Olufemi Adeyemi 

With an aim to reform the private jet industry, a budding Indian entrepreneur named Kanika Tekriwal founded an aviation based startup at the age of 22.

Now, after 10 years, Tekriwal’s business is flying high and she owns 10 private jets, reported Indiatimes. An MBA graduate, Tekriwal co-founded JetSetGo with her friend Sudheer Perla back in 2012. Tekriwal’s plane aggregator startup manages, flies, and operates chartered planes and helicopters for the owners.

Kanika Tekriwal, one of India’s youngest wealthiest women with a net worth of approximately $50.16 million, launched her aviation startup at 22 after overcoming cancer. In just 12 years, her company.

JetSetGo, has thrived, now boasting ownership of 10 private jets. The startup, co-founded with Sudheer Perla in 2012, aims to revolutionize the private jet industry by managing and operating chartered planes and helicopters for owners.

JetSetGo, an Indian private jet concierge service, experienced over a sevenfold increase in revenue in 2017 reported by Forbes, driven by the growing trend of affluent Indians renting private jets and helicopters through Tekriwal’s platform.

Her company, which is also a leader in the aircraft leasing industry in India, has successfully transported nearly 100,000 passengers and executed 6,000 flights, establishing a significant presence in the sector.

Tekriwal has received the National Entrepreneurship Award for e-commerce from the Indian government and the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum.

Flying private is a luxury typically reserved for a select few, Tekriwal aimed to democratize it, making it more accessible, cost-effective, efficient, and transparent. She promptly formulated and implemented her plans to bring this vision to fruition.

Born in June 1990 into an orthodox Marwari family, Tekriwal attended the Lawrence School, Lovedale, and Jawaharlal Nehru Senior Secondary School in Bhopal. Graduating from Coventry University, she is now married to a businessman based in Hyderabad.

Recognizing challenges in the private aviation sector, Tekriwal pledged to address them. She emphasized that brokers and operators often neglect customer requirements, prioritizing commissions over client needs when arranging private jet flights. “Due to sheer lack of transparency and non-availability of charter planes, customers pay astronomical amounts,” Tekriwal added, reported Indiatimes.

After working for about 20 months in the industry and identifying the gaps, Tekriwal founded JetSetGo. The company now offers air taxi services, facilitating intra-city connectivity in India. Employing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, JetSetGo utilizes a combination of technology, SMART management, and unique approaches to minimize the overall cost of chartered flights.

With the ‘SMART’ management technique, maintenance prevention, and prediction technologies, the startup offers safety and on-time arrival like never before. Kanika envisions to tap the third dimension — the sky — to its fullest potential, and make chartered air travel the future of transport for Indians who value time and convenience.

“We are looking to democratise air travel,” adds Kanika. Tekriwal, an M.B.A. graduate, Born in an orthodox Marwari family, her father was running a real estate and chemical business. Kanika got a boarding school education in South India. She later moved to Mumbai for her under-graduation in economics and a diploma in design.