Bangalore, May 21, 2014: Microsoft India"s first annual YouthSpark Live event here saw three winning ideas from young innovators honored. Hosted in partnership with QUEST Alliance, YouthSpark Live is a two-day programme  to mentor first time entrepreneurs and job seekers.
This year’s event helped young people explore careers in technology, hone their skills for 21st century jobs, and armed them with tools to kickstart their own entrepreneurial ventures. Nearly 100 young people  from 10 Indian states attended the event where they underwent two days of intensive training. Another 100 participated via webcast across 13 locations.
Said Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International: “Youth in India can drive positive economic and social impact, but there is a need to empower them with the relevant employability and entrepreneurial skills. At Microsoft, we have many initiatives to help young people succeed. Over the course of the last decade or so, Microsoft India has invested more than $100 million  in various initiatives to help young Indians realize their full potential. Microsoft is committed to taking Indian youth from the classroom to the boardroom.”
Courtois congratulated the three winners from the YouthSpark Live Challenge and presented them an award of services worth Rs 150,000  each as seed funding to get their business started. The three winners are :

- Chandrashekhar Bhuyan from TERcoms whose project is focused on informing rural poor about their rights and entitlements, with the aim  of empowering them through regular interface with the Government to push for corrective measures;
- Gaurav Mittal of Eye-D, short for EYE-Device, a microcontroller and phone combination to help the visually challenged with tasks like guidance, bus routing, face identification and colour identificationand
- Rahul Jacob, for RideIT.in, an online carpool matching service exclusively for working professionals.
YouthSpark Live is one of the many Microsoft youth focused programmes in this country.