From Cowshed to Code: The Desi Canva Story
In a story that feels straight out of India’s creative future, Dadasaheb Bhagat, a 10th-pass youth from Beed district in Maharashtra, has built what media calls a “Desi Canva” — an AI-powered graphic design platform Designtemplateio Working night shifts cleaning Infosys offices in Pune to fund his dream, Bhagat began coding inside a cowshed back home — using second-hand hardware. The platform today serves over 100,000 users, many from Tier 3 and rural India, where English fluency or design software access remain barriers. What sets Bhagat apart is not just ingenuity, but empathy — designing for people like him. It’s proof that design in India is no longer a privilege — it’s a possibility for many.
It’s proof that design in India is no longer a privilege — it’s a possibility for many.