Writer and Filmmaker Roshan Bhondekar along with his wife introduce a ‘New Era of Journalism’
Many of us are going through a difficult time this year. Every crisis brings challenges and threats to entrepreneurs and their organizations, no matter if initiated by human behaviour, natural disasters, or economic mechanisms. At the end of December 2019, the coronavirus has started spreading from Wuhan, China to other countries so widely and quickly. Many aspects of private and public life had to be moved online. Entrepreneurs were not an exception. They had to start moving their business activities online. However, not everything could be solved conveniently online. This is how Indian-born Spanish Roshan Bhondekar and his wife Sahra Ardah has taken COVID-19 Pandemic positively to redefine the era of journalism.
COVID-19 has significantly influenced the entrepreneurial engagement of self-employed persons. Some entrepreneurs had to close their businesses temporarily as a result of governmental restrictions; others had to impose precautions and to run their activities to a reduced extent. They also needed to find innovative solutions in all aspects of their entrepreneurial endeavour as the consequences of the pandemic linger on
Therefore, this couple aims to capture the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship at different kinds of levels, to accumulate knowledge of best individual and journalism best practices helping freelance journalist and mass communication Interns to overcome the crisis.
How COVID-19 Pandemic offered them an opportunity to define Entrepreneurship
This multitalented artistic couple decided to bring the unseen voice from different parts of continents, whereas their mission is to have ‘Independent & Unbiased voice’ on a global platform. In June 2020, Roshan and Sahra announced the launch of Spain based ‘Transcontinental Times’ through Twitter.
Delighted to announce that the @Transctimes launched officially on 29th June. We are a team of 70+ journalists,from 25+ different countries covering 4 continents.
Our primary focus is on #Europe, #Asia, #America & #Africa.
🌎 https://t.co/pd4mUGZBNS ✍️#journalism #media 🇪🇺 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/nEsh4ZzYMU
— Roshan Bhondekar (@roshan_b) July 2, 2020
“We never thought this year 2020 will be different for us, but while having an impact on every industry, we thought to do something for ‘Journalism/mass communication college students’ and ‘freelance journalist’, who are looking for international free voice platform to highlight to ground reality and talk in favour of democracy. As of today, Transcontinental Times has a team of 70 plus journalists, joining us from 25 plus countries covering various continents ground-level issues,” Says Bhondekar.
Besides this, Sahra told, “Transcontinental Times is now working with non-profit model and in future, it will be profitable for sure, as we are firmly committed to the public interest and democratic values. Being on the internet also means using a new way of Journalism to change the way stories are told.”
Swwapnil Joshi, a renowned film actor has also shared his greetings on this Bhondekar’s new mission
Congrats brother. More power to u. 🔥💐❤️ https://t.co/ew1jmpCO5D
— Swwapnil Joshi | स्वप्नील जोशी (@swwapniljoshi) July 2, 2020
A renowned film producer also joins his hand on this announcement
Congratulations Roshan, Proud of you 💐 https://t.co/HoYB1KNcGd
— Akshay Bardapurkar (@akshayent) July 3, 2020
The brain behind the mission
Roshan Bhondekar was born in India but settled in Spain— this is exactly how letters, if any, would be addressed to this ‘simple town boy’ a decade ago. From his 300-sq feet home that housed six people to a plush new address in Spain, Bhondekar has made it big and how.
The how is where this man’s entire story lies. Now an author of two successful books, director of two international award-winning short films, and a writer, Bhondekar is an engineer by profession. “Belonging to a poor family, as kids, we would struggle for two-time meals and that has been my strongest trigger in life to do something unique,” says the 33-year-old who lived in his Tumsar home up to the age of 26.
Sahra Ardah (also known as Sara Canizal Sardon) is an art director and producer, known for The Shoes (2019), a professional international artist and teacher of Spanish descent recognized internationally for the effectiveness of her teaching methods. As she mentioned, “being a Ph.D. holder in History of Art and Journalism Master Honours, I wanted to serve the best to the society. Education gives us the confidence to do the right things for society what we think.”
In December 2018, Sahra married Roshan. She published the first book, named ‘The University of Salamanca from the post-war period to the present: Architectural heritage and urban transcendence” (Spanish Edition).
