspects- seeking thought partnership from Professor Gould, organizing the event, outreach to invite the community, doing preparatory calls with the changemakers, hosting the community space for people and making sure all of it happens smoothly.

“I have had the pleasure of watching Dnyanesh lead The Green Room – a community learning experience – on multiple occasions, and I have left each session inspired. Dnyanesh not only has a sharp mind and a kind heart – two of my favorite traits – but a resilient entrepreneurial spirit. The past year has served to amplify the cluster of global challenges that await the emerging generation. Dnyanesh is a problem solver and a leader, and I take great comfort in knowing that he will be leading the way,” shared Professor Gould when asked about his experience working with Dnyanesh.

Dnyanesh Chandewar

Hometown: Nagpur, Maharashtra

Interests: financial literacy, supporting entrepreneurs with tech solutions

Fellowship Span: Jan 2020- Apr 2021

Fellowship Activities Sneak Peak:

-Worked on 5+ projects including Enterprise projects like #karo & Chandrayaan0.0, and projects with clients like Klug Avalon & Polymorphix

-Co-created the Green Room community in India with guidance from Professor Dave Gould from the University of Iowa, and organized & hosted 7+ Green Room community story sharing evenings with changemakers and entrepreneurs

-Created 6 blogs and 1 podcast

Plan after Graduation:– Working with his startup Cybercore to support businesses with their online presence

View Profile