Hard work and perseverance is not taught, but comes as an enlightenment to the very few gifted minds. Today, the world runs on the thoughts and leadership of people, who know the definition of commitment to the economy and their communities. Great minds have often expressed through their work that one product can often alter the destiny of several generations. Innovation would have ceased to exist if our innovators, leaders, scientists, educators and policy-makers would have resorted to a life in comfort-zone. Business Outreach and its prestigious editions exist due to the marvelous feats of entrepreneurs reshaping the future of the Indian economy.
Today, we become the amplifier to the voice of Avnish Rana, who co-founded Noida Angels Network as the hub to offer guidance and mentorships to emerging startups and entrepreneurs. As an editorial of one of the finest business magazines in India, we cannot stress enough on the benefits of collaborative efforts. Avnish have always had the aspiration to uplift others and do something exceptional for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It gives us great pride in featuring a leader, who moved mountains during his student days to gain industry experience.
Avnish Rana’s day used to start at around 7:15 am where he attended college at Shri Ram College of Commerce for his MBA. Later you would find Avnish working where he used to commit till around 2 a.m. to 3.am. And this cycle would have repeated the next day. The world today might be frowned upon on such tight schedules. But for Avnish Rana this is resilience and the guide to grow an entire nation. Looking further, Avnish Rana holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) from Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University). Additionally, he recently earned a Data Science Certification from IIM Kozhikode, equipping him with data-driven decision-making skills to navigate the ever-evolving business landscape.
Noida Angels Network is built on the sentiment and strategic-leadership of Avnish Rana and Sukhbir Singh. The network has helped several startups get connected with investors, mentors and industry experts. Noida Angels Network helps emerging entrepreneurs with access to incubation centers where the Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) are developed. Startups and budding entrepreneurs get the opportunity to network with veterans from fields like fintech, edtech, IT and many others. But in order to associate with the Noida Angels Network, a proactive vetting process is in place. This is self-explanatory considering Noida Angels Network has built a pool of some of the best successful individuals in the market. Although there is currently no fee, starting 2025, Noida Angels Network will be introducing a fee structure for startups and entrepreneurs aiming to join the vibrant community.
Avnish while reflecting on his success journey rounds back to the support he received from his first manager in Airtel. His manager shared deep insights on the operations of business excellence and taught Avnish one of the most valuable lessons in life, being compassionate and respectful to others. Avnish Rana has applied this perspective to this very day. With industry experience from telecom and healthtech, Avnish Rana has built for himself quite a distinguished career. He has had the privilege of working with multiple telecom companies and managing over 250 vendors and he managed a business exceeding ₹1,000 crore and leading teams of over 500 associates has strengthened my ability to strategize, innovate, and execute at scale.
Our editorial pen might run out of ink as we continue on the achievements of Avnish Rana. In 2008, Avnish Rana enabled a store locator app to help users find mobile recharge points, a first-of-its-kind solution at the time. He worked on the Facebook BREW application, allowing CDMA users to access Facebook for just ₹700 feature phones—a breakthrough in feature phone accessibility. Avnish spearheaded the introduction of BlackBerry services at MTS India, bringing premium smartphone services to a wider audience. Furthermore, in 2017, Avnish Rana developed a WiFi monetization model that transformed telecom WiFi from a cost center to a revenue center by integrating ad-based revenue streams—an industry-first innovation.
Some of the awards and achievements of Avnish Rana are VAS Employee of the Year Award – MTS India (Jan 2011 – Dec 2011), being the Lead, Demonstration of Live TV Application – BTSL (May 2006 – Nov 2006) and earning the Innovation Award – ARI Solutions (June 2016 – Oct 2017). With 20 years of experience in strategy, product management, and operations, Avnish Rana has a lot to inspire more.
Startups are always guided to inspect the long-term goals rather than any short-term gains. There have been countless challenges but Noida Angels Network survived and excelled. Today, they have about 50 investors and 2 financial firms backing them. Back in the day, Avnish Rana expresses that Noida Angels Network started with just 15 investors and 1 financial firm, that too after monumental roadblocks.
