E-CELL IBS MUMBAI

Hold your crown up with PRIDE

2021-06-29T23:02:00.013-07:00

Stonewall Inn, a GAY club in Greenwich Village New York City beholds many love tales. Where we as a normal human beings were feeling sickened by even talking about this, they (LGBTQIA+ community) had different plans for their community and to express themselves overtly. But on June 28, 1969, this club witnessed something which will cause you to sheer fear of liberty. When New York City police raided this homosexual club, and eventually this raid transformed into a riot among bar patrons and inhabitants of the area as police officer harshly dismissed employees and patrons out of the bar and it became 6 days protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. And this is was it now it was the time to ignite an uprising that would inaugurate a new era of resistance and revolution. After a year of this Stonewall riot, there was a march from the same spot in Stonewall to 6th Avenue, the first official Pride parade was carried out with Christopher Street Liberation Day and the tradition has continued till date.

What is pride month..???

For past decades LGBT folks and allies have been struggled hard for the right to marry, adoption of children, start families, combat prejudice, etc. So here is the initiative to acknowledge them with pride in all ways. And so it was June became the global Pride Month in memory of that uprising. . And it was in remembrance of that rebellion that June became the world pride month. It was taken in entirely to help them in this month of June, equality, teaching acceptance of peculiarity, making people educate, and above all, love. This month make us realize that we need to damage this homophobia and why we need to get rid of it. It is about no matter who you are and whom do you love. Mainly it is about that everyone has the right to live, laugh, and love with liberty and dignity. Every human is beautiful.

Some brands campaign

When world was hating to talk about this all-time disliked topic Indian government had the heroism to decriminalized section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. While the laws have changed for the better, many Indian brands were able to give a voice to this community through their campaigns and dared to speak up and break this taboo to some extent.

1. Fastrack’s The Closet - The first brand in India to show a lesbian couple. It urges the youth to come out of their isolation mode and be vocal about it.

2. OkCupid’s - #LoveAtFirstPride this digital campaign celebrates and acknowledges love beyond binary identities. It spread the message of equal representation of different sexual orientations.

3. Vicks’ Touch of Care - Normalizing trans motherhood in India, Vicks initiated a conversation. It emphasized how motherhood goes beyond biological ties with transgender activist Gauri Sawant, who also runs an NGO called Sakhi Char Chowghi. It showcased her real-life story of bringing up a girl.

4. Adidas - Adidas has a long history of celebrating Pride by dropping a new shoe collection, The retailer just released Love Unites, which features an assortment of Pride-themed footwear, plus apparel, and accessories.

5. Bobo’s - This Colorado-based snack brand offers a special Pride-themed bar this year, and using it as an opportunity to showcase work from LGBTQ artists Ludi Leiva, Shanee Benjamin, and Cheyne Gallarde.

6. Kay Beauty - Katrina Kaif’s beauty brand shared some beautiful posts and wrote, “We Stand Together”. And became the first beauty brand to promote models from the LGBTQ community.

Some companies celebrate this

1. Wipro

The LGBT+ inclusion program is a core pillar of the firm’s diversity program. It has gender-neutral restroom signage. For recruitment, they use gender-neutral language. The management is tracking LGBT+ inclusion and training employees by including LGBT+ framed questions in their monthly unconscious bias quiz. The firm has also started to engage externally, attending Pride parades for the first time in 2018.

2. Godrej

In 2011, Godrej housed the India Culture Lab, an open to all platform to foster a far-flung of conversations on contemporary India, including LGBT+ people. In parallel to launching the India Culture Lab, Godrej also updated its policies to include anti-discrimination, equitable benefits for same-sex couples, and gender reassignment provisions for trans employees. They have also produced videos with LGBT+ individuals discussing Godrej’s anti-discrimination culture.

3. Apple

In support of the LGBTQ community, Apple has came up with these two new Apple Watch Pride bands this year, as well as a new Pride watch face for users. The brand also supports a number of LGBTQ advocacy organization's, including Encircle (which offers safe spaces for LGBTQ youth, young adults, and families), the National Center for Transgender Equality (which is committed to social justice advocacy for transgender humans) and others.

Some bold people sharing their stories

https://bit.ly/3gD3MN6

So, the world is changing and so our mind needs to change, it is the right time to look at the other side of the world and felicitate it with open arms. While we acknowledge the progress we’ve made, we also need to be realistic and also remember that we still have a long way to go. Here's hoping that the world will soon accept love and lovers without discrimination. Happy Pride Month!

Source -

https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-timeline

Written By: Avani Dangi

KHATABOOK: "Digital India ka Digital Khata"

2020-10-22T08:32:00.003-07:00

When Dhoni invested in this Fintech start-up called "KhataBook" I wondered that what made a cricketer like Mahendra Singh Dhoni invest in this start-up? This intrigued me to read on this start-up story and then there was no end to it! "KHATA" means "accounts" in Hindi and there is where the essence of this start-up idea lies. Khatabook was started in 2018 as a book-keeping application for small and medium-sized enterprises to record their daily transactions digitally.

It basically helps business to transfer their physical ledger to digital copies and also allows them to accept online payments. Founded by four IIT alums, Ravish Naresh, Jaideep Poonia, Dhanesh Kumar, and Ashish Sonone.

The idea was to shift the focus of small traders from physical to digital, a simple cash management application for small traders to move their accounts to digital platforms. What makes this app attractive is that it employs artificial intelligence to track SMS alerts for transactions and use that to keep a track of accounts and spending. With Jio Penetration in the country in the same year, this paved the way for this application in smaller cities and towns. Khatabook is unique and has fewer major competitors. However, Okcredit and Vyapaar are the closest competition in the market. Khatabook evolved from a simple SMS App back in 2016 where Ravish Naresh along with his friends started with a digital spending manager app called Kyte.ai. The app lets a user understand their spending patterns by using transactional SMS alerts. But the app though was a good idea lost its momentum somewhere. Upon digging deeper, they realized that most of their users are based out of metro cities, and first-time online users did not deal in digital transactions.

Currently, Khatabook is valued at around $275 million to $300 million and available in 11 languages across India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Khatabook truly had a transition from a simple SMS App to Fintech App in India. According to App Annie data, Khatabook had 1.1 million daily active users!

Can Fintech be the new normal?

Source: ET Times & Yourstory.com

Thank You,

Regards,

Shivani Jambaulikar,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai.

Impact of corona on Ed-Tech Companies.

2020-07-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

As Schools, colleges, and tuition classes are closed due to Covid-19 Lockdown across the whole country. Ed-Tech companies are coming forward to help those students. Ed-tech start-up has grabbed this opportunity very well. All the companies are trying to engage more and more students into the online studying portal. Ed-Tech companies are leveraging the ease of access, availability and free content to drive more and more consumption on their platform and they are expecting once the lockdown is over they will be able to convert
25-30% into paid customers.

According to the data currently.

· Byju has got 60% increase in the number of new students using their app.

· Vedantu has seen 52 times more surge in the users during the lockdown.

· Toppr another Ed-tech company has seen 50% growth in new subscribers.

· Also many well know B-School has started providing online free courses like Oxford, Cambridge, etc.

Earlier online teaching platform was seen as a secondary option and major of the students opted for the offline study methods but with the time online teaching has taken a new shape and is one of that industry which has not been affected with the COVID-19 lockdown. Not only the students but also mane professionals are using this time and are upgrading their skill by learning new skills online. It seems that ed-tech companies are the future of our education companies. There are high chances that in the future we can see that this ed-tech company turns out to be deemed university and people might be applying to study there. Ed-tech companies are growing so rapidly that it is expected they might create employment opportunities for approximately 3000-5000 people. The investment in the Edtech sector amounts to 18.66 billion dollars globally, counting investors such as Facebook, Matrix Partners, and GGV Capital. India is one of the countries where the most significant growth of EdTech firms is taking place. Ronnie Screwvala, the owner of upGrad, reported that his company's staff doubled this year and that he projects tripling it by 2021. In the last two months alone, when news of a possible epidemic with pandemic potential began to spread, the company hired more than 200 graduates and post-graduates from 20 different universities.

The Coronavirus crisis, coming as it did at a critical time in the educational calendar, has triggered a conversation about the future of education in India. Such questions are fuel for the online education industry which has both the ability and the technical know-how to scale up rapidly. Amidst the economic gloom and doom, this is one sunrise sector in India worth keeping a firm eye on. More unicorns might be waiting in the wings.

Thank You,

Regards,

Prerak Shah,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai.

SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS DURING COVID-19

2020-07-01T11:20:00.001-07:00

The spread of the Coronavirus pandemic has affected almost every continent and country. While it has created a great panic amongst the people, the world has seen a sudden unfolding of several events, which were beyond ones’ expectations. With the daily increase in the number of positive cases of COVID- 19, more and more people have confined themselves to four walls. Amongst all this, millions of business owners are trying to reinvent their businesses. Many have already found innovative ways to roll with the punches.

As the situation doesn’t seem to be improving, every section of the society is bound to switch to alternative means of earning a living even while maintaining the rule of social distancing or staying within the four walls. And the business world is not an exception to this, rather it has brought an opportunity to serve the society in our best possible way.

Now is the right time to take your offline business online. Here are some online business ideas which can help you develop your network and also give it back to society in this critical hour of need.

Pickup and delivery: With all the businesses finding ways to reach out to their customers, delivery services are becoming very popular. Stay home, stay safe is what we can promote to our customers with this service. The delivery services can include daily needs like groceries and medicines at doorsteps.
Online education apps: With the destruction of COVID-19, many schools and educational institutions are forced to shut down due to which they are now switching towards online learning programs. This crisis has triggered the boom for the education industry.
Fitness and wellness apps: Offline gyms and health centers are among the businesses severely impacted by pandemic outspread. On the contrary, digital platforms have turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the health and fitness industries. From online yoga, meditation, Zumba, cardio workouts to healthy nutrition, people are following all of it.
Setting up an online consultancy business: If you have skills you can virtually connect with your clients and go ahead with online music classes, fitness consultancy sessions, online cooking or bakery classes, photography classes, etc.
Get hired on a freelancing platform: There are various platforms like Freelancer, 99designs, Fiverr, etc. that can help you with web designing projects, content marketing, sales, digital marketing projects, etc. and you can earn on a freelance basis.

We truly believe that there will be a solution to this pandemic very soon and the world will be a healthier and safer place to live in once again. The businesses will also be gaining their momentum as time heals all. Join the revolution and go online for a better today and a brighter tomorrow. This too shall pass.

Thank You,

Regards,

Naman Kaur Gandhi,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai.

CRM startup is giving educational institutes an ExtraaEdge in the admission game

2020-06-08T04:13:00.001-07:00

ExtraaEdge Technology Solutions Private Limited, a Pune based B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) startup uses an automation CRM software that is designed for the educational institutes which helps them to increase, manage and predict their admissions.

Abhishek Ballabh & Sushil Mundada who worked at HSBC GLT as a data architect and CRM business analyst. In 2016 while working in the financial sector, the duo came up with the idea of utilizing the power of data science and CRM can expand the development of the educational sector.
“As education market was experiencing change quickly, the sector is developing at 18% CAGR and expected to reach $30 billion by 2025, students should be thoughtful about the choices and institutes across the globe should be well planned for gathering new students”, Abhishek expressed (Co-founder of ExtraaEdge).
The admission team should understand the purpose and social sign, which will help people know about the brand, identifying the influencers of the target market by which the brand can be promoted, and finally the most important will be the admission strategy.
Abhishek who has worked with data science and CRM realized that there was a need for the education industry to have a SaaS-based CRM model that could have a smooth-running admission process. This need led the plan to build first enrolment solutions for the education industry through its marketing automation and CRM platform.
Behavioral analytics also lets the institute measure the ROI during a critical admission period, opt for a course-corrective measure, improve efforts to the detailed level, and even more.
ExtraaEdge says, its services have been received by over 135 educational institutes including the MIT Group, Jain University, CMR University, ASM Group, FIITJEE’s myPAT, and Aakash Digital. Around 3,000 admission teams have been running their admission process, outreach, and campaigns on ExtraaEdge’s admission software.
The company says its platform is a full-stack solution for admission management and marketing automation, conversational artificial intelligence-based chatbots, application form & work-flow management.
To manage and automate their sales, CRM helps them to - integrate all lead sources on a single platform which leads to a dramatic increase in response time to prospects, qualify helps them to distinguish the potential customer through online activity, chat, call-history & admission journey, communicate empowers seamless periodic communication and follow-up with automated enrolment work-flows across all channels such as calls, emails, WhatsApp and afterward, measure the detailed and customizable report of entire admission & marketing process.
For the model, currently, the team is charging $750 for the yearly subscription of SaaS. Apart from the two founders, the core team consists of 39 people. The company has also raised $700,000 (approximately Rs. 5 crores at current exchange rates) in its pre-Series A funding round which is led by Sprout Venture Partners & Indian Angel Network.
The report of KPMG claimed that the edtech market will reach $1.96 billion by 2021. While some of the startups are focused on B2B and B2B2c side of learning programs whereas extraaedge is helping colleges to construct the admission process.
Abhishek added, “The company plans to utilize their funds for the growth of its customer impression, strengthen the data science team & product depth and also for expansion in the international market.”

Although moving from one sector to the other is quite a difficult task, that what makes entrepreneurs think out of the box. Abhishek and Sushil who believed they have the ability and right drive to meet the need of the customer which will help their business to reach great heights.

Source: https://bit.ly/3dyW4kO

Thank You,

Regards,

Karan Demblani,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

Necessity is the mother of innovation

2020-05-07T02:59:00.001-07:00

This saying got hit to the Mr. Amit Agarwal

Since our honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi declared nationwide lockdown and due to this many industries grounded and among them, agriculture hit so hard.

In the first phase of the lockdown, the most prominent impact was felt in the food supply and on essential things. Due to closure of all APMC market (mandi) farmers find very difficult to sell their harvested crops to the people, for them a Delhi based start-up AGRIBAZAR come as their savior.

About Agribazar

Agribazar was founded by Mr. Amit Agarwal founded in 2017. With the vision of the modern ecosystem. AgriBazaar is a one-stop AgriTech platform for Precision Agriculture, Warehousing, Agri-Trading and Finance & Payments.

The E- mandi model

AgriBazaar has replaced the physical mandi online and married it with trading features. Once a farmer registers and lists his product, buyers can place their orders. They are encouraged to top up their AgriPay wallets to show willingness for purchase.

After a transaction is processed, the start-up facilitates the logistics of picking up the product from the farmers' doorstep and transporting it to the buyers' warehouse. It deploys its own staff and vehicles, and partners with local transporters and even large logistics operators for the delivery of the product.

Buyers get access to more than 12,000 suppliers (which includes farmers and village-level traders). Each supplier is verified by them based on KYC registrations. Buyers get access to supplier ratings and a wide selection of products at the time of purchase. It helps them to gain their trust.

How it is done

AgriBazaar also helps buyers from MNCs to small-scale industries with better price discovery and sellers with more targeted marketing of their products. It charges a transaction fee from buyers, while farmers can sell their products at no additional cost.

Boost in their business after COVID- 19

AgriBazaar has recorded a significant jump in transactions and inquiries following the COVID-19 the outbreak, with people avoiding crowded places like food mandis.

Agribazar volumes have been very high in the last few weeks after the closing of APMC markets. Transactions have grown by 400 percent in one month. We are getting 500+ farmer requests per day. Farmers also get better deals digitally and can save up on transportation costs if they sell through an e-mandi.

Now they focus on products which have a shelf like of 3-4 months and this situation they have their bestselling food products like - dry items like pulses, oilseeds, mustard, millets, wheat, soybean, sugar, milk powder, and fruits like grapes, litchis, and mangoes.

Major farmers are from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. AgriBazaar has also partnered with co-operative societies for sugar and pulses. Agribazar has started improving slowly in the last 10 to 12 days after the MHA’s renewed guidelines on “essential services”.

Success and plan for future

MR. Amit is a very visionary person he claims that they have grown up 100 %GMV (gross market value) since 2017 and facilitated around 2.25 million transactions and do business with the trading of around Rs. 8304 crores of items.

Till now the whole financial is handle by himself of around 24 cr. He invested in the business coming from parent company StarAgri (which is into agri-warehousing and Agri commodity marketing).

In the upcoming future, they will raise a fund of around $15 to $20 million to expand their operations in every city and village of India

Source: https://www.agribazaar.com/home

Thank You,

Regards,

Ashish Panchal,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai.

ARE YOU READY TO LEARN AND EARN?

2020-05-05T12:07:00.002-07:00

So, who sees beyond the "present" and the "past"? These are people who have an insane passion for their ideas. They live on this idea in such a way that they become unstoppable! They are among those who can see the big picture clearly when most others can’t look through the haze. This breed of people is called "Entrepreneurs". They bring the resilience to picture until their vision turns into reality!

I got the idea of this blog through a book written by Mark Suster named "Both sides of the table: Are you ready to learn and earn?" One of the fantastic books written on entrepreneurship.

So, the next question is "What makes a good entrepreneur?"

1.Adapting & Inventing:

A good entrepreneur is a continuous learner who adapts understands and innovates to set new benchmarks! Someone who understands that learning and earning are the two sides of the coin called success. An individual who is a combination of three things-Perseverance, Vision, and Resilience! The entrepreneur has a constant push for him to be out of his comfort zone, to evolve & network! Jeff Bezos can be cited as the best example of innovation. Amazon began with books, and today it sells a ridiculous number of things at best prices. How did it become possible? Adaptation and Innovation is the answer.

"One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out" - Jeff Bezos

2.Passion to the point of Obsession:

We have heard many times that an entrepreneur needs to be passionate. To him idea feels tangibly real this means having confidence and capability to articulate the vision into reality. Visualize the impact on a larger canvas! Believe in yourself, however cliché it may sound, it holds right for the world of entrepreneurship. Imagine if Larry Page had listened to naysayers, we probably wouldn't have Google today! Sounds scary right?

3.The sacrifice:

Very few talks about sacrificing but this is something universe demands when you think of accomplishing your dreams. The entrepreneurial path is anything but easy. He has to face tough decisions and communicate them convincingly. Work-Life Balance is still a vague concept when it comes to entrepreneurship. It is the commitment towards work that will help one to take the hardest decisions of their life, which strengthens to fight against any adversity. The mental strength which will make one keep going and maintain a "can-do" attitude. Bill Gates in his early years of Microsoft gave up on terms called "vacation" and "weekends" to reach where he is now!

4. The power of learning:

An entrepreneur doesn't have a guide book! He has to pave his own path to inspire a team to follow him and continuously keep achieving the milestones. It's about continuous adaptability and improvement which enables him to adapt to the dynamic environment. Even Elon Musk constantly questions himself and looks for ways to do things better.

5.The value of Rejection:

The faster an Entrepreneur learns to deal with rejection, the better. He has to review the lessons of rejection, make improvements, and move on. The perfect example is Jack Ma the founder of Ali Baba was rejected for 30 different jobs. Had he been selected world would have never got a legendary entrepreneur like him!

It is important for one and all of us to understand this key lesson if we aspire to be the next successful entrepreneurs like the examples cited above. It's about never giving up and continuous learning from every aspect of a business, rightly said by Paulo Coelho,

"When you truly want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

Source: https://yourstory.com/

Thank You,

Regards,

Shivani Jambaulikar,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

ORGANISE YOURSELF TO OPTIMIZE E-LEARNING DURING CRISIS

2020-04-19T05:49:00.004-07:00

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.

Learning is a continual process in one’s life to achieve goals and it’s also the door to every success story. To learn you don’t need a specific age or a gender you just need to be motivated and determined towards it. In today’s world with enormous advancements around us, one can learn from anything from anywhere. From classic classroom teachings to webinars and E-learning courses the world has evolved to impart knowledge for people who are continuously seeking to learn.

With the current outbreak of the pandemic disease COVID-19 people around the world is forced to practice social distancing for months. Begin lockdown at home with minimum resources to survive people have realized the importance of E-learning. Many educational sectors are keeping their students occupied by conducting online classes on zoom. Most of the universities have introduced certification courses for their students. Multinational companies are hosting webinars to keep their employees engaged in current affairs.

During this pandemic crisis every possible thing in a normal man's life has stepped on to the digital world. People now wake up to live work out videos and also virtual socialize with their friends.

To organize his/her online learning following are a few essential tips :

1. Find a Quiet Space for Attending Class

You will have to find a place that is quiet and free from distraction and one advantage of online classes is that you can attend from the comfort of your home.

2. Create an Effective Work Space for Studying

It can be tempting to be a little too relaxed about creating a dedicated workspace. The more time you spend in it, the stronger the association will become. Eventually, you will find yourself feeling more focused as soon as you enter the space.

3. Make sure your space is comfortable

When ensuring your study space is comfortable, one of the most important things to keep in mind is ergonomics. Both your study table and chair should allow good posture.

4. Organize Your Files

Your course materials should be easily accessible whenever you need them. If you prefer working with hard copies, you can invest in a physical filing system, but online students also have the option to enjoy the ease and flexibility of working digitally.

5. Schedule Your Time

When you enroll in an online course, it’s vital to familiarize yourself with the syllabus, class requirements and assignment due dates to avoid unpleasant surprises down the line. Hang a calendar on the wall of your study space and fill out once you get the syllabus

6. Stay Organized Online

Bookmark sites that you often use in your research so you don’t have to hunt them down every time you need them and try using online helpers like Quizlet, which lets you create flashcards and games that will help you study. Try online tools like StayFocusd, which helps you restrict the amount of time you spend on these distractions.

7. Establish a Routine

Getting into a routine will increase the chances that you’ll stay on top of what you need to be doing, rather than letting deadlines sneak up on you. Use an old-school paper planner if that works best for you or try a planning app like My Study App, which lets you store your schedule in the cloud so you can access it from all your devices.

8. Create a Support System

Enlist your friends and family to help you stay on track with your online education. Whether that’s making sure they understand your commitments and time constraints or encouraging those you live with to help out with household chores, their help, and cooperation can make it easier for you to focus on your coursework.

Without any doubt the above tips facilitate a motivated path for people who wish to learn with the use of the internet and other digital technologies to keep themselves educated no matter what. Elearning promises maximum knowledge and is rewarded for its great retention among learners

Hope everyone reading this keeps their doors to learning open !!

Thank You,

Regards,

Simran Mercelina,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

GET READY TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS…

2020-04-11T09:23:00.003-07:00

Since the global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), the panic and fear among the public throughout the globe are spreading faster than the virus. The impact of COVID-19 is not only limited to the demand side of the market, but the supply chain is also hampered equally. The sectors impacted the worst are service providers and entertainers. The coronavirus outbreak across the countries has hampered the local economy as a result of which major industry leaders have lowered their forecasted revenue for the last quarter of FY20. All these factors combined have impacted investor sentiment in a negative way resulting in a market panic.

According to many economists, the global economy might now grow at its slowest rate since 2008 crisis.

Many local businesses and new start-ups are facing problems to sustain in such a market. Due to India lockdown, no one can carry business but their fixed cost is increasing day by day. Though Government took a great step and said no interest and EMI would be taken for the 3 months this gave relief to many businesses but the individuals or workers who used to get daily wages are in big trouble as their income has been stopped and still need to run their houses.

Though in such conditions, few businesses are getting great responses and are increasing day by day.

Business involved in online video calling like Google Duo, Skype, House party are getting traffic on their websites on a daily basis as many people are organizing their daily meeting on these platforms and also individuals are using them to keep in touch with their loved ones.

Businesses involved in indoor to doorstep delivery of groceries are also getting profitable by the day due to lockdown. Start-ups like Big Basket and Gofers were already in such business but now local vendors are also changing their way of business is taking advantage of the current situation.

Food deliverable startup-like zomato and swiggy are badly affected as restaurants are closed and now fewer people prefer to eat outside food. Though they try many things like no-touch delivery to customers they failed to attract more customers in such a period.

Transport, tourist and hotel industries are badly affected as trains are shut down and also international flights have been canceled. These businesses are badly affected and are incurring a great loss.

Clearly, prevention appears to be the best cure when it comes to the fast-spreading novel coronavirus. And start-ups are leading the way.

Thank You,

Regards,

Prerak Shah,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

Women entrepreneurs are building the Amazon for medical equipment in India

2020-04-06T09:02:00.002-07:00

The medical equipment industry in India is still in the developing stage. According to the information, around 80% of the clinical gear utilized in India is imported. The two women- Shanti Mathur & Sakshi Khandelwal who have been working as consultants in health analytics since 2014.

The idea of startup came across their mind when they noticed a two-year-old hospital shutting down and the owners of the hospital were trying to sell the equipment’s which were almost new & great to use. They had a couple of good offers but in the end, the instruments were sold less than 1/3rd of the cost.
However, hospitals in small towns want to purchase used equipment as they have budgetary constraints and the unavailability of instruments would stay unattended for a long duration of time.
They too came up with the idea, “What if selling and buying hospitals could easily find each other in a large network? Both would get a more profitable deal. What if the same network could help find a service provider when the machine is down?” Such questions kept striking in Shanthi’s mind as she needed to plan something to solve the issues that the hospitals are facing.
To build the network Sakshi and Shanthi started helping several small hospitals and make arrangements for the equipment. Sakshi who had completed Bachelor’s in Dental Surgery (BDS) and a Master’s in Health Administration, came up with the startup PrimedeQ which is now India’s first e-marketplace for buying, selling & renting Medical Equipment, connecting Healthcare Providers, Medical Equipments Sellers & Service Providers all on one integrated platform which is based in Bengaluru.
“The target is to cover small and medium hospitals owned by doctors which have 10-100 beds”, Shanthi claimed. With the team of 6 members, she hopes that startup would create a great impact and to make the presence in the market she tried to connect people with digital marketing activities, WhatsApp, multiple mail campaigns, on-field calls, etc.
Recently, for a pitch session, the two have been awarded by Women Entrepreneurs for Transformation (WEFT) on International Women’s Day. To expand its activities to six different cities, PrimedeQ is presently searching for seed funding.
Currently, India is the fourth largest market for medical devices with an estimated value of $11 billion and it has the potential to reach $50 billion by 2025, as suggested by National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency Invest India. “However, in the challenging space of e-commerce, medical equipment was a tough market, it was difficult to gain the trust & confidence of the customers”, replied Shanthi.
“At the initial stage, vendors were doubtful about the model but the hospital clients reacted positively which took time, but at the end promises which were made helped us through it”, She also added that, “the medical equipment industry is another male-dominant space which could be the purpose behind the doubt.” According to her, the consumer behavior has been changing faster as she strongly believed and moved forward without thinking about the outcome.

In the journey of entrepreneurs, the one does not fail they keep on learning several things. It was an opportunity which came in front of these two women and they utilized it by fulfilling the need of the consumer in the medical equipment industry. As we always say “Entrepreneurs do not lose out on opportunities”.

Source:https://bit.ly/2U1Qu2z

Thank You,

Regards,

Karan Demblani,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

Lead your business through the COVID-19 crisis

2020-04-02T09:31:00.002-07:00

The COVID-19 outbreak is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting hundreds and thousands of people. It is also having a growing impact on the global economy. This article is intended to provide business leaders with a perspective on the evolving situation, implications, and breakthroughs for their business.

As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, it is also becoming incredibly disruptive for businesses everywhere. From defining your business continuity plan to an employee’s wellbeing, all is at stake now. It rests on your shoulders to provide all the answers your employees and customers are expecting.

As there is a saying, “the sooner, the better”, create a strategy before this pandemic hits your business. Through this article, here are some of my suggestions to help you build an action plan for the day after and for ongoing months to maintain your business continuity.

Every execution plan needs a strong team. Start by designating a task-force that will be responsible for dealing with the problems. Your team should have complete 360-degree knowledge of the business, so it’s best to include representatives from all units and departments: Marketing, Sales, Product, HR, Operations, and any other as you see fit.

Keep your customers informed and under control. Don’t just let them get information from the news. You must take control and lead the narrative. They will appreciate being informed and knowing you are on top of things.

Make sure your task-force is prepared to answer questions being thrown at them by the worried customers. Keep conducting meetings and interactions with your employees as well as clients.

This can be done through various online channels such as Skype. You can additionally send newsletters to your customer’s in order to keep them informed more often on the company’s status during pandemic coronavirus. Add whatever information is necessary to show your customers that everything is on track and your business is on top of things.

Also, be prepared to address your team’s questions, to provide clarity and keep ongoing contact. Provide them with some benefits and during flexible work hours in order to keep them focused and motivated.

To maintain your present customers, it is important to keep your website frequently updated with upcoming tasks and policies so that customers get insight and stay intact with you. Also, provide them with solutions and updates for this pandemic so that they feel your care and a sense of belonging.

I hope during this wide-spreading crisis, considering these suggestions can assist you to safeguard your business and survive through it keeping your customers and task force intact beside maintaining an honest relationship.

Thank You,

Regards,

Naman Gandhi,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

BRANDING AS A TREND IN 2020

2020-03-26T23:13:00.001-07:00

Branding trends are being approached differently in 2020. Intense competition and constant technological innovation have changed the concept of branding forever. As the world is connected and the business trends are changing rapidly it is very important that the branding pattern of the companies also change with the trend, everyday customers are bombarded with various different brands.

With the Internet being virtually in everyone's pockets, it's easier than ever before to reach customers and raise awareness for your business brand, but this poses a problem for you: how can you get your brand to stand out in the crowd? How can you ensure that people will engage with your brand?

Personalize the brand

In 2020, one needs to personalize the brand, in this era customers tend to relate with the brands rather than products. If the customer can relate with a brand in a more personalized way they tend to be more loyal to the company (brand). While advertising the brand one needs to be a good storyteller. One Plus co. is best at it as it does more than just selling mobile phones in an advertisement they try to connect with people with the trends like when they launched One Plus5 they tried to connect with a student with a tagline One Plus5: The perfect Phone for students. One plus always launches special edition phone as per the trend going on in the market like Marvel edition, McLaren edition, and Starwar edition.

Online Community

One of the growing branding trends is online branded communities. These forums provide a platform where consumers can talk about brand-related topics and provide advice and tips. This allows brands to talk about products and understand customer’s needs without trying to sell. Many cosmetic brands use such community where consumers talk about beauty hacks, trends, looks through other people suggestion and their idea, share feedback etc. Customers are made to feel valued as beauty insiders and experts as they share their experiences and their photo submissions are highlighted in the gallery.

Mobile Marketing

In 2020, even more emphasis will be placed on increasing mobile user interaction. This has already been the trend for quite some time, and those who don’t embrace will not be competitive. There’s a high possibility that your emails are being read on mobile if the content is not a custom-fit, you will lose out. CTA buttons, for example, need to be big enough to click but not so big that they take up the whole screen. Subject lines need to be shorter and paragraphs shorter too. Email marketing in the future will become more targeted, offering curated content to individuals on their mobiles, rather than bombarding them with quantity.

Conclusion

Brand positioning today requires a different approach from traditional methods. It has to emphasize more and relate to customers on many levels. You need to think out of the box to position your brand rightly in this competitive world and need to flexible with it and need to change it with the changing trends.

Bibliography

https://yourstory.com/mystory/branding-trends-2020

Thank You,

Regards,

Prerak Shah,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai

PHYSICAL TO DIGITAL:ARE STARTUPS CHANGING?

2020-03-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Starting a business can seem like a mountain of a task. But the amount of money time and risk involved depends on the idea you chase. Contrary to popular belief there are actually many ways to start a business that lets you focus less on logistics and upfront costs and more on getting started.

Digitization was a new wave to make a great entry point for fresh entrepreneurs or anyone with creative and innovative ideas, letting you pick up a business without having to drop anything else. It is rightly said “Unless You Start Nothing Happens” and going by the thought here are the three digital startups who took it from zero to hero with the help of digitization and great timing!

Some of the digital startups which changed the industry are:

#1. WhatsApp

WhatsApp began with a simple idea: Their mission was that “Ensuring that anyone could stay in touch with family and friends around the corner of the world, without costs and gimmicks standing the way”

The name inspiration? A play on the messaging language “what’s up??”

Founded in February 2009 by two ex-employees of Yahoo and the concept emerged after it was bought in iPhone back 2009 and realized that the 7-month-old App was a game changer! A new industry was emerging-Mobile Apps. In early 2011 the app was in the top 20 of all these apps in Apple’s US store. Today in 2020 we laugh back on the days when we paid on SMS Packs!

It resonated with the younger generation that couldn’t afford to pay for expensive texts or MMS messaging. They made it simple and global and a well-timed disrupter. Maybe the real key to their success was

“A simple to use the product with superb timing that was noticed in the Apple App store”.

#2. Ola and Uber

Imagine a situation, you just left your office for the day and are running late to the wedding. Let’s say your office is 20 km away from your house and you take a bus from the bus stop with a small walk of 1 km to the bus stop. On regular days it is fine but today, you are running late. What would you do?

If it had been back any time before 2012, you would have gone to the autowala and after negotiating would have left for your destination! But now you flinch with the slightest reference to deal with an autowala guy, mainly because of their less than perfect ways of talking, and a habit of asking stupidly exorbitant prices for the shortest distance.

Now what you do is take your smartphone out, open up your app, choose the type of cab or auto you need as per your budget and off you go, all chilled and happy. As an added benefit, you can even pay on credit cards and online and get amazing discounts. Ola and Uber mainly ended the monopoly of local taxis and made the cab business more customer-oriented.

Who would have imagined getting a cab would have been so convenient and easy before 2012?

#3. RELIANCE JIO

Free for the first 6 months of its inception, the companies 4G services provided users to watch more content and videos, gone were the days when users used 1 GB for the whole month! Reliance Jio within its one year revolutionized the entire telecom industry. India jumped ahead of the US and China to take a position of the highest number of users for mobile data. Its ultra-fast speed of data and low costs made it a big highlight of the last 2 years and a great initiative towards Mr. Narendra Modi’s vision of Digitization.

#4. Zomato

It started in 2008 with an aim to change the food tech trend and had a stir in the food industry. Zomato is more famous among tech-savvy customers. For people going on for corporate visits, it becomes easier for them to order their favorite food after a long tiring day as well as get good restaurants located in the vicinity of their hotel. Zomato Gold has also been a game-changer in the food industry with amazing discounts and a 1+1 offer! There will be hardly anyone who won’t use Zomato when deciding on a good party place!

Technology is the new essential partner in the marketing game. Gone are the days when there existed brick and mortar business ideas. Capturing and using data is the best way to learn, iterate and maintain momentum or else you will be left behind!

Thank You,

Regards,

Shivani Jambaulikar,

E-Cell,

IBS Mumbai