Meet the 17-year-old app entrepreneur revolutionising the world of vegetarian and vegan food
At a time when vegan and vegetarian diets are on the rise across the globe, one teenage entrepreneur has come up with an ingenious app to simplify the transition process; starting when he was just 14, Ayush Sanghavi from Buckinghamshire, England developed Veggie Alternatives, an app which has gone on to be featured internationally and recently earn him a place as a regional finalist at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
"I learnt the basics of app development in a Year 9 computing lesson and was amazed that it wasn't just industry professionals, but also ordinary people who could develop apps", says Sanghavi, now 17. He went on to teach himself everything else he needed to know and founded independent app-development firm AYUSH Apps. Veggie Alternatives is described on the App Store as being "the perfect app for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone that’s curious about what they eat". It provides users with over 300 animal-friendly substitutes for over 35 different food products, including Bacon, Ice Cream, Chocolate and even Eggs!
Since release on the App Store earlier this year, Veggie Alternatives has amassed over 20,000 cumulative installs across both the App Store and Google Play, also ranking in the Top 20 in its category on the former. The app has in the past been endorsed by industry giant Quorn, and most notably, Sanghavi was invited for an interview on BBC One's 'The One Show' for his work. Earlier this month, he was a finalist for the London & South East region at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, amongst major businesses and other experienced competition. It is safe to say he has enjoyed much success, but he tells us that the journey to this point hasn't been easy.
"The app was rejected from the Apple App Store 7 times over 8 months of very hard work" says the teen, who is still in full-time education. After each rejection, he would make changes to the app and then resubmit it, ensuring that the revised version had new features or an improved interface. He mentions that he often asked his friends to test out the app and tell him their thoughts: "my friends couldn't have been more helpful - they would frequently trial the app for me and recommend any changes that they thought would improve the app".
As for the future, Sanghavi tells us that he aims to keep updating the app and growing AYUSH Apps whenever he can. He has no plans for a new project just yet, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect more big things from the teenage entrepreneur!