Ritesh Agrawal is the man who proved that “age is just a number”. He created his own story by proving prejudice wrong. Ritesh Agarwal, the creator of OYO rooms, deserves a lot of credit for the recent growth of the Indian hotel market.
This young businessman has undoubtedly left a lasting impression on his path. He did, however, encounter some extreme situations on his way to Oyo, and he defied all social expectations to become the youngest wealthy entrepreneur in our nation.
Who is Ritesh Agrawal?
Ritesh Agarwal a 29-year-old tech superstar, is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, the largest hospitality company in the nation. In the just-released Barclays Hurun India Rich List 2018, he is the youngest big self-made entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $365 million.
The bright thinker was born in Bissamcuttack in the Rayagada district of Odisha to a business family. For him, growing up in Rayagada was all about having fun and learning.
Ritesh, however, had very different habits from other children. He enjoyed messing around on the computer and actively sought out opportunities to make mistakes so that he might pick up new skills. He consequently developed a strong interest in software. The initial thought was to learn more about it, but as time passed, the hunger only grew.
Education of Ritesh Agrawal- (A college dropout)
- Ritesh Agarwal attended St. Johns’s Senior Secondary School for his academic studies.
- Later, in 2011, he relocated to Delhi to pursue higher studies.
- In 2013, two years later, he was chosen for the Thiel fellowship.
- He left college at the age of 17 to follow his dream of starting his own business.
Ritesh Agarwal’s family
Ritesh comes from a middle-class Marwari family. His mother, father, and three brothers, and sister, make up his family. He will have the potential for business. His mother is a housewife, and his father works for Infrastructure Corporation.
Ritesh Agrawal follows the Hinduism religion. He is unmarried and he doesn’t talk much about his personal life he likes to keep it personal.
Quick Details
| Full Name | Ritesh Agarwal |
| Born | 16 November 1993 |
| Age | 29 as in 2022 |
| Born Place | Cuttack, Orissa, India |
| Profession | Entrepreneur |
| Height | 170 cm |
| Weight | 70 Kg |
| Eye Colour | Black |
| Hair Colour | Black |
| Hobbies | Swimming |
| Food diet | Non-Vegetarian |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
| Nationality | Indian |
Journey of being an entrepreneur
- As a child, we have a lot of goals and aspirations for who we want to be. Similar to that, Ritesh likewise aspired to be a pilot. But he only wanted to accomplish something unique and distinctive since he was a child.
- Once Ritesh’s sister attended a business festival and then came home, she told Ritesh about the festival and mentioned the word Entrepreneur.
- Being young, he became so intrigued by the word that he began searching up its definition in the Oxford Dictionary, that’s where his entrepreneurial journey started.
- After finishing his education, he moved to Kota to prepare for the IIT entrance tests. Ritesh Agarwal with Learning also loved going on trips with his buddies while he was in Kota.
- He arrived in Delhi in 2011 with the clear intention of launching his own business. Ritesh always believed that the low-cost accommodations in India didn’t even come close to satisfying a traveler on a tight budget.
- Being an entrepreneur, establishing your own business may be thrilling and a little scary. In 2012, he launched Oravel Stays. Oravel Stays was designed to be a one-stop shop for bed and breakfast, private rooms, for short- and midterm stays.
- He applied and was selected for The Thiel Fellowship; he received funding of $100,000. He also managed to hire a co-founder of Oravel, Manish Sinha from Gurgaon.
- But still, the company faced some trouble in getting substantial transactions,s and due to this Manish Sinha left the company.
How did Oyo come into existence?
“Life has got all those twists and turns. You’ve got to hold on tight and off you go.”
— Nicole Kidman
The major hurdle of traveling, Ritesh realized, was finding accessible and reasonably priced hotels to stay in. This inspired him to establish an online social network in order to compile information about all worthwhile locations on a single website. As a result, he rebranded Oravel as OYO Rooms in 2013. OYO stands for “On Your Own.”
OYO Rooms was founded with the goal of providing excellent living quarters for the Indian middle-class at reasonable costs.
The OYO’s staff would then visit the location after reaching out to potential hotels or the hotel owners themselves.
They used to audit the hotel to determine what adjustments would be necessary to bring the establishment into accordance with OYO standards and share those standards with the hotels.
Ritesh Agrawal even joined Bhawna Agarwal, the former CEO of the e-commerce company Seventy MM, after the launch for crucial business guidance. And then Ritesh never looked back and increased his OYO community day by day.
By clicking here you can read the journey of Ratan Tata being such an inspirational man.
5 Rules of Ritesh Agrawal for business start-up
- Start small, nail it, and make it big.
- One should accept failure, and be willing to learn, unlearn and relearn again.
- Stay away from family when you are working on start-ups.
- The reality of start-ups is you have failures very often.
- There is always room for improvement in experience and it can be achieved if one listens to the customers carefully.
Challenges faced by Ritesh Agrawal
- In an interview, Ritesh said, “My biggest failure was when I went broke very early when I was staying in all these hotels.”
- Ritesh received criticism from the media for making false statements about himself, that he is involved in unethical business dealings.
- Many people asserted that he did not actually write the book.
- A legal battle against the corporation over data theft began in 2015 as well.
- Ritesh once stated that it took him six failures before he was successful with his OYO venture. Ritesh Agrawal said, “If you have not failed, you have not hardened yourself.”
Accomplishments of Ritesh Agrawal –
- The TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence Award was given to him (2014)
- He was the first Asian to receive the Thiel Fellowship for “20 Under 20.” (2013)
- had his name included in the TATA First Dot Awards’ list of the top 50 entrepreneurs (2013)
- He was a finalist for the India-based Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards.
- Additionally, Business Insider listed him as one of the “8 Hottest Teenage Start-Up Founders in the World” (2013)
- At age 17, he was the World’s Youngest CEO.
Conclusion
Every Indian teenager who aspires to greatness should read the inspiring true story of Ritesh Agarwal. He became India’s youngest billionaire thanks to his innovative way of thinking and extraordinary problem-solving skills.
That’s all there is to “From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Story of Ritesh Agrawal” at this time. I hope you have a solid understanding of Ritesh Agarwal’s history.
FAQ’s
Q1. What is Ritesh Agrawal’s net worth?
Ans. Ritesh Agarwal came from a small-town teenager who used to sell SIM cards in Odisha to become one of the youngest self-made millionaires in history. He was listed on the Hurun Rich List 2020 with a $1.1 billion net worth.
Q2. What is the full form of OYO?
Ans. “On Your Own” Rooms is the full name of this company. It has 199 locations and is the largest hotel network in India. Its goal is to become the most popular hotel brand in the world.
Q3. What is the salary of Ritesh Agrawal?
Ans. The pay of the company’s founder, Ritesh Agarwal, increased eightfold to Rs. 1.62 crores in the financial year 2020–21 from Rs. 21.5 lakh the previous year, according to the Draft Redding Herring Prospectus Oyo submitted on Friday.
Q4. Does Ritesh Agarwal have any books published under his name?
Ans. It’s true that Ritesh Agarwal wrote a bestseller named “A Complete Encyclopedia of the Top 100 Engineering Colleges” that was released.
