Priyank Shah says India’s passionpreneurs are paving their way to success

Priyank Shah

When Priyank Shah completed his MBA, he stepped up his passion for food & hospitality by starting a restaurant Gokul Pure Veg in Pune.

Recently, Priyank being a Vestige Youth Entrepreneur began influencing his social media followers for Direct Selling Industry.

"To be in good health and a wealth keeps me happy," he posted on Instagram, where he is seen with Vestige Director Mr Deepak Sood.

As part of India's growing ‘passion economy', a wave of entrepreneurs who share their passion on social media harness communities around their content thereby turning their passions into profit.

The passion economy has emerged as a way for entrepreneurs to monetize their skills and social personas. Historically, direct selling has been a catalyst of India's economic growth as it offers an alternative to traditional employment for people who want a flexible opportunity to supplement household income. In this context, companies like Vestige have been at the forefront of empowering their direct sellers.

Interestingly, direct selling activities have accelerated since the COVID-19 lockdowns, as more youths take to direct selling and build their social communities online. Vestige witnessed the Youth participation scale upward by 20% since the pandemic. Today around 50% of Vestige direct sellers in India are Youth, who are taking to the passion economy.

In stark contrast with freelancers or ‘gig workers', these passionpreneurs get their business and direction from brands directly and produce content on social media for their followers or communities based on shared interests.

Vestige Marketing taps into the social wave in India, the passion economy took wing after the pandemic-induced lockdowns, which accelerated online adoption amidst the closure of physical stores and the wariness for public places. Investment advisory Avendus Capital expects India's online spending to grow from $39 billion in 2020 to $200 billion in the next five years.

India's passion economy is rising in this backdrop. So, smartphones have become the de facto means of contact for direct sellers on social media. They build their niche communities by creating and sharing content, as well as through social selling that resonates with people who have similar interests.

As the pandemic ravaged most businesses, direct sellers already had networks based on personal one-on-one connections. But they began to move online to expand their reach across people who connected with their passion.

While leveraging social media apps like Instagram and Facebook have inherent advantages in engaging and retaining customers, training is key. Vestige Direct Sellers are upskilled through digital training programs, where they learn to use online tools to ramp up connections, build communities, and initiate followers to improve their lifestyles.

Both entrepreneurs and brands are riding the passion economy wave in India, discovering that the personal connection with communities is an invaluable asset as more users go online. Even as the pandemic has distressed the physical world of business, it has marked a new beginning for India's young passionpreneurs.