Dr  Anil K Rajvanshi who left US for India wins Padma Shri for e-rickshaws, biomass gasifiers development

admin
-
0

Dr Anil K Rajvanshi is credited for having developed the electric rickshaw , and biomass gasifiers. He was bestowed the Padma Shri award earlier this year.

Dr. Anil Kumar Rajvanshi, a devout Gandhian, returned to India after studying at the University of Florida in the United States.   Dr. Anil says he returned to India in 1981 in a fit of madness and hubris,

He says, “I thought I had learned enough and wanted to return to India and make a difference.”

Dr. Anil was born and raised in Lucknow, where he completed his schooling and then went on to get a Bachelors in Technology (BTech) and a Masters in Technology (MTech) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He earned his PhD at the University of Florida and taught there for two and a half years.

Dr. Anil’s interest in teaching as a profession began to blossom as a student.  He realised that in order to teach, he would need a PhD, so he enrolled in the University of Florida for his doctorate.

Dr. Anil was also the beneficiary of a government fellowship, which allowed him to stay in the United States for the duration of his visit. The initiative provided Dr. Anil with the travel, fees, and an additional money, but the fellowship was finally cancelled because most grantees wanted to remain forever in the United States, he says.

When Dr. Anil decided to return, his father was the first to accuse him of being “foolish.”

Dr. Anil says he spent one month around the country before making the huge step back to India to figure out where he could settle down. Dr. Anil says he didn’t want to be stymied by bureaucracy, so he chose to forge his own way and so decided to join the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Phaltan, Satara district.

My father was imprisoned alongside Mahatma Gandhi in 1942, and this had an impact on my views.

Dr. Anil opted to make Phaltan his home and discusses his first years working there. During his first six months at Phaltan, he ran into a number of problems. It was difficult to acclimate to the new surroundings. But his desire to do something different was so strong that he persisted.

Several times during his first visit to India, his colleagues and acquaintances from the United States called him back, but Dr. Anil says he felt he would be betraying the country if I returned.

He recalls, “To be honest, that was the first and last time I considered returning to the United States. It was my passion that brought me here.”

While there have been various milestones in the development of NARI, Dr. Anil claims that one of the earliest was his work on using renewable fuel using Sweet Sorghum (sweet jowar). Following that, in 1995, he began development on an electric rickshaw. It was a first for India and the rest of the world.

Until 1995, there was no mention of e-rickshaws. But, today, each e-rickshaw you see or ride on was created right here in Phaltan.

Dr. Anil says, “Even so, it didn’t take off until I published a piece in a journal published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).”

The first e-rickshaw prototype debuted in 2000. When compared to gasoline and diesel automobiles, the e-rickshaw consumes 40% less energy. It has a PMDC motor, lead-acid batteries, a two-speed specifically developed gearbox, and an electronic card for a soft start.

Furthermore, it has a reverse gear. The e-rickshaw can comfortably carry two to three passengers at a speed of 35-40 km/hr and can travel up to 60-70 km on a single charge of the battery.

Eventually, visitors from all over the world began to flock to the institute to learn more about e-rickshaws. Some people duplicated the model, while others attempted to work on it and alter it.

Dr. Anil has also received seven patents in the previous four decades for alcohol stoves, biomass gasifiers, and e-rickshaws.

Dr. Anil concludes for today’s generation by saying, “Look for ways to be challenged. India has a plethora of issues that must be addressed one by one. Rather than looking for ways to flee the nation, let us work together to better the lives of Indians.

You should have passion in your life.”

Amritsar rice agent Raghunath Arora built Rs 4,686 cr Daawat brand to feed his village with quality rice

admin
-
0

Raghunath Arora founded LT Foods to bring quality rice to the table of households in his village. Soon after, it became a globally popular brand — Daawat — with a worldwide reach of 60 nations.

Raghunath Arora, a rice agent, set out on a mission to provide quality rice to the residents of his village, Bhikhiwind in Amritsar, some 70 years ago. In 1965, he established a modest rice trade company, which grew into a partnership enterprise, Lalchand Tirathram Rice Mills (LT Foods), in 1977. He sought to expand the reach of Amritsar’s famous basmati rice, which is used in pulao and biryani, without sacrificing a fair price for the hardworking farmers.

Following such ideals, LT Foods has expanded over the years to become what we now know as the Daawat Basmati rice brand.

So, how did the brand remain relevant for so long?

Ashwani Arora, Managing Director of LT Foods, a second-generation entrepreneur, says, “By preserving the company’s worth. My father founded the company, and my brother, Vijay Kumar Arora, took it global.

Daawat has approximately 20% of the market share in India, despite severe competition from brands like as India Gate, Kohinoor, and others. It currently serves 60 nations.

According to Ashwani, LT Foods’ revenue in FY21 was Rs 4,686 crore. Between 1950 and 1977, LT Foods operated on a small scale in Punjab’s neighbouring territories, with no branding. When Raghunath’s eldest son Vijay joined the company in 1978, the brand expanded to exporting quality Basmati rice to the United States.

Basmati rice is farmed largely in India and since a long time it is being exported to other countries. Ashwani says they control half the US market with Daawat rice.

Since its inception, LT Foods has worked with and for farmers, and as the company developed, so did the number of farmers involved with the brand. LT Foods currently works with 100,000 farmers across India. It includes seven manufacturing plants in India and three in the United States, as well as three packaging plants in the United States.

The company’s headquarters are located in Gurugram, Haryana. The demand for environmentally friendly products is skyrocketing in India. LT Foods adapted to this development in 2012, when it began catering to overseas markets where this demand was evident early on.  Ashwani explains as the international market required organic rice, LT Foods educated farmers and connected them with farming practises aimed at sustainability. He says, “We established the agri section to help farmers with extension services.”

LT Foods developed Ecolife three years ago to soft launch organic rice variations in the Indian market to measure consumer demand. Ashwani says, “Organic products have a bright future.”

LT Foods has aggressively developed into a consumer food firm during the last 70 years by foraying into new categories and building strong brands such as Daawat, Royal, Royal ‘Ready to Heat,’ Daawat Cuppa Rice, Daawat Sauté sauces, and Devaaya, which offer a variety of kitchen basics.

“While the pandemic provided us with good consumer business, the supply chain issue caused a difficulty for everyone in the industry,” Ashwani says.

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company ensured the safety of its employees while still providing a consistent experience to its clients. Because the company began investing in automation before to the pandemic, during the lockdown when supply chain issues hampered many factories, LT Foods Ashwani believes it generated results during an unprecedented time when there was a labour shortage. Keeping up with shifting consumer demand is both an opportunity and a struggle for Ashwani.

He believes that innovation is the key to success, and that keeping up with demand is a challenge that the organisation is working to overcome. Because of the growing demand for organic rice in the Indian market, LT Foods’ ecolife brand intends to acquire market share for organic rice and other commodities while also using sustainable farming practises.

It also intends to introduce new ready-to-eat goods and expand into other culinary product categories.

Omidyar Network India leads $7M Series A funding round in edtech startup Entri

admin
-
0

Entri, an edtech startup has secured $7 million in a Series A round of funding led by Omidyar Network India. Innospark Ventures, of Boston, and Hong Kong-based private equity Integrated Capital also participated in the round.

Entri.app, a vernacular edtech business, has raised $7 million in a Series A fundraising round led by Omidyar Network India, with participation from Boston-based Innospark Ventures and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Integrated Capital. This round of funding follows the company’s $3.1 million seed round, bringing the total money raised to $10.1 million, according to a statement from the startup.

Among the notable angel investors were Gokul Rajaram, a board member of Pinterest and Coinbase, and Sriram Krishnan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The funds raised in this round will be used to drive Entri’s growth by developing content in existing and new languages, recruiting senior-level employees, and making strategic acquisitions.

The firm, founded in 2017 by Mohammed Hisamuddin and Rahul Ramesh, claims to have more than 8 million registered users and over 250K paid customers.

It provides around 500 courses in eight languages: Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and Odiya.

Furthermore, all of these courses are intended to help aspirants upskill in order to advance in the private sector and pass exams for government positions. Among the most popular course categories, according to the startup, are coding, personal finance, spoken English, state PSC tests, nursing certifications, and teacher examinations.

It provides Entri Gold cohort-based courses that pair a group of students with an expert mentor who speaks their native language. The mentor ensures that the candidates in the batch realise their goals through live interactive lectures, analytics, community group activities, and individualised advice. The business says that its Entri Gold curriculum has helped over 25,000 pupils pass a federal job exam.

To provide high-quality material, the edtech startup collaborates with coaching institutes, instructors, and influencers. The firm stated that it has already signed up 30 influencers in various languages with a total following of 20 million subscribers for its skilling classes and plans to sign up 100 more by 2022.

Founder and CEO of Entri.app, Mohammed Hisamuddin, said, “Entri.app is aimed at the non-English speaking market in India, which has over 40 crore people between the ages of 18 and 35. We believe that with the correct kind of training and learning in their native language, students may boost their employability and earning potential. With the kind of headstart we have, we believe we can affect more than 4 crore consumers’ lives in the next three years,”

Entri.app just bought the TS Madaan YouTube channel, which has over 11 million subscribers, as part of its creator model.

Sarvesh Kanodia, principal, Omidyar Network India, stated, “Entri.app has made significant development in terms of the range of courses available, the number of local languages supported, and the number of students utilising the service. We are thrilled to support the Entri.app team as they pursue their goal of becoming the #1 learning destination for ‘Next Half Billion’ people looking to increase their employability and earning potential.”

Entri.app raised $3.1 million in Pre-Series A funding, followed by an additional $1.7 million sponsored by Good Capital in July 2020. Along with many angel investors from Silicon Valley and India, HyperTrack founder Kashyap Deorah and BigBasket HR chief Hari TN took part in that round.

Dr. Shankar Ramchandani was moved by his father’s struggle with poverty to start Re 1 clinic, treat 7K patients

admin
-
0

Last year, an Odisha-based doctor started a “one rupee clinic” to give affordable healthcare to thousands of patients. Dr. Shankar Ramchandani was motivated to create the clinic after witnessing his father’s struggle to make ends meet.

It was painful for Dr. Shankar Ramchandani to see his father struggling to make ends meet while owning a tiny stationery store as he grew up. Dr. Ramchandani’s father was the main breadwinner for his 32-member family.

When his grandfather and uncle died of cancer, his father was distraught since he couldn’t afford their treatment. His father then decided to educate his children and train them to be doctors who could aid the underprivileged, he claims.

He says, “I aspired to be a doctor not only to fulfil my father’s ambition, but also to do my best to serve the poor and needy.”

However, the road to Dr. Ramchandani’s dream was not simple, as he says there were four daughters and five sons in his family.

Dr. Ramchandani was was the youngest son. He says, “My eldest brother had to shoulder all of the obligations after our father died in 2001. I couldn’t even purchase textbooks and had to rely on hand-me-downs from my seniors.”

Dr Ramchandani was placed second in Odisha state during his medical admission exam.

Dr. Ramchandani’s own life served as a lesson to him, ensuring that others did not have to suffer as he and his family did. He established a ‘One Rupee Clinic’ in Burla, Odisha’s Sambalpur district, in February 2021 to provide treatment and medicine to the needy and impoverished.

He claims to have treated 7,000 individuals in the last year or so. He sees 20-30 people per day on average.

“It’s been a year since I launched the one rupee clinic, and it brings me enormous happiness to help the underprivileged,” says the 38-year-old doctor, who plans to launch a ‘one rupee medicine service’ on the clinic’s first anniversary in 2022.

Dr. Ramchandani, who is also an assistant professor at the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla, says he makes time for his clinic after work.

“I became a senior resident after being a VIMSAR student. I was promoted to assistant professor in January 2021 and opened the clinic in a rented house a month later,” says the internal medicine specialist.

His father, Brahmanand Ramchandani, wanted him to open a poor nursing home, but Dr. Ramchandani says he was unable to start one because it demands a significant investment.He then decided to open a clinic where he could provide more services than in a nursing home.

Dr. Ramchandani says he charges Rs 1 because he does not want his patients to think they’re getting treatments for free. He says, “They should feel as if they have paid for the treatment.”

Dr. Ramchandani says, he is grateful to be able to assist the poor, disabled, old, and any other person who lacks access to medical treatment.

Aside from providing treatment, the doctor also sells drugs to his patients for Rs 1. Dr. Ramchandani says he gets his poor patients medicines through the government’s Jan Aushadi plan, as those patients cannot afford to pay even Rs.10 for medicines.

He says he uses his money when expensive medicines are required. The One Rupee Clinic, located in Burla’s Kachha market district, is usually open from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., but Dr. Ramchandani says, it sometimes goes even till 11 p.m.

“Dr Ramchandani has been a social worker rather than a doctor,” says Khireswar Pradhan, a farmer and social worker from Sambhalpur.

He has saved countless people’s lives by spending thousands of rupees out of his own pocket.”

Mr Pradhan says that Dr Ramchandani has also established another clinic for the disadvantaged in his hometown of Padampur. Dr. Ramchandani is also involved in leprosy awareness campaigns.

He says, “There are some persons who have healed from leprosy yet continue to live a wretched life.  I wanted to help those people and remove the societal stigma associated with it.

As a result, I vowed to take care of a Junapani colony by providing free health care and

education to the children.”

Dr. Shankar Ramchandani also received great praise for his efforts in assisting individuals

throughout the outbreak.  During the initial wave of the pandemic, he treated a 27-year-old COVID-19 patient after hours and drove him to the hospital in his car. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also lauded him for his One Rupee Clinic programme.

Meet the couple who founded Rs 15 cr apparel brand Berrylush after quitting their high-paying IT professions

admin
-
0

Alok Paul and his wife quit their high paying IT jobs to start their own business. The couple built an apparel brand Berrylush that clocks a turnover of Rs.15 crore.

It is a fairy tale love story that grew at IIM Raipur, where two young software engineers from separate Indian states joined for an MBA. After courting for a few years, the couple married in 2017, and then created an apparel brand with a turnover of Rs 15 crore last year and are approaching Rs 35 crore this year.

Berrylush was founded in 2017 by Alok Paul, 35, and Anusha Chandrashekar, 32, after they left their high-paying IT professions.

Alok says, he and Anusha noticed a void in the market for high-quality, affordable western attire. This led them to launch Berrylush, which the couple views as their first child.

The pair, who began with four machines and four tailors in a 300 sq ft facility in New Delhi, now operates from a 26,000 sq ft five-story structure in the same city, with 300 machines and approximately 65 people.

Berrylush now sells a wide range of fashionable women’s clothing, including tops, skirts, kurtas, jumpsuits, and much more.

Alok is from the Assam town of Silchar. After three years, he went to Accenture, where he worked for six months before enrolling in the MBA programme at IIM Raipur in 2013.

Anusha worked as a Software Engineer with Tata Consultancy Services in Bengaluru from 2010 until 2013.

“We just met after enrolling in the same MBA programme at the same business school,” Alok explains.

During 2013-15, the pair attended IIM Raipur for their MBA.

Alok says, “In our first year of MBA, we fell in love without even realising it.”

Berrylush has grown from a team of four tailors to a workforce of 65 individuals.

Alok explains, “Anusha likes fashion, and I’m a businessman. However, we both wanted to start our own thing.” Both found jobs in Bengaluru after earning their MBAs.

Alok joined Artoo, a startup that specialises in the digitalization of micro and small loan enterprises, while Anusha joined Deloitte.

Anusha says she and Alok worked in different companies, but there they used to meet and discuss various company ideas daily.

They married in early 2017, then quit their jobs later that year to start Berrylush.

At the time of their departure, Alok was earning around Rs 70,000 and Anusha was earning around Rs 1 lakh.

The adjustment from the security of a profession with a guaranteed salary to the uncertainty of entrepreneurship was difficult, but the pair never considered quitting up.

Anusha says, “We were so focused on developing a brand that such an idea never occurred to us.

I was so enthusiastic that I worked even though I was pregnant “

To save money on rent, they began working out of Alok’s brother’s office in Noida in the early days.  He was the founder of a marketing and branding startup.

Alok explains, “Anusha’s father supported us with our initial investment of Rs 30 lakh to set up a modest warehouse in a 300 sq ft location.”.

Alok’s father had always urged him to start his own business.

The couple listed their products on their website as well as on Amazon, Myntra, Nykka, and a few other ecommerce portals.

“While working at Deloitte, Anusha had extensive knowledge in the e-commerce market. We were in charge of the website as well as the internet marketing,” Alok explains.

Alok is more interested in business, whilst Anusha is more interested in fashion and design.

Berrylush now has its own staff of designers, production, and warehouse workers who work on different floors of their five-story Noida office.

Alok and Anush additionally offer their items at a fair price for the benefit of their clients, which has been their brand’s distinctive selling point.

Alok explains that they acquire their fabrics directly from mills in order to keep production costs low. The clothing are created in-house by tailors, and a quality-control crew inspects them before they go on sale.

Anusha explains, “We have a lot of repeat customers, which speaks volumes about our quality and service.”  Their products are exclusively available for purchase online.

“About 15% of our sales come from our own website, with the remainder coming from other portals,” says Alok, who hopes to boost the percentage of sales coming from their website to 50% by the end of the year. The pair is now reaping the benefits of their achievement.

Anusha exclaims, “When we first started our firm, we would even consider going out in a luxury restaurant; now, even a five-star hotel is not too expensive for us. We bought a property in Noida and now have a BMW.”

Meet Vaibhav Anant whose startup Bambrew makes eco-friendly packaging for Amazon, earns Rs 2 cr a month

admin
-
0

Vaibhav Anant quit his job to launch a startup that uses bamboo and wood pulp to make eco-friendly packaging. Bambrew supplies its packaging to top companies like Amazon and Nykaa.

When Vaibhav Anant was working for a Delhi-based ed-tech firm in 2018, there was a lot of buzz about the Government of India’s public commitment to phase out single-use plastics by 2022. This, he claims, piqued his interest in the subject of single-use plastic (SUP) and its negative consequences.

Vaibhav, founder and CEO of Bambrew says, “During my study, I also came across a viral video of a marine biologist extracting a plastic straw lodged in the nostril of a sea turtle.

Seeing the animal suffer was heartbreaking, and it spurred me to develop a remedy, given the prevalence of SUP straws in the meal delivery industry. In August 2018, after quitting my work, I founded Bambrew to provide alternatives to SUP straws. Eventually, I ventured into packaging.”

According to Vaibhav, the Bengaluru-based green tech sustainable packaging firm is “dedicated to reducing the usage of SUP.” It uses natural plant fibres and pulp to “produce viable packaging alternatives” to hazardous plastic (mostly SUP) that are “eco-efficient and sustainable.”

Bambrew takes pleasure in being a company that targets leading giants that contribute significantly to global plastic waste generation in traditional areas such as e-commerce, retail, FMCG, F&B, pharmaceutical, and so on.

Amazon, Nykaa, 1MG, Puma, Chumbak, Big Basket, Myntra, Flipkart, Aditya Birla, and Accessorize London are just a few of the companies that have partnered with the company.

Vaibhav adds, “We currently generate monthly earnings of roughly Rs 1.5-2 crore and produce more than 10 million items (mailer bags, boxes) per month.”

Vaibhav grew up in a typical middle-class family in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. His father, an English professor at a nearby university, and mother, a social worker, had no entrepreneurial experience.Following high school, he attended the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Bangalore and earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion technology (B.FTech).

Vaibhav started his own company after more than five years of corporate experience. Bambrew began by creating a variety of eco-friendly packaging products made from bamboo, sugarcane, and seaweed. Furthermore, their products were were entirely handmade and obtained from various native tribes around the country.

Regardless of excellent intentions, there will always be concerns regarding scalability. Bambrew no longer sources from tribal tribes, instead relying on specialised machines to make a variety of goods in-house and with other partners.

Vaibhav says, “The goal of developing a substitute was to make it economical and scalable while preserving quality requirements. As a result, we changed to a machine configuration rather than a handmade setup, as our reliance on craftsmen was considerable and the quality of handmade products was uneven. More than 55 percent of global plastic waste is generated by the packaging industry, which cannot be recycled or decomposed. Our goal has always been to eliminate plastic in a sustainable manner. We have over 174 manufacturing partners in addition to our own factory, which can produce more than 75 million mailer bags every month.”

He asserts, “Our total capacity is more than 50,000 tonnes of sustainable alternates every month, which corresponds to more than 100 million pieces per month.” Bambrew employs 30 employees from a variety of disciplines, including production, package design, and supply chain management. He says that the company expects to grow to a workforce of more than 100 people within the next six months.

But, more specifically, what materials does Bambrew utilise to create their sustainable packaging?

According to Vaibhav, they employ Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified bamboo and wood pulp. FSC is a widely recognised certification system that recognises products sourced from “responsibly managed, socially beneficial, environmentally conscientious, and commercially viable” forests. It’s similar to a fair trade certification for forest-sourced commodities.

Vaibhav says, “We are currently considering using hemp as a raw material as well, as it is the quickest growing plant other than bamboo. In India, we collaborate with many mills to produce our own raw material. However, some of our raw resources are imported, such as bamboo pulp. Furthermore, when our exclusive and indigenously developed coating process is put to paper, it imparts plastic-like qualities while retaining all of its biodegradability. In other words, Vaibhav asserts, “we can transmit the qualities of plastic onto paper without affecting its degradability or recyclability.”

According to Vaibhav, Bambrew has received two rounds of external funding, the most recent Pre-Series A round raising USD 2.35 million. They hope to work with 100 significant organisations from around the country by the end of current fiscal year, he says.

Vaibhav Anant says, “Bambrew has successfully reduced over 10,000 tonnes of plastic by developing viable substitutes that are ideal natural replacements for single-use plastic in the B2B and B2C domains. We hope to expand the organization’s business footprint throughout several Indian cities and foreign marketplaces in the future, and become the world’s first and largest eco-friendly organisation.”

Women can save our environment by switching to sustainable period hygiene products

admin
-
0

While periods are a natural medical condition that almost every woman goes through on a monthly basis, very few know the real consequences of using sanitary napkins. While our country is moving towards building a sustainable future, a greater chunk of women are still using pads and tampons which, after a single-use, take an average of 700 years to decompose leaving the environment in misery.

While there are sustainable solutions available, very few people are open to trying them out due to baseless myths spread across the world. It is presumed that by using cloth pads there is a higher chance of leakage and of getting rashes due to moisture accumulating in the pads.
 
We spoke to Mansi Sampat, founder of Blissful Women, a female hygiene product manufacturer and distributor regards sustainable menstruation hygiene products, she mentioned, “While our country is developing each and every day, there are health-related subjects such as menstruation hygiene that are still frowned upon. While women in urban areas use plastic sanitary napkins, and tampons, we have seen it through our eyes that women in rural areas use ‘hay’ ‘Cow dung & ash cakes.’ and ‘old clothes’ during the time of their periods, which leads to them contracting infections.

While we talk to women about these sustainable products being available, we come to realize that people have yet not understood the difference between using ‘cloth’ and ‘cloth pads’. While when a cloth is used at the time of periods, there is a higher possibility that excess blood would leak, but when it comes to cloth pads, they are specifically designed to ensure that they could soak in the flow leaving very little moisture on the surface preventing irritation and rashes.”
 
Cloth pads are highly sustainable in nature as it can be used for around 80 cycles if maintained properly which is a cost-saving and environmentally friendly solution.

SaaS startup Lummo secures investment from Jeff Bezos in its Series C funding round

admin
-
0

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ personal investment firm, Bezos Expeditions, has invested in an Indonesian direct-to-consumer SaaS startup. Lummo, formerly known as BukuKas, secured the amount as part of its Series C round of funding.

Lummo raised $80 million in its Series C round in January, led by new investors Tiger Global Management and previous backer Sequoia Capital India.

According to records with Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), it has received $3 million so far from Explore Investments LLC, a company believed to be associated with Bezos Expeditions. Lummo may acquire further cash from the company due to the fact that firms normally receive capital in tranches.

Lummo founder and CEO Krishnan Menon said in a statement, “We are honoured to have Jeff Bezos’ support in this Series C investment round as we position our company for exponential development in the next months and years.”

Menon stated that the funding will enable the business to expand its product offerings through technology breakthroughs such as chat commerce, catalogue integration, custom domains and websites, multiple platform administration, and customised branding features. The CEO described Bezos’ investment in Lummo as a “confirmation of the excellent work” that Lummo offers to Indonesia. He, however, declined to discuss the specifics of future collaboration in the aftermath of the investment.

Bezos is no stranger to Indonesian ventures. He made his first bet in the country with Ula, a B2B marketplace that received $7 million from Bezos Expeditions.

According to Swarup Gupta, an industry manager at The Economist Intelligence Unit, such a move reflects a “increasing acknowledgement of initiatives to formalise small retail forms across emerging Asia. The success of Bukalapak, as well as initiatives by other players such as Reliance’s Jiomart from India, show that this will remain a prominent trend in the next years.”

Hedosophia, the secretive venture capital firm led by Ian Osborne, also participated in Lummo’s Series C transaction. According to regulatory records, the investment firm invested $3.55 million in the Indonesian business in February. Hedosophia had already invested $30 million in Lummo for the year 2021.

The startup ecosystem in Indonesia is gradually attracting the attention of global behemoths, with Google, Microsoft, and Facebook already investing in the island.

“With 65 million micro, little, and medium enterprise players in the market, the money being moved here is undoubtedly enticing.”

That is why, according to Nailul Huda, a researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), “many investors are interested in investing in platforms that target MSMEs.”

Meet the Mumbai woman who started her restaurant Sangeeta’s Kitchen with Rs. 2500 only

admin
-
0

Sangeeta wanted to run her own restaurant, but she didn’t have the required money. She eventually started the restaurant with with just Rs. 2500.

Seeing someone overcome adversity inspires us to do the same and work hard. And, with motivation, humans can accomplish the seemingly impossible. We’ve discovered one such story that will both humble and inspire us!

A woman from Mumbai had a goal to open her own restaurant, and after years of hard labour, she was able to do so. Sangeeta’s Kitchen’s incredible adventure began with barely INR 2500. She desperately wanted to open her own restaurant, but she lacked the necessary funds. She didn’t let a lack of funds deter her from pursuing her aspirations.

Sangeeta and her husband had only INR 2500 in savings. After borrowing money from friends, they were able to open their own little restaurant, Sangeeta’s Kitchen. They even paid off the loans using the proceeds from the restaurant!

Sangeeta’s hands and legs were severely burned in her restaurant, yet she didn’t stop working. People can enjoy a variety of thali at the restaurant.

Sangeeta began her food profession selling rotis before opening the restaurant. Then she started a tiffin service, a small-scale business that is huge in Mumbai. She progressed from a vada pav stall to a modest restaurant after saving money through her tiffin service.

The video was posted to YouTube by food blogger “Swad Official,” and it has received 144k views and 5k likes. The hard work encouraged a lot of people.

Here’s what a few folks had to say about the venture:

One person said, “Sangeeta Madam’s tale is quite motivating. This lady can teach any aspiring small business owner a thing or two. She aspires to be a successful business owner. Thank you so much for making such an inspiring video.”

Another one added, “They are both true heroes, and it is so rewarding to see someone progress. They are blessed by God.”

Yet another patron of the restaurant noted, “Outside of home, the cuisine is great, and the pair is really lovely and friendly. They are blessed by God.”

Another fan of Sangeeta added, “God bless you, Sangeeta aunty; kudos to your spirit and hard effort.”

Digital marketing trends you should know in 2022

admin
-
0

The things we believed we knew about the digital landscape were actually the tip of the iceberg. Find out 5 digital marketing trends to be successful in the field this year.

The amount of money committed to digital marketing and communications has increased dramatically over the last two years, posing issues for senior-level marketers who have been unable to keep up with the changing times. The rate at which new digital advertising, social media marketing, and SEO tactics are evolving and changing is faster than it has ever been.

People who have worked in marketing and communications for at least twenty years should reassess their skills and knowledge. Don’t let tactics you learned a decade ago become a weakness as you struggle to be heard in a digital community with nearly four billion individuals.

MySpace and Friendster were only two of the social media sites that were “out” by 2010. Facebook and Twitter were growing in popularity, while YouTube was producing video game stars. Some people used Google AdWords, but the field of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising was still in its early stages. On social media, simply posting on a regular basis was thought to be helpful. What a difference a decade can make.

When 2020 took an unexpected turn, I felt it was an opportunity to learn about contemporary digital marketing trends by enrolling in a master’s programme at a business school.

Here are some things I’ve learnt about how digital marketing has changed in the 2020s.

1. Roles have shifted, putting increased pressure on marketing departments to share some of their work with public relations teams, and vice versa. When I worked in a corporate setting, there was a clear distinction between marketing, public relations, and design.

2. Digital marketing and design thinking have made it possible for organisations to more seriously conduct strategy discussions and build plans for releasing new goods. Having representatives from all departments in the same room should now be routine procedure. Bring different coloured post-its to keep track of all the fantastic ideas your diverse team will come up with.

3. It takes a village to get a product to market. Most marketing departments featured designers, copywriters, ad planners, and researchers when I joined. A digital marketing team requires long-form content writers as well as copywriters. A search engine marketing professional, web designers (who understand search engine optimization), analysts to pull data from social media and web platforms, researchers, public relations professionals to manage messaging and the brand, content schedulers, real-time social monitors who engage in real time, designers and producers who can edit video and audio are all required.

4. Make a plan and stick to it until you get a chance to evaluate how well it is working. Too often, I see digital marketers change their techniques and strategy when a client or management expresses worry or has a new concept. Digital marketing is a game of whack-a-mole without a plan and some statistics to analyse progress.

5. Growth is fantastic if it is long-term. There are certain new firms that take off quickly and make a lot of money in the first five years. This is especially true in marketing, where word-of-mouth spreads in seconds. However, if you do not have a long-term marketing strategy, you will struggle to stay in business. As quickly as you are growing, a slew of rival products are researching and plotting their counter-attack.

There is a lot to learn about digital marketing, but not a lot of time. It is an exciting moment in the field of marketing and communications, but continuing education is essential for success.

1...1,1411,1421,143...1,226Page 1,142 of 1,226