IMAGE: Aadithyan Rajesh, 13, CEO, Trinet Solutions, works out of a small space in his home in Dubai. Photographs and video: Kind courtesy Aadithyan Rajesh
Aadithyan Rajesh, 13, may call himself an "average student at school", but then he is not.
After all, how many seventh graders you know have started a company or solved your Web problems when they were still in school?
India-born Aadithyan was 5 when he moved to Dubai from Kerala's Alapuzha district with his parents who had found a job there.
A year later, his parents got home a desktop computer.
"The old kinds that look huge," Aadithyan now mockingly describes the gadget that he at the time didn't know would change his life.
Unlike kids his age who would use the computer to watch cartoons and play games, Aadithyan decided early on that he wanted to "open a big company, a multinational one."At 8, he got interested in reading codes and algorithms.
He was 9 when he developed the Ashirwad browser, an application for Google Chrome. But the app didn't go live because Google Play charges a base fee (about $25) to feature an app on its store.
He found a solution with Aptoid, an alternate marketplace for Android-based applications where he continued his luck developing apps that would solve problems.
"After school I would come home and spend some time on the computer. I would play SpellBee (a spelling competition) and games until my father introduced me to BBC Typing, a free Web site where you can learn how to type," he tells Divya Nair/Rediff.com over the phone from Dubai where he lives with his parents Rajesh and Sreerenjini Nair, paternal grandfather and sister Aaradhya, 6.
At the age of 10, Aadithyan had a fair idea how the Internet works.
He understood the difference between a programmer and hacker. Although he knew how popular programmers and developers were, he wanted to be a hacker.
"I always liked ethical hacking. It is challenging. A programmer will write a code but a hacker can look deeper and tell you what is wrong and help you make it more efficient. I like that," he says.
His passion for cyber security and hacking started with him finding bugs on random Web sites and hacking them for fun.
"I would hack into people's e-mails and Web sites because some of the sites weren't secure enough."
"I meant no harm, I was just testing what I learned," he emphasises.
"Do you know that your Gmail has a bug? I am trying to fix it," he says as if he is already hacking into my account.
"Windows is really difficult to hack," he informs me.
When his mother found out about his hacking experiments, she warned him not to pursue it.
'Hacking is illegal,' Sreerenjini told her son.
But Aadithyan didn't stop at that.
IMAGE: Rajesh Nair, Aaradhya Rajesh, Sreerenjini, Aadithyan Rajesh and Rajesh's father.
On December 17, 2017, 12-year-old Aadithyan started Trinet Solutions, a Web solutions company out of his home and became one of the youngest CEOs in the UAE.
"Trinet means three people networking and giving solutions."
Trinet Solutions has three employees including Aadithyan and two of his friends from the Elite English School in Dubai where he studies.
He spends 45 minutes at his company every day replying to e-mails and helping people solve problems.
According to Aadithyan, Trinet has catered to "at least 12 different clients" in the past one year.
"One of them (clients) wanted to open a shopping Web site, so we created that. My schoo Web site had a bug, which I fixed. We have helped develop a few Web sites but no apps so far. We are still young and learning. So we do it for free," he says.The young entrepreneur, who is being trained at his school to read and write computer programmes, can't wait to be 18 so he can register his company.
Besides his long cherished dream of building a "multinational" firm, Aadithyan wants to work with the "Indian military's cyber security team" when he completes his education and training.
"I want to help make India's military system the best in the world," he says with a conviction that is hard to miss.
When he is not hacking in to Web sites or building one, Aadithyan is your average teen who loves to play video games, reading thrillers... and he's a Potterhead (he loves Harry Potter).
"I wake up at 5.30 am and finish my homework or study if there is an examination. I go to school, come back and play for some time, watch the TV or read some book. I try to listen to my mother," he says supressing a laugh while describing his routine.
Aadithyan is now training Aaradhya to use BBC Typing.
"Humans use only 5 per cent of their brains. Dolphins use 20 per cent," he says. "Imagine if we were able to fully use our creativity and knowledge, we will be able to achieve the impossible."
"Find your passion. Follow your dream. Don't take NO for an answer."
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