Omnichannel home interiors platform Livspace joins unicorn club with new $1.2B funding

admin
-
0

Omnichannel home interiors platform Livspace is now a unicorn. The company has just closed a new $1.2 billion funding round.

Livspace, a startup that specialises in home interiors and renovations, has raised $180 million in a new round of funding spearheaded by private equity firm KKR, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. This makes Livspace the newest member of the exclusive unicornclub of firms valued at more than a billion dollars.

According to a senior company official, Livspace would use the funds to grow internationally, strengthen its position in key regions such as India, and broaden its product offerings.

Existing investors included Ingka Group Investments (part of the largest IKEA retailer Ingka Group), Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners, and Peugeot Investments, among others, in the investment round.Investors have so far contributed $450 million.

Livspace, founded in 2014 by Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava, bills itself as the world’s largest omni-channel home interior and refurbishment company.

It has supplied over 100,000 rooms and sold over 7.5 million goods on its site.

Cofounder and CEO Anuj Srivastava, said Livspace is expanding phenomenally not only in India but also in Singapore. The company now plans to offer additional products, and accelerate its launches across new regions with operations in APAC, MENA, and Australia.

According to him, the company’s income is expected to grow tenfold over the next 24-36 months.The company entered the Middle East in October of last year, beginning with Saudi Arabia, where it launched a joint venture with the Alsulaiman Group (ASG).

Srivastava stated that Livspace will continue to invest in its technology and digitally connected supply chain, as well as hire talent across the board, to serve both new and existing businesses.

Livspace now services Singapore and Malaysia, as well as 30 Indian metro and non-metro locations.

“With the new funding, we are well positioned to introduce new products for homes and become the go-to platform brand for all things home,” said Ramakant Sharma, Livspace’s cofounder and COO.

The cash will be used to assist the company develop a war chest in order to carry out its inorganic expansion strategy. It recently purchased a majority stake in Qanvast, a Singapore-based player in house remodelling and design.

Gaurav Trehan, partner and CEO of KKR India said, “KKR looks forward to leveraging our strong technological and operational knowledge, as well as our regional and worldwide network, to assist Livspace’s continuing expansion.”

This is KKR’s second investment in Indian tech-led new age companies. It recently took part in a fundraising round for omnichannel eyeglasses retailer Lenskart. These investments are part of the company’s Asia next generation technology strategy.

Sulochana Beru and her husband built shelter home for 500 disabled patients as their son was mentally impaired

admin
-
0

Sulochana and  her husband Niraj Beru built a shelter home in Pune for children suffering from mental disabilities. The couple formed Beru Matimand Pratishthana after watching their own son suffer because of a broken system.

Sulochana and Niraj Beru first encountered the trials of parenting when their son was diagnosed with an intellectual impairment in 1969.

Sulochana recalls a time when the stigma around mental health was even more intense.

In India, at least 20 million mentally challenged people do not have access to a house or secure shelter. Around 10% of the total are children.

Government-established institutes’ inadequate infrastructure and unsanitary environment fail to meet their needs and provide effective care.

Sulochana claims she attempted to enrol her son in a special education school.

However, the institutes either said no or the administration asked him to leave after a few months, she continues.

“He would frequently destroy his friends’ books, which became an annoyance to teachers and other kids who complained about him,” she recalls.

Sulochana goes on to say that her son’s behaviour has begun to effect his older sibling.

Teachers and others close to her advised her to admit her son to a psychiatric facility.

Admission to a psychiatric hospital, on the other hand, would only serve the purpose for a month.

The 75-year-old claims that there was no place for their son to be rehabilitated.

Sulochana and Niraj decided to open a residential shelter home for their son and other children in Niraj’s spare parts shop near Pune.

after they saw that many parents of children with mental impairments couldn’t afford drugs or basic treatment.

“With five children, including their son, they established a small centre in Alandi, but the children left as the area residents failed to accept our idea,” she recalls.

Sulochana moved to Pune with the children in 1989 to legally establish Beru Matimand Pratishthan, where they leased a bungalow and lived for four years.

“Most of parents were Mumbai residents who wanted us relocate to a suburb of Mumbai, as they were finding it tough to travel frequently to meet their children,”

We needed land between Pune and Mumbai to be more convenient, but we couldn’t afford it.”

Sulochana and Niraj obtained a 20-year lease from the government for a 2.5-acre plot of land in Badlapur in 1995.

She says Niraj also wanted all comfort features for the shelter home.

Sulochana has been running the business on her alone for the past ten years since her spouse died.

Her oldest son ran their Pune store and helped Sulochana with the shelter house when needed.

I’m the sole one running the show, after dad died in 2021.” she explains.

At the moment, the shelter house has over 100 inmates, including 40 orphans adopted by Sulochana. The shelter home has so far served over 500 people.

Here’s What Happened to the Old 500 and 1000 Rupee Notes 5 Years After Demonetization

admin
-
0

On the night of November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetized all 500 and 1000 rupee notes. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported in 2018 that 99.3 percent of the old notes have been handed to the banking system.

Today, more than 5 years after that historic announcement, when tens of thousands of people queued outside banks to exchange their old notes for new ones, one issue remains unanswered: what occurred to those old notes?

What did the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government do with the old banknotes? What did they do with them? Did they reuse them or other?

What Happened to the Notes That Were Demonetized?

The demonetized currency gathered from banks is processed through a monetary authentication and processing system that can distinguish between real and phoney notes, according to prior assertions by RBI officials.

After that, the demonetized currencies are shredded and turned into coals, which are compressed garbage blocks. Tenders are invited after it has been converted into briquettes. The briquettes are subsequently supplied to wood and paper producers.

In summary, the RBI receives old outlawed notes, which are shredded and turned into composite waste blocks, which are then sold to cardboard and paper manufacturers through tenders.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of 1,000 currency in circulation on November 8, 2016, the day of the display of information, totaling a huge amount of 15.44 lakh crore.

The Reserve Bank of India claimed in its annual report for 2016-17, released on August 30th 2017, that 15.28 lakh crore, or nearly 99.3% of the demonetized notes, had returned to the banking system.

Only 16,050 crore of the 15.44 lakh crore kept in previous demonetized notes was not recovered for the financial year ended June 30, 2017, according to the RBI.

However, even after more than five years since this massive demonetization move, the question of whether demonetization was successful in capturing black money remains unresolved.

Meet Shark Tank India’s Anupam Mittal who founded Shaadi.com

admin
-
0

You may not be knowing that your favorite judge on Shark Tank India, Anupam Mittal, is also the founder of Shaadi.com. Here’s all that you need about the reality show’s Captain Cool.

Anupam Mittal, has come a long way from the time he founded Shaadi.com to investing in more than 200 startups.

Anupam Mittal is the founder and CEO of People Group. Shaadi.com originated in 1999 as Sagaai.com, but Anupam Mittal changed the name to Shaadi.com in 2001, believing it to be a more marketable brand. Anupam has also invested in Bollywood films and is the producer of the movie Flavors and 99. In the inaugural season of the Sony LIV business reality show Shark Tank India, he is one of the Sharks, or investors.

Anupam Mittal was born on 23rd December, 1971 to Bhagwati Devi Mittal and Gopal Krishna Mittal. Anupam graduated from Boston College in Massachusetts, USA. From 1994 to 1997, Anupam majored in Operations & Strategic Management.

He resigned down as CEO of online matrimony platform Shaadi.com in July 2015 to focus on worldwide expansion and other areas of company.

Mittal returned to Shaadi.com as CEO in March 2016, following more than a decade as an investor, primarily in start-ups.

In December 2021, he appears as one of the investors, or “sharks,” in Shark Tank India, an Indian business reality television series.

Mittal had invested in about 200 start-up firms as of July 2016, including Interactive Avenues, Druva, Sapience Analytics, Pretty Secrets, Cafe Zoe, Peel Works, TaxSpanner, Fab Hotels, Ketto, Prop Tiger, Big Basket, FarEye, Lets Venture, and others.

He also produced the first two Bollywood movies directed by Raj and DK, Flavors and 99.

Anupam Mittal married his long-term love, actress Aanchal Kumar, in the Jaipur Palace on July 4, 2013. Alyssa Mittal is the only daughter of the couple.

How parental stress led Varun and Ghazal Alagh to build Rs 700 cr D2C personal care business Mamaearth

admin
-
0

Varun and Ghazal Alagh built a D2C personal care business due to parental stress. Mamaearth now clocks a turnover of Rs. 700 crore.

When Varun and his wife Ghazal Alagh were unable to heal their infant son’s skin condition with products accessible in the Indian market, they looked deeper. It was discovered that the Indian market was swamped with generic products that were contaminated with poisons and hence could not be used on newborns. Despite the fact that the couple was eventually able to meet their demand by ordering “appropriate” materials from the United States, which was a “inconvenient arrangement,” they remained involved in the issue statement.

Ghazal explains, “We learned that several poisons that were banned in countries other than India and determined to be detrimental to newborn skin were nonetheless commonly utilised here. That is what prompted us to believe that something should be done about it.”

Further discussions with their friends and family revealed that many parents were dissatisfied with the quality of products offered in India. That is what solidified the couple’s choice to launch a business in this field.

The duo was ready with six infant items, including lotions, rash creams, shampoos, massage oils, body wash, and diapers, backed by scientific research and persistent gamma testing with a small focus group of mothers, including Ghazal herself.

The objective was straightforward: to provide natural and toxin-free products for infant skin while also assisting new parents in relieving stress.

Mamaearth made its formal debut in December 2016 and became a D2C sensation in less than five years and is one of the fastest-growing brands in India’s FMCG sector.

It has evolved from six goods to 140-odd SKUs in the baby care, skincare, and haircare segments, and has served over five million people in 500 cities.

Mameartth generates money through its own direct-to-consumer platform, ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Nykaa, and offline channels. According to an analyst analysis by Jefferies, the Gurugram-based firm crossed an annual revenue run rate of Rs 700 crore ($100 million) in FY21. Despite the fact that Mamaearth began with baby care, the vertical now accounts for only 20% of its revenue, with the remainder coming from skincare and haircare.

During its Series C round of $50 million led by Sofina Ventures in July, the company was valued at $730 million. Mamaearth’s supporters include Sequoia Capital India, Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners, Sharp Ventures, and Titan Capital, and company has raised almost $75 million to date.

What did Mamaearth do well that allowed it to break into an incredibly competitive and primarily offline personal care business and quickly become a multi-billion-dollar brand?

Ghazal said, “Mamaearth looked at whether it could fix a problem for even 500 customers. The process of innovation is not as complex as it appears. You can start with a small production batch of 4,000-5,000 units and see how people react. You can then decide how your innovation funnel will appear based on that. This offers us the ability to innovate more quickly and cater to specific markets. We learned what the consumer was searching for using listening methods, rather than stating ‘see, this is the market size and this is the percent share we’ll acquire.”

Mamaearth’s success is built on listening-based innovation and a consumer-first strategy. This is what has given the company the growth momentum over the last four years.”

Ghazal explains,”Because consumers recognise that this is one company that is paying attention to them. What brands should focus on is why the consumer should buy from them rather than what they should buy from them.”

Mamaearth’s ‘why’ was obvious from the start. It is now Asia’s only MADE SAFE-certified brand. (It is a non-toxic seal for personal care goods.) In addition, a category leader in the D2C personal care area is taking on incumbents. Mamaearth now has over 140 SKUs in baby care, haircare, and skincare.

Mamaearth’s goal is to create a “brand for and by parents. It believes that in order to compete in the “aggressive” and crowded D2C arena, brands must establish personal ties with consumers in order to persuade them to buy items for “emotional reasons.”

Top strategies for note taking in Zoom meetings like an expert

admin
-
0

Have you ever been curious about how to take notes in Zoom meetings? Here are some of the more effective methods.

After a Zoom meeting, most individuals forget what was said. You might become inefficient and unproductive if you don’t remember the highlights of the meeting.

So, how do you keep track of all your virtual meetings? Fill up the blanks with meeting notes. While this isn’t a novel notion, many people lack the proper note-taking method to assist them keep track of their calls. How, on the other hand, do you take notes during Zoom meetings? Let’s have a look.

Meeting Notes vs. Minutes: What’s the Difference? What’s the Difference Between the Two?

The majority of the time, meeting notes and meeting minutes are used interchangeably.

Meeting notes are a summary of the ideas, plans, objectives, activities, and deadlines discussed during the meeting.

Meeting notes, apart from personal usage, may also be a resource for your coworkers, especially if you’re willing to share yours.

Because they include all of the important information addressed at a meeting, they can help your team be more productive. Your meeting notes, on the other hand, should be organized.

Here are some top tips on taking notes like a pro in Zoom meetings:

1. Become acquainted with the fundamentals of note-taking.

There are various issues that you should address when taking notes. The following are some of the items you should include:

PRE-MEETING:

Write down the details that are already available to you before the meeting starts so you don’t lose time.

Here they are:

Time and date: This will assist you in properly organising and sorting your notes.

Attendees and meeting type: Is this a customer call or a meeting with the team?

Who was there?

Agenda:

A synopsis of the meeting’s topics.

Do you have any suggestions for what we should talk about at the meeting?

Make a list of them so you don’t forget them.

DURING THE MEETING: Once the meeting starts, you may concentrate your note-taking on the most significant points spoken, such as:

Action items: Make a list of any plans that were addressed during the meeting.

Provide the information requested, including the names of the persons involved, the assignment and duties, the timeframe, and the deadline.

Facts: Any pertinent information presented during the meeting.

Question and response:

Keep a record of the questions and responses that were posed during the meeting so that you may go back to them if necessary.

2. Recording Everything You Hear Isn’t Necessary

Taking notes isn’t about writing down everything spoken in the Zoom meeting. The old-school method of writing down the whole meeting is no longer used by professionals.

This is because the entire procedure takes a long time and contradicts the point of taking notes in the first place. Instead, merely keep track of keywords and action items To keep your notes succinct and easy to read, review the fundamentals of note-taking.

3. Construct a Template

Create a template to help the entire note-taking process go faster. You may make your own template to fit your needs, or you can use alternative note-taking ways. A mind map might be a great template if you’re a visual person.

You may utilise note-taking applications in addition to techniques to help you manage things. Some apps come with pre-made templates, so you don’t have to worry about generating or finding one.

4. Establish Your Objective

The most crucial thing to consider if you want to be effective in producing Zoom meeting notes is your aim. Why are you taking notes in the first place?

Do you have to take notes as part of your job? Do you wish to share them with others? What do you want to gain from it?

You’ll be more motivated to take better notes if you define your note-taking aim. Writing meeting notes becomes a breeze if you know what you want to accomplish. You’ll have a better knowledge of what you want to accomplish.

Remember that your meeting notes should assist you in improving your profession.

Is it Always Necessary to Take Notes During Zoom Meetings? You are not required to take notes at all times during sessions. You must, however, learn to weigh the value of each call you make.

Nonetheless, taking notes is a valuable skill to have if you want to grow in your work.

Meet Ananya Malde who raised period awareness via Project Pragati at the age of 14

admin
-
0

A 14-year-old girl launched a project to raise awareness about menstruation. Ananya Malde dispeled myths and provided period products to adolescent girls through Project Pragati.

Ananya Malde, was 14-years old when she learned why her house maid’s younger sister had to drop out of seventh grade. The reason was menstruation, and Ananya learned about the societal stigma around it.

Ananya Malde says, “Due to menstruation, they had a large celebration to announce that she is now of marriageable age. I was taken aback when I heard it, and I had no idea how serious the matter was until then, because it didn’t seem like a reason to drop out to me.”

Further web study revealed that the period represents a wider cultural issue restricting chances for young females. According to a survey published by Dasra, as many as 23 million girls drop out of school owing to a lack of basic menstrual hygiene to learn safely in schools. Ananya was inspired to launch Project Pragati, which strives to dispel myths and provide period products to adolescent girls in rural regions.

Ananya entered the 1M1B Future Leader project, a UN-accredited non-profit initiative co-founded by Manav Subodh to foster one million young changemakers, as a grade nine student at National Public School Indiranagar in Bengaluru. She launched the initiative in November 2020 with an emphasis on Gujarat, her native state, because her proficiency in the regional language would help her interact better with the rural populace.

Ananya talked with the sarpanchs of three villages and around a hundred school-aged girls through 1M1B foundation’s NGO partners to assess their understanding of menstruation. She saw a significant absence of period awareness and education among young girls and their parents.

“The parents have no idea what menstruation is or why women get it.Teachers who knew wouldn’t go into detail on the issue, instead skimming over it and telling the class that girls get periods and that’s it. She claims that they are embarrassed to teach or explain to them.

Lack of access to period care products such as sanitary napkins, as well as the means to dispose of them, is another issue. Many people wear clothing because they don’t have access to pads in their area or can’t afford them.

Following the field study, the adolescent decided to run public awareness campaigns and fill up the resources gap in order to solve the issue. The school administrators, on the other hand, needed to be persuaded to allow her to conduct awareness training.

She created a complete menstrual health curriculum in Gujarati that covers everything from puberty through adolescence to period and hormonal changes in the female body, as most internet resources are in English or Hindi. She then held awareness programmes for girls aged 10 to eighteen, explaining the science underlying menstruation.

“They were quite open and comfortable discussing their menstruation with me. They also asked things that they couldn’t ask their parents or professors. The sessions went better than planned since I was their age,” she says.

She began an online fundraising in April 2021 and raised Rs 5.5 lakh, which she used to provide sanitary napkins and have incinerators erected in schools for pad disposal. In December, she returned to Gujarat, this time visiting isolated sections of the Rann of Kutch, where salt workers live in shacks for nine months of the year, from October to June. NGOs have also put up separate shacks for the youngsters to use as classrooms. However, not everyone is familiar with sanitary pads.

Ananya claims that her awareness seminars have had a big influence on them since she taught them how to use a pad, how to dispose of it, and general menstrual hygiene.

She has provided over 30,000 sanitary pads and erected incinerators in two schools, one in Kutch and the other in Vadodara, thus far.

COVID-19, on the other hand, was a major impediment, as she couldn’t travel to Gujarat from Bengaluru for additional field work.

The teenage activist has compiled a list of English-medium government schools in Bengaluru where she intends to have a good impact by holding awareness workshops.

Working in Bengaluru has been difficult for her in the past because she does not speak Kannada.

Ananya Malde has also been chosen to showcase her work at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the 1M1B Summit.

How Atul Garg built Rs 100 cr stationary brand Oddy with Rs 5 lacs from his basement

admin
-
0

Atul Garg launched a stationery brand with Rs 5 lakh from his home basement. The business called, Oddy, clocked a turnover of Rs 100 crore in 2020.

After seeing his father’s stationery business expand, Atul Garg chose to forego his post-graduation education and joined the family business after finishing his first year M Com examinations. He was 20 years old at the time, and the year was 1998.

After assisting his father at the store for a few years, he was well-versed in the trade. Shri Niwas Garg’s father ran a stationery business in Chawri Bazar, Delhi, called Nai Sarak.

“Alankar Stationery Mart was founded by my father in 1978 with a capital of Rs 25,000.

It was a 50-square-foot store at the time, and he supplied stationery to government agencies,”, according to Atul, he has now evolved the company into the Oddy stationery brand. In 1998, Oddy was founded with Rs 5 lakh and five staff in the basement of Atul’s Delhi home.

The company has grown over the years and is expected to reach a revenue of Rs 100 crore in 2020. Soon after Atul started working full-time for the company, he realised that establishing their own line of stationery would be a game changer.

“We needed a name that would work with a variety of stationery goods, so we came up with ‘On Demand.’ We abbreviated the name to Oddy since it was too lengthy. In 1995, my father formed Atul Paper Pvt Ltd as a distributorship company, but we opted to concentrate on Oddy instead. I set up a modest office in the basement of my house and worked with my small team, using the expertise I had obtained while working in the shop with my father during my graduation.

From the basement of his home, Atul established Oddy with five employees. He began by selling a few items, including OHP sheets for projectors, copier paper, sticky notes, and STD PCO rolls, which were used for billing calls in the public phone booths that were common at the time.

Correction pens, glossy paper, paper label stickers, scribbling pads, POS rolls, glue sticks, and origami sheets are among the items offered by Oddy today.

Atul, on the other hand, got his early commercial skills from his father Shri Niwas, who married Sunita in 1976. Amit Garg and Sachin Garg are Atul’s younger siblings.

The brothers attended Delhi’s Mahavir Senior Model School. Atul was a diligent student who consistently ranked in the top five students in his class.

He also participated in discussions and athletics as part of his extracurricular activities.

Atul says, “We grew up in a pretty middle-class family. We had everything we needed, yet we never went overboard. Because we didn’t have any pocket money, we had to beg our parents for money anytime we needed something.”

Atul has been working with his father since he was in college. He graduated from Class 12 in 1995 and enrolled in the SGTB Khalsa College of Delhi University’s B Com programme.

Atul says, “When I started college, my father gave me an Opel Astra automobile. My college was about 2 kilometres away from my house.”

Atul, on the other hand, has no regrets.

He says, “I didn’t have the great college life that everyone speaks about. But I learned hands-on from someone who created a firm from the ground up in a period when startups were unheard of.”

By the end of 2017, distribution was completed. After finishing his M Com first-year examinations in 1998, he opted to get into company full-time. They now owned a 20,000-square-foot building across the street from their old (50-square-foot) shop in Chawri Bazar, and their business had expanded as well.

That was the year Atul and his father founded the company Oddy, and they were off to a strong start, with a first-year revenue of Rs 25 lakh. Their store began to stock Oddy as well as other brands.

In 2000 and 2002, Atul’s brothers Amit and Sachin joined their father’s stationery company. Atul, on the other hand, continued to focus on Oddy items.

In 2004, the family opened a 12,000-square-foot production facility in Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area. Oddy was given a countrywide distributorship two years later.

In 2008, as their business increased, they opened a second facility in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. By 2010, the family had stopped distributing other stationery goods and had focused only on Oddy.

By this time, his father had established himself as a fixture on national television, appearing on business shows as a paper industry expert.

“In 2014, the firm received ISO 9001 certification, and for the first time ever, the turnover exceeded Rs 50 crore,” adds Atul, who would soon embark on another big endeavour.

Atul spotted a hole in the aluminium foil they had packed their lunch in while on a picnic with friends and family in January 2016, perhaps owing to the pickle reacting on it. Atul immediately saw the need for an environmentally friendly alternative to aluminium foil and formed a team to do research on a paper-based solution As a consequence, Oddy Uniwrap was born, which he claims is a more durable product that is ideally suited for fatty Indian cuisine. In 2017, Atul founded Oddy Uniwraps.

Atul Garg says, “You can reheat meals on a tawa or OTG without removing the paper wrap using Oddi Uniwrap, something you can’t do with aluminium foil,” expl

“By the end of 2017, we had begun distribution.” In 2019, Oddy Uniwraps Innovations Pvt Ltd had a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore, which grew to Rs 4.5 crore in 2020 and Rs 7 crore in 2021. We aim to close at Rs 9 crore in 2022, and we hope to perform better after the schools open.”

Fluxon’s founder Erad Fridman worked for Google after coding at the age of 6

admin
-
0

A man who founded product development firm, Fluxon, was an early developer at Google. Erad Fridman started coding when he was 6-years-old.

When Erad Fridman joined Google in 2007, it was in the midst of a period of tremendous expansion. Erad’s team created and maintained worldwide Business Intelligence and automation systems that served millions of advertisers and partners while working on many of the tech giant’s basic technologies.

Erad, who founded San Francisco based product developer, Fluxon, and is now the company’s CEO says, “Working in a variety of industries and sectors, from banking to aerospace, has allowed me to recognise the common patterns in product development, independent of industry or area. Working on projects you enjoy and with people you enjoy leads to greater impact and success. As a result, I founded Fluxon with the help of several of my Google friends and former colleagues.”

Erad’s interest in engineering and technology began when he was six years old. His mother had taken a computer home from work with her. It also included a book on how to programme in GWBasic. Erad became increasingly interested in coding over the following few years. He competed in code contests such as Assembly 4k and Computer Science Olympiad, and he learnt about networks via BBS and then the internet.

Erad says, “I have never stopped coding since those early days. Today, I’m lucky to work with many excellent engineers, so I save my coding for making little robots using Arduino and Raspberry Pi.”

Erad, on the other hand, found school to be a little weird. He saw that most of the work in courses like Mathematics and Physics was dependent on memorising formulae and repeating the same types of issues. He educated Erad about infinite mathematics and entered me in math competitions.

Erad says, “By the age of 19, I had finished my computer science and mathematics degrees.” Erad understood he wanted to broaden his horizons after graduating. His passion with technology grew as his engineering abilities developed.

Erad says, “I was astounded by the number of problems that software could answer considerably more quickly than a person could.” For example, he enjoyed playing chess and created a software that could play the game far better than he could. Math homework was the same way: coding helped me handle problems like graphing graphs more faster.

He says, “I couldn’t express it as well back then, but I had the impression that the new world of technology was a force multiplier capable of solving a wide range of issues. Erad began coding at the age of six, but it wasn’t until he was 16 that he landed his first job as a software engineer for a telecom business. Their Vice President of Operations needed tools to keep track of projects, equipment, and resources.”

It was the first time I’d put my coding talents to use in a professional setting. I learnt that, because to the magnifying effect of software, even a small team of engineers (in this case, a team of one) may have a tremendous influence, and that complicated issues can have relatively easy answers with the assistance of technology.

Erad says he also saw that when it comes to making an effect, titles, and age don’t matter much. He worked with Geode Capital until 2007, when he joined Planet.com as Vice President of Product. Erad established Planet’s product management team and introduced the company’s first commercial product, which allowed users to view satellite data in real time and track changes across the world.

He then spent a year as the CPO of IndigoBank in San Francisco before founding Fluxon in 2017.

“We wanted to collaborate on outstanding software products. Our team has grown to include a growing number of outstanding individuals. As demand grew, it became evident that there was a great need for full-service product development across the sector. We’ve grown into a global organisation with operations in the United States, Canada, India, and Ukraine “Erad adds.

Fluxon has developed and released software for organisations such as Google, Stripe, and Zapier, among others. It provides clients with an option to employing an in-house team to construct their product or diverting resources away from their existing technical team.

Erad says, “We can swiftly identify the specific demands of each product and deploy the correct team to bring it to market because to our full-stack experience in engineering, product management, and design. We shorten our customers’ time to market so that they may get more consumer input and iterate more quickly. We create our own goods in addition to the work we perform for our clients. Dory, a real-time Q&A tool for virtual events that is utilised by corporations all over the world, is one of them.”

Prabhaben Shah won Padma Shri at the age of 92 after dedicating her life to feeding and clothing the poor

admin
-
0

A woman from Daman was awarded the Padma Shri when she was 92 years old. Prabhaben Shah was committed to feeding and clothing the poor throughout her life.

When Mahatma Gandhi began the Quit India Movement at a Congress Session in Mumbai in 1942, Prabhaben Shah from Daman was 12 years old. Prabhaben pledged a promise to help to the liberation fight and slept on a jute bag for over six months after being affiliated with Bardoli’s Swaraj Ashram from an early age. She utilised charkha to manufacture khadi out of cotton in school as a symbolic gesture to reject foreign goods.

Prabhaben continued to contribute to society after India gained independence, guided by Gandhi’s beliefs and ideas. She went on to work in a variety of social fields, including education, health, women’s empowerment, disaster assistance, and hostilities with neighbouring nations. In January 2022, she received India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri, for her altruistic and tireless efforts.

Prabhaben adds, “I am really happy and thrilled to accept the distinguished award for my contributions.” Despite the fact that she retired in the late 1990s, she continues to mentor the next generation and provide advice on a variety of topics.

She will celebrate her 93rd birthday on February 20th, but her spirits are as high as they were when she founded the Vapi district playgroup in the 1960s. Prabhaben became a change agent after adopting Gandhi’s adage, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” She dropped out of school in class 7 and married Subhash, who worked for the Gujarat Electricity Board.

In 1960, there was no school, and Prabha wished for her children to graduate. As a result, she established a Gujarati-medium ‘Bal Mandir’ (primary school) for kids. So, rather than founding a school from scratch, I opted to establish a Mahila Mandal and then launch the school via them.

She explains, “We formally established the Daman Mahila Mandal and began activities in 1963.” It was not as simple as Prabha makes it seem to form a women’s organisation.

The environment was rural, and the time period was the 1960s, when women still adhered to the purdah code and did not venture out. The earliest gatherings were held at her home so that women could freely express themselves, and Prabhaben taught them on basic education and healthcare through these dialogues.

The Mahila Mandal created two English and Gujarati medium schools through crowdsourcing. As the Mahila Mandal grew in size, Prabhaben and her team took the next step and established a credit organisation to provide loans to women who wanted to start small enterprises such as papad manufacturing, tailoring, or running a grocery shop. Along with empowering women, the organisation also focused on other initiatives such as assisting the poor. in the year 1965, they made a significant contribution by opening a vegetarian canteen for patients’ family in a government hospital.

Prabhaben reminisces, “There were no businesses, motels, or restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the hospital, and people from different regions would visit. The stranded family had limited alternatives, so we created a cafeteria with the support of hospital workers, which is still operational today.”

The Mahila Mandal was highly active in generating funds for the troops and martyrs’ families between 1965 and 1971. Prabhaben and other members crocheted sweaters and sent them to soldiers fighting on the border during the two wars. After seeing the independence movement, this moment seemed unreal for Prabhaben. She says that the people of India didn’t beg for independence so that they might suffer at the hands of the neighbors.

Similar cloth bank efforts were carried out by Prabhaben and Prabhaben’s colleagues following the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984, the disastrous Kutch earthquake in 2001, and the Kerala floods in 2018. She adds, “Whenever a crisis occurs, we donate, embroider, and purchase garments for people, the elderly, and children.”

Prabhaben Shah has worked on a variety of topics and made a difference in the lives of many people, from children to women, throughout the years. Her energy and determination have earned her recognition as a social activist. She claims the path was difficult since she had to manage the Mahila Mandal on a shoestring budget at first.

1...1,1441,1451,146...1,226Page 1,145 of 1,226