ARTICLES ON ENTREPRENEURS 1

8/7/2019 ARTICLES ON ENTREPRENEURS 1

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Topics:::: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

( For smaller articles divide form group of 2 each and for big articles form

group of 3 each )

ARTICLE 1---

Innovates to Make Agriculture easy

IT IS a fallacy to think that innovation is a high-end activity that takes place only in

sophisticated laboratories. Innovation encompasses technological innovation, a fresh

way of management or a different way of doing the same task, but which would result

in better performance, said Smt Pratibha Patil, President of India, at a meeting in

New Delhi to honour grass root innovators.

Wasteful expenditure When crores of rupees are being spent for agriculture by the

Government every year for developing new machines and systems to help farmers, the

sad fact is that either the machines developed are not popular, or in some cases fail to

meet the expected requirement. But a farmer in Assam, Mr. Uddhab Bharali,

developed more than 85 engineering devices for different purposes in agriculture. Out

of these thirteen are commercialised. Mr. Bharali set up a research workshop to help

local communities and industries solve their technological needs in his hometown of

North Lakshimpur on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Natural flair I believe

that developing new machines comes naturally to me and it is this flair which helped

me repay my fathers debts by starting a polythene film making industry to cater to

the demand from the surrounding tea estates, says Mr. Bharali. He designed and

developed a new polythene making machine at a subsidised cost of sixty seven

thousand rupees, when company made machines were priced at Rs. 4 lakh. Thesuccess of this machine gave Mr. Bharali the confidence to develop more machines.

After repaying his fathers debts, he got a contract for maintenance of machinery in a

hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh near the Indo-China border. Some of the

other machines which he developed are: Pomegranate de seederwhich separates the

outer hard skin and the thin inner membrane without damaging the seeds. Using this

machine one can easily deseed 50-55 kg of pomegranates in an hour. The machine has

been exported to Turkey and the U.S. Arecanut peeler Manual peeling of areca nuts is

a cumbersome job and there are chances of fingers getting cut. Mr. Bharali developed

an areca nut peeling machine with a capacity to peel 100-120 nuts in a minute.

Another device, the cassava peeler is a portable electric machine that can process up to5 kg of cassava per minute. Mr. Bharali developed an assembly of machines that

performs operations such as splitting long lengths of bamboo, sizing, surface finishing

and polishing them. These units are installed with the help of the National Innovation

Foundation at North Cachar hills. Other innovations In addition to the above, the

farmer also developed remi recortication machine, garlic peeling machine, tobacco leaf

cutter, paddy thresher, cane stripping machine, brass utensil polishing machine, safed

musli peeling machine, jatropha de-seeder, mechanised weeding machine, passion

fruit juice extractor, trench digger and a chopper for cattle and fisheries feed. Many of

the innovations are popular in foreign countries. The Central Silk board sought his


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guidance to redesign a sophisticated reeling machine. He also designed a stevia

pulveriser & passion fruit gel extractor for North Eastern Region Community

Resource Management Project (NERCRMP). Resource scholar Mr. Bharaliis also a

resource scholar for the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship and a technical

consultant to Rural Technology Action Group (RUTAG) for the development of

technology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati.

(2 people in a group)


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ARTICLE 2

Mrs. S. Saradhamani is a progressive lady farmer of Perianiackenpalayam village in

Coimbatore District. With hardly 2-3 acres, Saradhamani has been successfully

integrating goat, cattle rearing, vermicompost manufacturing and growing a number

of crop varieties such as sunflower, vegetables and high yielding fodder grass varieties.

A goat shed was constructed on her farm with financial assistance from the

University, which also supplied her with about 5 female and 1 male Tellicherry goats.

Tellicherry goats are mainly reared for mutton purposes, and stall feeding is highly

suitable for this breed. In about 3 years I have earned about Rs. 75,000 from the sale

of goats alone, she said. But why did she prefer to pay more attention to goat rearing

when cattle would have been a better option? Rearing goats is relatively easier

compared to cattle as the expenditure involved in goat rearing is less when compared

to cattle.

The feed for my animals is mostly grown in my field. In fact I spend about only Rs. 2

per day as feed cost for one animal. A female goat gives birth to 4 kids in a year and

the kids are sold for Rs, 2,000 each when they attain 3-4 months of age.

Also, selling the goats is easy when compared to cattle as there are no middlemen

involved, as farmers approach me directly if they need any animals. The cost factor is

small when compared to that of cattle. Farmers can easily pay the small amount for

buying the goat kids unlike that of cattle which costs several thousands. In short,

goats are similar to ATM cards which can be used to get money in times of

emergency, said the enterprising lady.



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ARTICLE 3

First rural financial institution to receive cooperative bank license

The women of Mann Deshi Mahila in Indias rural North Karnataka district have just

introduced another innovation in a series of self-help initiatives that began in 1997

with the creation of the first rural financial institution in India to receive a cooperativebanking license. They have created a mobile business school that will take information

and training to the rural areas where women live.

Annual rainfall of only 5 inches has slowed local agriculture due to continuously poor

harvest and high farmer indebtedness; of those who have not gone to urban centers in

search of work, many live in poverty. Early in life women have to shoulder

responsibilities and their illiteracy rate is as high . While emigration has always been

a problem, the area has recently attracted media attention due to a high rate of suicide

among farmers.

The Mann dehsi Mahila sahakari bank run by and for women in rural Maharashtra,

works with two NGOs, Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha (Mann Vikas), established in

1994, and Mann Deshi Mahila Bachat Gat Federation (Self Help Group Federation), to

achieve the goals of empowerment, asset creation, leadership development, capacity

building, and property rights for women.

The Bank has grown from an initial shareholder capitalization of 600,000 rupees

(US$15,000) to total assets of 90 million rupees (US$2,250,000) in 2005-2006. It has

helped create nearly 17,000 women entrepreneurs, has a repayment rate of 97.5%, a

profit of 232,000 rupees, three branches, more than 6,200 members and 58,000 clients,

conducts 4,250 transactions daily, and won first prize in social sector of theinternational 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Innovation award.

Mann Vikas promotes girls education provides women with health education student

scholarships, vocational skills training, and information regarding life insurance;

offers classes on commerce, marketing, and management; runs two agricultural

collectives that help make milk, livestock, and grain available at affordable rates; and

offers fodder insurance for agriculture loans during dry spells. The federation includes

more than 2,300 self-help groups (SHG) each with 10 to 20 members, self-employed

women from each sector of the local economy. Groups receive loans directly from the

Bank and, with additional support from the Indian government, conduct lendingactivities.

In September 2007, with the help of Deshpande Foundation and Ashoka Foundation,

Mann Deshi and Mann Vikas began a five-year project to offer financial services to

women (formal and informal) and establish a Business School for Rural Women that

will make courses accessible to rural women who cannot attend the central location in

Hubli. Travelling from village to village within the Hubli-Dharwad area, the Business

School on Wheels will offer training in technical and practical business skills that will

enable women to expand or start new businesses, which will in turn be supported with

start-up micro-loans. Financial services offered will be coupled with comprehensive


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and accessible financial literacy training. Local NGOs advise the business school on

locations where mobile classrooms can be held. The leaders of village SHGs coordinate

the local logistics in their villages.

Bank founder/entrepreneur Chetna Gala Sinha, an economist, farmer, and activist,

has been honored nationally with the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar award for rural

entrepreneurship, and by by Yale and Harvard Universities.



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ARTICLE 4

Gorgon nut or makhana is an aquatic weed which grows in shallow water bodies of

north Bihar. The seeds (which are small in size and white in colour) are used for

making different food items. North-eastern Bihar accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the

global makhana production. A pioneer in its cultivation, Kedar Nath Jha of Ujjan

village of Manigachhi (Madhubani district) raises this crop in about 70 ponds taken on

lease from others. He grows and markets the crop himself. Cultivation was

uneconomical earlier due to the low price paid by traders in this remote rural area

with poor communication and market information facilities.

I started makhana cultivation in the mid-nineties and started marketing it in the

Varanasi markets and have not looked back since then. I harvest about 1,000 to 1,500

kgs of makhana from a hectare of pond and earn about Rs. 17 lakhs in a year, he says.

Sowing is generally done during December-January and the seeds are sown at a

distance of 1 to 1.5 metres on the water surface. About 80 kg of seeds are required for

an hectare of pond. The crop flowers during April and the flower comes above the

water surface and again dips into the water within 3-4 days for fruit formation.

The fruits burst during June-July and float on the water surface for 24 to 48 hrs and

sink to the bottom and are later collected (during September-October). Mr. Jha has his

own processing units and employs a dozen skilled labourers for processing the seeds.

This is still done by the traditional methods such as drying under sun, size based

grading, storage, boiling of the seeds, frying and popping.

I spend Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 for growing this crop and earn an average net income of

Rs 40,000-50,000 per hectare.

Entrepreneur Satyajeet Kumar Singh who has established a modern makhanaprocessing plant at Patna by investing of Rs.70 crore and has also established linkages

with farmers spread over in eight districts. His network currently covers more than

four thousand farmers and his Sudha Shakti Industry and Centres ofkhet se

bazaar tak(from field to the market) network for increasing production and

organizing marketing is paying dividends to a large number of farmers. If farmers in

Bihar properly exploit this crop, they will have the potential to produce makhana

worth more than Rs. 400-500 crores.



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ARTICLE 5

Chinthala Venkata Reddy got a yield of 20 to 25 tonnes of Black Beauty seedless grape

from his five-acre grape garden in Alwal without using any fertilizers. Mr. Reddy, an

entrepreneurial farmer, got a world patent for his innovative technique of improving

soil fertility without using fertilizer, took it as a challenge to prove that grass indeed is

good for growing a grape garden. His technique is simple. He allows the grass to grow

and at the drip points use some dung. The continuous drip of water combined with

dung would allow earthworms to grow.

The secret lies in the earthworms. These worms increase the soil fertility. When they

die they would become compost and further improve the fertility. A healthy bed of

grass would provide the natural habitat for earthworms to grow. I have proved that

grass is indeed beneficial to a grape garden, says Mr. Reddy. "Farmers waste a lot of

money on weedicides and thereby the pesticide residue in grapes would also grow

causing harm to those who consume the fruit. Use natural methods to improve fertility

and it would not only benefit the farmer but also the consumer, he says.



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ARTICLE 6

Mr. C. Boopathy, a farmer of the precision farming technology (PFT) in Morappur

village of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu has grown musk melon in his one

hectare farm. I had spent about Rs. 90,000 as cultivation cost and was able to get a

gross income of Rs. 3,60,000. Deducting the expense I have earned a net profit of Rs.

2,70,000 solely from musk melon, he says.

I was able to harvest two fruits from a single vine he said. Each fruit weighed 1.25 -

1.5 kg. About 45 tonnes of fruit was harvested from a hectare and sold at Rs. 5 to 12 a

kg, said Mr. Boopathy. Though it is mainly a summer crop it is now being cultivated

throughout the year in Tamil Nadu.



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ARTICLE 7

SCIENTISTS AT the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, have

developed a technology called precision farming, said to be a first of its kind in India.

The technology is being presently implemented in several major areas of Tamil Nadu.

At present precision technology is implemented in about 200 hectares in Dharmapuri

district in Tamil Nadu. More than 100 farmers have been benefited by this project.

Under this farming concept, the University gives technical advice to farmers on soil

and water conditions, weather mapping, forewarning of pest attacks and also supplies

water soluble fertilizers to be applied along with drip irrigation. Mr. P.M.

Chinnasamy, is one such beneficiary farmer in Dharmapuri, who has harvested about

135 tonnes of tomato from his one hectare field in nine months using this technology.

The yield is almost triple that of the farmers growing tomato under the conventional

system of planting. The first harvest was done on the 65th day after planting. The

fruits were uniform in size and the skin colour was deep red. The fruits were sold at

the rate of Rs.10-20 per kg. Mr. Chinnasamy, has earned a net income of about Rs. 5

lakhs from tomato cultivation in nine months.



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ARTICLE 8

The main part of Mr. Bhise's implement is the front portion of a bicycle, namely

handlebar, front axle and the wheel. A steel fork is connected to the axle and the other

end carries different kinds of attachments. Separate attachments for weeding, tilling

and harrowing are attached to the working end, using bolts and nuts.

This helps in changing the attachments as required. Suitable slots in the device are

provided for adjusting the distance between blades to suit specific requirements.

Safety provisions are incorporated so that the blade does not injure the user at the

time of reversing the device during weeding operations, explains Mr. Bhise.

People laughed at me in the beginning, but I never gave up. Perseverance finally paid

off and today my Krishiraja is received well in the local market, says the poor farmer

proudly. The tiller attachment enables the farmers to cultivate medium-hard soil up to

a depth of about one foot.

Mr. Gopal uses the device to carry out most of the farming operations. He no more

needs bullocks. So far more than 200 devices are currently being used by farmers inthe region. Priced at Rs 1,200, a person can weed 0.08 ha in one hour. It is easy to

operate and suited for those who cannot afford bullocks. More than 200 farmers are

today using the multi-purpose cycle weeder. It gives the much needed independence to

a small farmer who does not own bullocks or a tractor.

2 people in a group


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ARTICLE 9

The member of the Self-help Group Van Suraksha evam Prabandh Samiti, Village -

Atatiya, Range - Ogna, District - Udaipur (Rajasthan) after successful training at PHT

centre, established the Gwarpatha Prasanskaran Kendra (Aloe vera processing unit) in

Ogna village.

The tribals were trained to use the motorised small scale gel extraction machine, and

in processes for value added products such asAloe vera juice, squash and RTS

beverage with/without blend of lemon, ginger and mint extracts, at the PHT centre,

Udaipur. Between December 2008 and February 2009, the unit produced about 500

litres ofAloe vera juice. Processed and bottled Aloe juice was launched for sale to

general public and tourists as a health drink. At present the processing unit is running

successfully. Effective aloe juice recovery is about 30% as the plantation is under

rainfed condition on Aravali hills. Total cost of production ofAloe vera juice is Rs 40

per litre with sale price as Rs 100 per litre, with a net profit of Rs 60 per litre.

The low sale price has been fixed after considering the prevailing market price of Rs

200 to 550 per litre juice. Local tribals and members of Van Suraksha evam Prabandh

Samiti are earning profit by sale ofAloe vera juice.Aloe vera is a plant of great

potential and value in the field of therapeutic pharmaceuticals and cosmetic

industries, and in Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicines, it is particularly useful

for treatment of burns, bleeding wounds, as eye drops for sore eyes.

Aloe vera gel comprises 75 nutrients, 200 active compounds, 20 minerals, 18 amino

acids and 12 vitamins. There is about 125 ha ofAloe vera plantation in the adjoining

area of the processing unit within the Ogna forest area of Udaipur district, which

amounts to 12.5 lakh plants ofAloe vera.

These plantings were done by the Forest Department on degraded forest land for

conservation under different schemes since 1996-97. However, due to lack of

awareness and non-availability of simple technology for value addition at production

catchment, tribal people were getting little or no monetary benefit from this largeAloe

vera plantation.

From November 2009 to January 2010, the group handled approximately 4 tonnes of

aloe leaf and produced 950 litres of aloe juice. The expenditure on labour, electri city,

preservative (KMS), bottles, cans, etc. has been estimated as Rs 31,000. As the rawmaterial i.e. Aloe leaf is a forest produce and managed by Van Surakshya Avam

Praband Samiti, Atatiya hence no cost has been incurred for aloe leaf. The building for

housing the principal equipment and product was provided by the Forest Department,

Government of Rajasthan. Therefore, with a revenue of Rs 95,000 obtained @ Rs

100/litre against the expenditure of Rs 31,000, a net profit of Rs 64,000 was realized

for the duration.

ThisAloe vera processing unit established with an investment of Rs 70,000/ is

providing employment to 8 persons/ day (collection of leaf, processing, packaging and


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marketing). The unit can be effectively operated from September to February i.e, 6

months in a year, while the cost of unit could be recovered in almost three months.

Quality raw material (aloe leaves) are not available from March to September, as the

production area is rainfed hill forest.

This is the first such processing unit in underdeveloped tribal area of the Rajasthan

for livelihood strengthening, economic empowerment and conservation of forest. The

success of itsAloe vera processing unit has encouraged the entrepreneurship amongthe tribal farmers of this area

2 people in a group


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ARTICLE 10

Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar in

Uttranchal. She has only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property. Her

soaring economic condition forced her to earn livelihood through farming. Her courage

to take initiative and choosing new varieties for farming changed her life forever. Now,

she is showing a way of prosperity to young farmers

As other fellow farmers were doing cabbage farming in her village, she also took-up

cabbage cultivation but it could not contribute much to her income. Meanwhile, a

group of agriculture scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) visited her village for

interaction with farmers. Scientists provided them information regarding work done at

Ranichauri hill campus. It was decided that a first line demonstration will be

organized in Kharif season for the benefit of farmers

As per schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line demonstration of soybean in the

field of 28 farmers. Farmers got around 10.5 quintal/hectare production which is morethen what they were getting from their previous crop. This demonstration encouraged

them to do some experiment with their traditional farming techniques. Second step in

this direction was another first line demonstration in Rabi season by the KVKs

scientists. This time, they got around 24% more production which is 23

quintal/hectare.

Scientists came to know that farmers are not having knowledge of off-seasonal

vegetables which can contribute in their income handsomely. This area had the model

ecological conditions for growing off-seasonal vegetables. Farmers enthusiasm

encouraged scientists to provide them the technical know-how for non seasonal

vegetables.

Under this programme, 28 farmers trained for raising a good nursery of Challenger

(cabbage) and Manisha (Tomato) varieties with the use of vermicompost and organic

fertilizers. Rukmani Devi was one of the beneficiaries of this programme. She got 100

plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much mo re then

the invested money. She earned Rs 600 by selling 60 Kg cabbage at 10 Rs/Kg rate. She

saved another 10 Kg cabbage for her household consumption. Thus, she could get a

bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmaniearned money out of vegetable farming. She is grateful to the scientists for showing

her a new way of economic independence

Economics of off-seasonal cabbage farming was very attractive for the farmers. Now,

many more farmers are approaching to scientists to get their help. Thanks to

initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

(NAIP Sub-Project on Mass Media Mobilization, DIPA with inputs from GBPUA&T,

Pantnagar)Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar

in Uttranchal. She has only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property.


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Her soaring economic condition forced her to earn livelihood through farming. Her

courage to take initiative and choosing new varieties for farming changed her life

forever. Now, she is showing a way of prosperity to young farmers




interaction with farmers.

Scientists provided them information regarding work done at Ranichauri hill campus.

It was decided that a first line demonstration will be organized in Kharif season for

the benefit of farmers. As per schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line

demonstration of soybean in the field of 28 farmers. Farmers got around 10.5

quintal/hectare production which is more then what they were getting from their

previous crop.

This demonstration encouraged them to do some experiment with their traditional

farming techniques. Second step in this direction was another first line demonstration

in Rabi season by the KVKs scientists. This time, they got around 24% more

production which is 23 quintal/hectare. Scientists came to know that farmers are nothaving knowledge of off-seasonal vegetables which can contribute in their income

handsomely. This area had the model ecological conditions for growing off-seasonal

vegetables. Farmers enthusiasm encouraged scientists to provide them the technical

know-how for non seasonal vegetables.




plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much mo re then



bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmani

earned money out of vegetable farming. She is grateful to the scientists for showing

her a new way of economic independence

Economics of off-seasonal cabbage farming was very attractive for the farmers. Now,

many more farmers are approaching to scientists to get their help. Thanks to

initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

(NAIP Sub-Project on Mass Media Mobilization, DIPA with inputs from GBPUA&T,

Pantnagar)Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar

in Uttranchal. She has only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property.

Her soaring economic condition forced her to earn livelihood through farming. Her

courage to take initiative and choosing new varieties for farming changed her life

forever. Now, she is showing a way of prosperity to young farmers




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interaction with farmers.

Scientists provided them information regarding work done at Ranichauri hill campus.

It was decided that a first line demonstration will be organized in Kharif season for

the benefit of farmers. As per schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line

demonstration of soybean in the field of 28 farmers. Farmers got around 10.5

quintal/hectare production which is more then what they were getting from their

previous crop.

This demonstration encouraged them to do some experiment with their traditional

farming techniques. Second step in this direction was another first line demonstration

in Rabi season by the KVKs scientists. This time, they got around 24% more

production which is 23 quintal/hectare. Scientists came to know that farmers are not

having knowledge of off-seasonal vegetables which can contribute in their income

handsomely. This area had the model ecological conditions for growing off-seasonal

vegetables. Farmers enthusiasm encouraged scientists to provide them the technical

know-how for non seasonal vegetables.




plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much more then



bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmani

earned money out of vegetable farming. She is grateful to the scientists for showing

her a new way of economic independence. Economics of off-seasonal cabbage farming

was very attractive for the farmers. Now, many more farmers are approaching to

scientists to get their help. Thanks to initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

3 member in a group


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ARTICLE 11

Once a farmer dies, the burden of supporting the family falls on his wife. With little or

no education, and a poor financial background, it is a tough job for a single woman,

especially in a village, to overcome the several odds and succeed. Kottrapatti village in

Pudukottai district is like any other village in the country. But the incidence of widows

in this village and surrounding areas is quite high.

Having lost their husbands, the ladies were finding it difficult to carry on with their

daily work and also take care of their children. Most of them were unable to obtain one

square meal a day or send their children to school. They were neglected and in some

cases sexually exploited by some male members in their village. The women were also

trained to produce their own organic inputs. says Mrs. R. Maruthambal, a lady farmer:

I lost my husband, a chronic alcoholic, seven years ago, and found it difficult to take

care of my three children. With no money and work. I did not know what to do for food.

I even contemplated suicide, but backed out at the last moment because of my

children. But today my life is better, thanks to Kudumbam. My two children are goingto school and I am able to lead a decent life, Another beneficiary, Mrs. M. Pakkiyam,

says:

After my husband died in an accident 5 years ago, my in-laws chased me out of the

house labelling me a misfortune. My parents were also not keen to take me back as

they had three other daughters who needed to get married. I turned into a vagabond

overnight with no food and shelter. If not for these people I would have killed myself.

At present there are about 15women in this group and all of them are taking active

interest in the work.

A portion of the harvested produce is kept for food and some is saved for sowing in thenext season. The rest is sold and the income is equally divided among all the members.

In order to increase the economic development of the women, a revolving fund of Rs.

20,000 has been created.

Members can avail loans from this fund and repay it in easy monthly instalments. In

fact, this fund has reduced their dependency on private moneylenders who charge a

heavy interest which ranges from 40 to 60 per cent on the loans. Kudumbam an NGO

in Tiruchi has been responsible for all these developmental works.

2 member in a group


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ARTICLE 12

Mohammad Mehtar Hussain and his younger brother Mushtaq Ahmad are farmers in

the Darrang district of Assam

These entrepreneurial brothers own two acres of land, and produce just enough paddy

to feed their families. As cultivating paddy is a water-intensive task, drawing out largeamounts of groundwater was difficult due to frequent power cuts. Moreover, the

alternative of pumping out water using a diesel set was too expensive and hand-

pumping required a lot of effort. This set the brothers thinking, and in 2003 they came

up with a solution that was a much cheaper and effective alternative. They invented a

simple windmill using bamboo and a tin sheet, and attached it to a hand -pump.

The genesis of their invention is interesting, given the fact that the brothers are

educated only up to higher secondary level and have no technical background. While

looking around for an answer to their problem, their eyes fell on the movement of a

sewing machine. They observed how the circular motion of the wheel resulted in theup-and-down movement of the needle. This formed a rough impression of how their

solution would work. However, the major problem of how they would generate enough

energy to make it function still remained.

The solution to this came when one day they were watching kites, and a sudden gust

of wind made them soar higher. They concluded that a large wheel, moving by the

power of wind, could be attached to the handle of a hand-pump to pump out water

continuously. They made their first prototype using bamboo, old tyres, iron, and so on.

How the innovation took shape -

The basic model of the windmill consisted of a tower-like structure, made of twoparallel bamboo posts. These were connected using an iron shaft, which in turn

mounted the blades of the windmill. The wind makes the blades move, thus rotating

the shaft. Being connected to the handle of the hand-pump, the rotating motion of the

shaft results in the pumping out of water. However, this static model of the windmill

has several advantages and disadvantages.

Cost: Rs 6,000 (Static Model) / Rs 40,000 (Improvised Model)

Made of inexpensive, locally available materials, such as bamboo and aluminum

sheets, made it much cheaper than traditional windmills. Moreover, the entire unit

could be assembled and dismantled in an hour, making it portable. No foundation wasrequired for installation as the bamboo poles could be erected by digging holes in the

ground. On the flip side, as the blades were static, they rotate only when facing the

direction of the wind. Second, being light in weight, it did not withstand high-velocity

wind. Third, there was no brake system in this designit has to be stopped by

inserting a wooden pole between the blades. Fourth, compared to traditional windmills

made from sturdy materials, bamboo has a shorter life. This limited its use in all

seasons, especially during the rains and the winter.

As the popularity of the windmill slowly spread, another innovator, Karunakanth

Nath, whose innovation was already being supported by the National Innovation


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Foundation (NIF) North East, introduced it to the organization. The NIF awarded it a

cash prize and a certificate from former President Abdul Kalam. Says Mushtaq That

was the proudest moment of my life.

The National innovation Foundation supported the innovation through its offshoot

Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) by providing funds. It started

working on the defects of the windmill. Several were installed in IIT-Guwahati for

technical analysis. At around the same time, GIAN West installed a prototype of the

windmill in Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat for salt farming on an experimental basis.

India, with an average annual salt production of 157 lakh tonnes, is the third largest

salt producer in the world. However, according to GIANs estimates, for producing

1,000 tonnes of salt, a salt farmer has to spend approximately Rs 1 lakh, of which

nearly Rs 60,000 is spent on fuel for diesel sets for pumping out saline water.

According to Mushtaq, The response that we received was very positive. Our windmill

proved to be cheaper as well as effective. The two brothers have definitely added their

names in the Indian rural innovation chapter.

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NON TECH ENTRERPRENEURS

ARTICLE 13

From the slums to the Foodking

Sharath Babu is not just the star of a true underdog story he is also an inspiringentrepreneurial tale for those who come from similar backgrounds. This is the story of

someone who dreamt big, and gained an incredible education while living in a slum.

Today he is a successful entrepreneur and proud owner of Foodking with branches in

five cities across India. Sharath Babu was also adjudged the Pepsi youth icon in 2008.

Yourstory found out how he went on from the slums to become the Foodking of

entrepreneurship.

He was born and brought up in a slum in Madipakkam, Chennai with two elder sisters

and two younger brothers. Raised by a hard working mother who was the sole

breadwinner of the family he never let his circumstances soil his dreams. Sharath

recalls his mothers sacrifices saying It was really tough for my mother to bring up

five kids on her meager salary. She sold Idlis in the mornings, worked for the mid-day

meal at the school during daytime and taught at the adult education programme of the

Indian government, thus doing three different jobs to bring us up and educate us.

His Formative Years

Sharath did his schooling from Kings Matriculation Higher Secondary School,

Chennai, and graduated in Chemical Engineering from BITS, Pilani. After working

for 3 years in Polaris Softwares, he went on to complete his MBA from IIM

Ahmedabad. While working at Polaris he paid off his loans and started preparing forthe CAT. Sarath Babu spoke of those times saying, "When I was in my third year at

BITS, I organized an event. My friends thought my management skills were very good

and suggested that I pursue a course in management."

The first time Sarath appeared for the CAT, a mishap occurred and the paper got

leaked. He came home feeling confident of success and the moment he knew the paper

had been leaked, he got really upset. However, he sat for the CAT again and got

interview calls from all six IIMs.

He graduated from BITS, Pilani on a Tamil Nadu government scholarship, and IIM,

Ahmedabad too gave him a scholarship. His relatives also pitched in with money for

him. This was not new for him as even in school, his teachers would help pay his fees.

Impressed by his intelligence and hard work everyone wanted to h elp Sharath Babu.

Foodking- his Business Idea

Sharaths mother, a 'mid-day meal' worker in a government school cooked idlis, which

he and his two younger brothers used to sell. He believed that there lay a business

idea under all the experience he had gathered in selling idlis which would help him


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make a successful foray in the catering business, Sharath refused an offer of Rs 8.5

lakh from a reputed IT firm to pursue his hunch.

Foodking was setup with a vision to offer employment to illiterate and semi-illiterate

people and bring up their living standards. Foodking started its operations on May

16th, 2006 by supplying snacks to corporate sectors, banks and software firms. It

undertook Event Catering, Industrial Catering and Institutional Catering and also

has Retail Outlets. Today Sharath is CEO of Foodking Catering Services which is

provides services at BITS, Pilani, IIM, Ahmedabad, BITS, Goa, BITS Hyderabad and

SRM, Chennai among others and has a turnover in Crores.

Sharath says that serving someone food is an extremely satisfying feeling. The smile

you get after giving good food to someone is an experience to cherish. Food King

www.foodkingindia.com is an entrepreneurial dream come true for Sarath Babu.

His firm, Food King catering services, was inaugurated at Ahmedabad by IIM-A

chairman and chief mentor of Infosys N.R. Narayanamurthy. Begun with just Rs 2,000

of seed money and started from a mess in Ahmedabad his venture today is spread

across several locations to the tune of Rs 9 crores and is geared to double by the year-end. Through Food King he desires to give quality employment to the poor. In the next

5 years he aims to make Food King a source of employment for 50,000 people by

opening 400-500 branches all over the country. For 28 year old Sarath, his mother,

who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah (nanny), is a

pillar of strength. According to him his mother is the true successful entrepreneur.

The entrepreneurial selling point

Food King was specially designed for the customers to serve them good food at nominal

prices. The specialty of the food king is to serve good food at a nominal price. We

design the menu according to the customers says Sharath.

Sharath admitted that even for a fighter like him Foodking has thrown some hard

challenges. The novelty of the business and the need to understand peoples tastes and

the business were hurdles he had to level up to overcome.

The Road ahead

Yourstory asked whats in store for the future and Sarath said that the future lies in

spreading his business to every part of the country. In addition to that Sharath also

wants to grow his political career. Very few know that Sharath contested in the 2009

Lok Sabha elections and managed to get around 15,000 votes which is a great

achievement for an independent candidate.

Sarath Babu has had political aspirations for almost three years. "I saw the poverty

and illiteracy and decided that the city needs someone who is actually concerned about

people's welfare". He aims to improve employment opportunities and provide

education to all. Top on his list of goals, though, is poverty alleviation. He states "I

know what real hunger is ... the pain of not being able to afford food."


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He said that it was a great experience although he lost the elections but he feels

satisfied that in the first year he managed to collect a respectable number of votes. The

results gave him the courage to contest in the elections again. Sharath Babu has also

started edu bharat an enrichment programme for local management students.

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Article 14

Heal the world; make it a better place. Michael Jackson.

I am sure if the king of Pop was alive today, he would think someone is doing justice to

his song as the lyrics of this song are the mantra of Brussels born Doctor Walter

Fischer.

MAY 2007 was indeed a turning point in the life of Dr Walter Fischer, an

acupuncturist, who had visited India many times in the past. Only this time, he didnt

know that fate had planned a much longer stay for him in this country. Infact when I

was 19 years old, I had visited Calcutta and volunteered at Mother Teresas ashram. I

had also worked with another Doctor who hailed from Europe. Though I was young, I

enjoyed my stay of one month helping as much as I could he states humbly.

So why India of all the countries? And Dr. Walter replies very matter-of-fact; It wasnt

that I had consciously planned on coming to India. I arrived in 2007 in Bombay andgot associated with an NGO CSSC (Center for study of social change). We set up a

free camp for a month and I offered my services to the hilt. I was not sure of how it

would be received but I went into it headlong. A month of service and then I took off to

Kashmir, to relax, he smiles. And it was in Kashmir, that I took a decision to stay

back. What was it that made him take such a decision? Actually, it was the people.

When they came to know I am a doctor and offering acupuncture service almost free,

they flocked to me. That was the real reason I decided to come back to Bombay and

start something in full swing.

January 2008. Walter Fischer sets up a small clinic in a slum of Mumbai.

One wonders how the slums of Bombay would react to some gora setting up a

Samaritan service. A million doubts and questions could crop up political, religious

and more. Well, replies Dr Walter, earlier on when I was serving with the CSSC, I

came across Ujwala Patil, a young Indian social worker who offered to help me in my

mission. Her family is well known in this area and the people trust them very much.

They understood my mission and knew it was a genuine attempt on my part. Together

we opened a rudimentary acupuncture clinic (7 square meters, two treatment beds, no

running water). Look, people are often suspicious when they find an NGO / Christian

organization etc, because they hold that fear of getting converted and all such things.

Such reactions are normal. I was welcome from the start. We got extremely positiveresults and nothing could have made me happier.

A few months later Ujwala created her own NGO, Barefoot Slum . This will be in

charge of running the future acupuncture clinics in Mumbai, in association with Dr.

Walter and the Barefoot Acupuncturists.


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Barefoot Acupuncturists is a non-profit organization and was formed in Belgium

in January 2009. This, says Dr. Walter, was after a year of active presence in the

slums of Mumbai which had necessitated such an initiative. The administrative

functions of the organization are handled by the five founders on a voluntary basis.

Work in the field is done by a team which includes Dr. Walter Fischer, Ujwala Patil

and an Indian staff. Visiting acupuncturists from various countries regularly meet up

with us. We share our experiences and knowledge, by giving both, treatments as well

as imparting the skills.

Honesty is his second name and it very evident from the efforts he has made to make

this mission of his a success. Very simply clad in clean, crisp cottons, his clinic titled

Barefoot Acupuncturists is set in Vijaynagar, on the ground floor in building C. The

white-washed walls and the impeccable interiors leave you amazed at how much must

have gone into keeping this five room clinic in such a fine state.

A year ago, I had a much smaller place, where I could accommodate only two beds and

without a washroom. I wanted to understand the pulse of the people, their reaction, to

understand whether they would accept and welcome my services. Also, it was my own

investment in the place and I had to be very practical about everything and spendwisely. One may have great ideas but if the people around you are not ready to accept

them, then it makes no sense at all.

And what about family? He flashes his appealing smile Im all of forty, unmarried.

Sure, I have my parents whom I visit once or perhaps twice a year. I am in regular

touch with them. Did they ever try to dissuade him from his goals? No, never. My

Mom has been a social worker and my parents encouraged me from the very start.

They are proud of what I am doing he replies in the most humble manner.

It takes courage to set foot on foreign land and set up a clinic no matter how noble

your intentions are and yet when you question Dr. Walter, all he says is; It is more

than courage. It is your inner passion. I had had a vision of setting up a Barefoot

project while studying acupuncture at the Swiss Institute of Chinese Medicine Guang

Ming. The very fact that acupuncture is an economic drug-free so powerful treatment,

I had decided then itself that it could be a boon for the poorest lot of society. Thereafter

I spent two years in China, further improvising upon my acupuncture skills in a

government hospital as well as in private clinics.

One cant but wonder what could have drawn a man like Dr. Walter to pursue such a

goal in life all by himself, without anyone backing him financially or otherwise. Was it

something personal that triggered it off? Honestly, I have been trying to find themeaning of life since I was 15 years. I realized even then, that it was very important

for a person to follow his dreams. As far as doing it on my own, I have been

independent since an early age. At 18, I left for the US to pursue my studies. In the

west, its different and yet though I do respect the family emotions and attachments of

the east, which also form an important part of ones life, it is my freedom which has

helped me to pursue my goals. When one is married, your priorities change, your

family comes first and there are things which though you would love to devote y ourself

to, you simply cannot. But family is important, I agree. I am as fond of my parents and

my sister as they are of me. I respect them for being so supportive of what I am doing.


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How powerful is acupuncture as a treatment? Dr. Walter answers without sounding

like a braggard. We treat paralysis, neurological pathologies, digestive problems, sleep

disorders and even gynaecological diseases. It offers immense relief in cases of various

bodily pains and aches. 90% of the patients who have come to us with ailments of pain

have been cured. What about serious issues like strokes etc? In such cases, it does not

heal but definitely helps to a large extent, e.g. in the elasticity of muscles, atrophy

etc. We have seen very good results in patients who have taken sessions in a period of

less than a month.

Ask Dr. Walter which patient proved to be one of the most challenging and he replies

There was this one patient who had come to meet me because she wanted to avoid the

torture of undergoing an operation. And she was healed. And all this healing for Rs 20

only!!? No, no, this amount is only for the poorest of the society. They will not be able

to afford more than Rs 30, perhaps. There was this one patient who got me an apple

as a gesture of appreciation, he reminisces and it gave me unimaginable

joy. However, the middle-class and the wealthy also expect me to charge them Rs 20/-.

They must understand that this service is for the very poor. I charge those who can

afford Rs 300 - Rs 500 per session depending on the ailment they are suffering from. I

charge because we need to run this place. I have assistants, there are electricity andmaintenance bills, all of which needs to be taken care of. You know sometimes I get

patients who just cant pay but they leave me wealthier by showering all their

blessings on me. Need I ask for more?

Pooja Zendey, a commerce undergraduate who works with Dr.Walter smiles in

agreement and says He is god-sent. No one would offer such services. I have been

working with him for a year now and it gives him sheer joy healing the poor.

So what drives Dr. Walter? I dont know, he replies, his eyes twinkling. I guess I have

to yet figure that out. I have no expectations. My greatest joy is my work being

received in India. I am not going to spend my life here. My duty is to impart my skills

to others like Pooja and more, train them, make them perfectionists and move on to set

up another such clinic elsewhere. But, this is my dream. One must accept situations.

The day I dont have funds, I will face poverty but I will continue doing my work at any

cost because this is what makes me the happiest and gives my life meaning.

Ask Pooja if she would like to continue in the same vein as Dr Walter and she says

Yes, I will continue in his footsteps for sure. This is the best way one can serve the

underprivileged lot of society. He has been very, very kind to train me and I will carry

the torch forward and train others in return.

Dr Walter intervenes and says Look, it is my project. I am never going to give it up. I

will train as many people, impart all the knowledge and then go where my help is

required and set up clinics elsewhere. I will always be a part of this, always.

Barefoot Acupuncturists welcomes patients from 9.30 am until 1.30 pm every single

day of the week. Since its inception, "Barefoot Acupuncturists" has treated over

1000 patients in India. About 15-20 patients are treated per day. A treatment requires

several sessions, from a few days for common problems to several months for heavy

handicaps.


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So what does this noble man do in the remaining hours of the day? I am on the

computer, networking, trying to raise funds, seek help, offer help and explore other

places where I may be needed. We plan to open more clinics in other slums of Mumbai

and also in isolated villages in India. We are co-operating with an Indian acupuncture

school (ATAMA) in Tamil Nadu, southern India, and we opened our first rural clinic in

June 2010. We hope to inaugurate one more by 2012, with a constant objective: to

reach the poorest populations. We have been successful in our various activities

because of some private fundraising, both in Europe and India. We also have

approached a few Indian Government institutions have been approached regarding the

issue of subsidies aimed at healthcare and self-employment projects and are hopeful of

some positive results.

As Dr Walter guides you through his clinic, explaining how they function,

you wonder if he is some kind of modern day messiah. Perhaps he reads my

thoughts, for the next thing he tells me is; Messiah, he nods his head in the

negative. I do believe there is some power or order above us all but beyond

that, nothing. Barefoot Acupuncturists is a non-profit organization. We have no

political or religious affiliation. Our only objective is to offer acupuncture treatments

and training to less privileged populations in order to relieve them from illness andsupport them in having greater autonomy in healthcare. In order to meet these

goals, Dr. Walter believes that they have to achieve local autonomy, producing clinics

run by local practitioners who will in the future, manage the day-to-day operations

and hopefully take over the management. They also plan to train local people in

acupuncture who will be able to practice in their own communities. Presently active in

India's slums and villages, our project could be adapted and transposed to other

countries or communities he adds.

Secret to the success of his dream: The best way to succeed is by training Indian

acupuncturists through our own training centre in Mumbai and the ATAMA facilities

in Tamil Nadu. Since March 2010, we started classes with our present staff.

Practitioners from India and several other countries have already joined us and will

continue to support us by teaching and practicing in our clinics.

Before I leave, I ask Dr Walter the most important question Why the name

Barefoot. With his signature smile, he explains In China during the 1960's,

thousands of peasants, men and women, were selected for an intensive three- to six-

month course in medical training. Those barefoot doctors" continued their farming

work in the commune fields, working alongside their comrades. Their proximity made

them readily available to help those in need. They provided basic health care and

taught hygiene. Ten years after, there were an estimated 1 million barefoot doctors inChina.

In the 1970s, the World Health Organization and leaders in some developing countries

began to consider China's program as an alternate model to Western-style health care.

They were looking for inexpensive ways to deliver health care to rural populations:

China had set up a model that seemed to work.

Dr. Walter lives by the day. Yes, of course, who knows what the morrow brings but

ones efforts must continue. Dreams must be pursued and achieved. If you believe in it,


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you can achieve it. We will continue to put our efforts into building up autonomous

structures, giving acupuncture training in villages and slums and reaching the poorest

to improve their tomorrow. We know it can be achieved and we are sure that it will

make the world a slightly better place.

Does he ever get frustrated at patients, circumstances etc? Of course, I do. I have

many frustrations but not for craving or avarice of something but because I feel I

should be able to do more and perhaps I am unable to do it. And how does this gentle

man fight such frustrations. Hmm, I go jogging and meet up with friends.

The finale was when I asked him what if someone gave him the worlds wealth, to

which he gave another very honest and realistic answer; With an indisputable,

unquestionable sense of justice and greatness, I would redistribute it back to the

world, after keeping a bit of it, and buy myself a nice posh house on the beach. Rapidly

the world would turn back into a total mess, I would very sadly have to sell my beach

house and... go with my needles to where ever I believe I could be most useful to the

people.

Amidst the Bombay slums

Dr Walter Fischer stands tall

He offers his acupuncture services without expectations

Spreading joy in the lives of all! ..Canta Dadlaney

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Article 15

Its always said, "Great ideas are born humble" similarly are few such

business ideas.

Our entrepreneur of the week Velroy was into networking and web domain

technologies at the start of his career, providing web support etc. Being closely

associated with the technology sector in India, he felt that less focus was given on

connectivity and how outages was making people suffer. Rather we give a lot of

importance to web based applications but less to the challenges of connectivity says

the young entrepreneur. Thus this challenge presented Velroy with an opportunity to

embark on his entrepreneurial journey.

Briefing about his web startup ('ThomasWireless') Velroy says, it will specifically try

to address all the Internet Service Provider (ISP) related temporary (DNS)

disruptions/outages through focusing on designing & development of web based

'OFFLINE' technologies and applications which (in the long run) could lead to an to an

internet free from all such related temporary disruptions"

The initial goal will be, creating such kind of 'TECHNOLOGY MECHANISM which

will DELAY the temporary ISP based DNS outages in REAL TIME extending from few

microseconds to seconds, ultimately extending towards minutes without any additional

modifications or network infrastructure based resource utilization.

In other words, its like letting lights go dim slowly & then to dark inspite of switching

off.

The Business Ideology

On the business model Velroy says, ThomasWireless largely relies on an 'Open Source

Policy' allowing like-minded web/internet technology professionals, developers and

enthusiasts to be part of my effort through few of my proprietary web technologies to

make internet an 'Outage-Free Internet'.

Products & Services -

*MagDale* (TM) Web Browser -

First in the line of development of product/s is my Open Source web browser

christened 'MagDale', a possibly one-of-its-kind web browser to be based on Ruby on

Rails (web based application) framework and MARRYING Web Syndication

Technology (RSS/Atom) respectively.

Till today, web syndication's available & popular technology was only used for

providing its web based subscribers with frequently updating website content based on

popular web syndication technology formats, RSS/Atom through ' Aggregators ' (Feed

Reader). However, web feed/s will play a (part) key role in web pages rendering with

MagDale browser.


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It wil be 'glued' (integrated) using cross platform object oriented programming

platform/s (most preferably 'JRuby' ) with the popular web rendering/layout engine

esp. WebKit.

Few of MagDale features will be: Virtual machine compatibility, Browser based remote

desktop access, Parallel Browsing (Application resource sharing proprietory

technology, for browser clients on a enterprise network managing similar secure web

session on a company's intranet. Etc),

Boot functionality - To lay foundation for spinning web based OS'es services across

internet, supporting existing online/internet based data storage solutions....etc

Feedle *(TM) - An Search Engine for Web Feeds

An search engine service for RSS/Atom feeds, popularly referred as 'Web Feeds' will be

second in line of development. FEEDLE will help create an 'interface/medium' were

the prospective feed subscribers will find a one-roof solution to explore/search &

manage all the web feed/s based update/s. This unique initiative will make sure the

respective feed owners get some kind or other form of 'perk' if anyone uses/subscribestheir web feeds.

Feedle's User Interface (U/I) will ensure an organized way to make their respective

web feeds been heard & subscribed more popularly over web.

*'INTLL'* - An Internet Protocol:

A Session Layer protocol will be third in the line of development, tunneled to work

over Application Layer based on HTTP technology with an minimal to negligible level

of upgrades/changes to the existing network infrastructure. An unusual thing about it

would be its ability in performing amidst sudden/unexpected ISP based short termDNS disruptions.

Talking about the Sun Start up essentials he says that it has helped in many ways to

overcome the problems start ups face be it gaining visibility or getting the right

technical advice. It has been a great experience working with SSE and I have

benefitted a lot from this he says.

Velroy has many interesting ideas and concepts in the pipeline. Your Story wishes him

all the very best and hope to see all his ideas shaping well.

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ARTICLE 16

Surging Forth

Knowing what an employer is seeking and being able to accurately judge the worth of

a candidate for a job are two sides of the same coin. A system that integrates theconcerns of both the employer and the career seeker is a win-win situation for both.

Emmanuel Justus has been instrumental in creating SurgeForth Technologies which

addresses this very quandary. The Young Entrepreneur has been on his

entrepreneurial journey since 08 and has focused on People Analytics as his niche.

His venture is aligned with Sun Startup Essentials and he spoke of their collaboration

saying The experience with Sun Startup Essentials has been quite good. Were yet to

realize the full benefit, but our team members have been helped in some of the

technical challenges we faced.

Business idea - SurgeForth has embarked on building the Next Generation

Employability Eco System bringing together all the stakeholders. The key

stakeholders who play a role in the employability ecosystem are the Employers,

Institutions and the Career seekers. The challenge faced in employability is that the

Career Seekers have to show case their strength only through their resumes and

academic performances.

Employers have to go through thousands of resumes to shortlist a few career seekers

who might be interested. Employers do not have a way of knowing the strengths an

institution has other their affiliation to a certifying body or accreditation In all of this

the loser is the Career Seeker since there is no way he/ she can show case theirstrengths. SurgeForth has taken up this challenge to bring all of them together

through its offerings TalentWeaver and Career-Weaver.

On the monetary side they charge the Enterprises on a Per Employee per Month

Model and the Educational institutions Per Opportunity and Per Student per Month

Target Market Its not just the employer and the employee that benefit from

SurgeForth, institutions also have much to gain. Emmanuel says The scope of our

organization is to provide an integrated Talent Management suite which brings

together all the stakeholders. Our customers are Enterprises who provide Career

Opportunities for career seekers, Educational Institutions (Academic institution or

Training organizations) who meet academic needs of Career Seekers.

The beneficiaries of our systems are the Employers who subscribe to Talent Weaver

whore able to look at a Pool of Assessed Talent and their employees benefit from

participation in the Career Development Workbench. Educational Institutions are

able to showcase the strengths of their pool of students for opportunities from

Employers. Career Seekers are able to realize the expectation of the employer and

showcase their strengths quantitatively.


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What sets them Apart SurgeForth is a one of a kind venture that aims at three

consumer bases. The Collaborative Talent Management brings the Career Seekers, the

Employers and the Educational Institutions on a platform of understanding.

Emmanuel states We offer the Talent Management Service on a Subscription Model

and having our product Cloud Enabled, allows us to enhance meaningful collaboration

amongst the participating stakeholders. The Predictive Analytics Algorithm being

developed at VIT will make us stand tall amongst the rest.

Future Plans- SurgeForth is for the moment restricted to the South Indian market

but Emmanuel is looking at a pan India presence by the third quarter of 2010. He

says Our strategy is to partner with chosen Educational Institutions in a non-

exclusive franchisee. This enables us to position our product and service with

Enterprises with whom they have relationship.

He aims to build the complete Employability Eco System for the Seekers and

Providers.

Entrepreneurial Journey - Emmanuel has taken up the entrepreneurial life despite

the dearth of Access to information on funds! for Indian entrepreneurs He asks

Wherere the ANGELS?

He then explained why he has stuck to his work despite such drawbacks saying It has

always been my dream to realize and benefit from my ideas. Ive been successful in

implementing my ideas for various customers and it was time for me to have them for

myself.

Our bandwidth is the cumulative bandwidth of the founding team. We always havemore to accomplish and wish the days had more than 24 Hours! Weve built up the

core team of which were extremely proud of their contribution. Theyve taken up more

than what they can to spare us the bandwidth.

Emmanuel has learnt quite a few hard lessons chief among which is Counting the

eggs before they hatch. He says Initially we had met with a lot of employers who

were ready to sign up with us and in our mind we treated them as customers and

started projecting revenues based on interests. The reality was completely different

although the market conditions had a squeeze on us. But now we have paying

customers whore happy with our services.

Recognition gained - SurgeForth has grown from a two member team to a twelve

member team and are still growing. They have been chosen to be incubated at VIT TBI

for the development of their Predictive Analytics Engine. They have also been finalists

in the Power of Ideas contest by Economic Times. Emmanuel is however of the opinion

that his greatest achievement is customers, it is a great feeling to see customers

appreciate your product and pay for the services. That is reward for our ideas.


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Entrepreneurial lesson Emmanuel believes that the most important factor in

entrepreneurship is focus. Staying focused while there are a lot of distractions that

come along the way as you build your product. Beware funds arrive only when you

have paying customers.

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ARTICLE 17

If you are sick, tired and frustrated at the speeds that your website loads up due to

high latency to US based servers, but yet have no reasonably priced option to turn to

in India, then maybe you have not heard of E2E Networks founded by Tarun Dua and

Ashish Shukla yet. Tarun and Ashish have come up with a novel solution in the shape

of E2E Networks that promises to change the present chicken and egg problems of

slow high priced broadband and high cost of hosting content & applications in India.

Tarun attributes their battle ready status to the support he has received from Sun

Startup Essentials, 'Sun Startup Essentials helps us with co-marketing and business

networking'. The biggest advantage that comes with such an alliance is the business

networking opportunities it provides. E2E Networks other partners include

Microsoft Website Spark program and Hayai India's fastest broadband operation

currently being setup in Mumbai.

Sun's partnership also provides E2E Networks with an option to leveragetheir technical expertise to scale up larger web operations by providing deep technical

support for MySQL and other software stacks supported by Sun. Sun Startup

Essentials initially had also provided E2E Networks with lab testing environment

which helped in validating sizing for performance assumptions.

Business Idea- E2E Networks plans to do away with the twin road bumps that are

slowing website response times in India. Their customers can avoid directly dealing

with over priced national data centers and buying low cost but high latency

hosting+bandwidth services available in US/UK based datacenters. E2E Networks

makes sure that Indian companies have low latency hosting infrastructure in India

and US style high volume of bandwidth available to them for US like low prices.Indiancompanies especially among the mid segment companies and startups do not have

access to quality infrastructure services. They either have to choose data centers

abroad with high latency or shell out a huge amount of money for data center services

in India for buying expensively priced bandwidth here. This prompted him to come up

with a business idea where in he could provide quality services to Indian companies

within India for US like prices.

His entrepreneurial journey- Tarun has spent many years of his life buying and

selling datacenter+bandwidth services for the companies he has worked with and as a

consultant has helped companies to optimize their hosting, network infrastructure andbandwidth costs without compromising on performance. Tarun spoke about why his

company chooses to specialize in this segment saying A lot of Internet players in India

now recognize the importance of having their web applications available at a lower

latency for faster response times for the end users and Internet audiences. The latency

to US/German datacenters is around 350/300 ms which translates into several

additional seconds while loading up pages of websites.

The big players (with requirements of a couple of dedicated servers and dedicated

load balancing equipment) can actually afford to pay for co-location in the expensively


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priced Indian datacenters. The smaller blogs have the option of reducing their latency

and response times by moving to Y! India Small Business hosting plan which is good

for blogs and small LAMP sites. There are currently no competitively priced mid-

segment offerings for Virtual Private Servers or Dedicated Servers or public cloud

computing environments available in India itself.

Where does that leave the Web 2.0 entrepreneurs and small mom and pop hosting

businesses run by web developers? They all have a common need for ad ministrative (

root ) access to their servers for installing custom software libraries etc. for their

applications. A vast majority of them do realize the advantages of lower latency to

reach their audience but most don't like paying 4 times the price for the same

configuration available in US or UK. Practically none of the Indian datacenters

advertise a dedicated server with a fixed monthly cost on their websites and many of

them have un-usually long sales and provisioning cycles which startups can't afford to

wait for. In fact a lot of people currently host and resell dedicated servers located in

US/UK out here in India due to the non-competitive pricing strategies adopted by

Indian datacenters.

Future plans Tarun will be making inroads into public cloud computing and plansto roll it out in the near future. 'Our public clouds would be compatible with IAAS

broking services' allowing for seamless migration to and from other popular public

cloud computing services allowing companies to take advantage of public clouds

without any lock in.

Factors for Success Tarun has faith in his products and explained to us why they

will have positive results stating his reasons for it. Through the process of an

aggregation based pricing strategy combined with power efficient virtualization we can

create a competitively priced mid-segment for hosting in India with dedicated virtual

private servers and a public cloud computing platform

Gaining Traction Tarun has a lot on his companys plate and would love to have

more. Their expertise in the area of data centers has made them a much sought after

entity. Tarun says We are being virtually incubated at Amity Business Incubator. We

started our hosting operations on November 1st and currently have clients ranging

from a large domestic BPO in financial sector, a Micro-finance startup, A GPS/GIS

startup, An online travel portal for a part of their infrastructure, upcoming Web 2.0

finance, e-commerce and education startups, large classified and news sites, an

upcoming widget analytics startup and a growing pipeline built mostly with word of

mouth and a fairly minuscule small marketing spend.

Tarun seems to have played his cards just right and his venture seems to be a sure

winner.

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ARTICLE 18

Mumbaikars are now commuting with greater ease than ever thanks to the efforts and

entrepreneurial thinking of Raxit Girishbhai Sheth. His venture Mobile4Mumbai not

only creates Mobile applications that makes life easy for Mumbaikars but is also

developing products and services to make your life easier.

Their first product Mobile4Mumbai has been accepted by a large number of people in

a very short time frame, and helps you search for buses within Mumbai.

Raxit told us about the help he has received from the Sun Startup Essentials program

saying Very useful team. Good technical collaboration and superb help.

Mobile4Mumbai is entirely developed in Java using Netbean (both java and Netbeans

are from Sun so we are lucky to get a good amount of tech help from a top-notch Sun

tech team). In fact Sun Microsystem and Samsung India are two big corporates from

where Mobile4Mumbai has got tremendous support.

His belief is that Indian entrepreneurs face the twin woes of Bad Execution and Bad

Cash flow and is looking to network with similar startups and entrepreneurs

explaining Presently collaboration is among Startup1SSE, Startup2SSE like

that way, Among the communities there are multiple startups which can help each

other, Cross selling, Cross Marketing, Co-Branding their products and services...and it

will be win-win for all, Indian people, SSE, and all participating startups.

Business Idea- Raxit stated how the demand for his products drives his business

saying Daily 42 lakh people are travelling using City bus, we are aiming to reach to

maximum of them, as well few upcoming **unique** products/services are aimingmore people across Mumbai and India.

His business idea also hinges on Developing a Team, products and Services that will

make life easier for Mumbai as well other Metros, Provide employment to more people

with solid customer satisfaction.

What sets them apart Raxit has a distinct advantage over his rivals and he

explained how saying First mover advantage, Engagement of end users to contribute,

define and evolve our product for better simplicity, word of mouth marketingGiving

end users what they want. Business model is corporate branding on useful products.

Future Plans Mobile4mumbai will be growing and Scaling up by tie-ups with

existing big and medium players, unique benefit to partners as well end users, and

hence win-win for all.

Raxit states As of now we are in talk with Top Web, Print, TV, Radio, Cinemas chain

for collaboration, which in turn benefit to people + Media companies at a large scale.

Scaling up to move to Multiple cities + multiple product verticals...which will help a lot

to Indian people in their day to day life...


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His main aim for this year is to be Creating more products which makes life easier,

Rolling out those products so maximum people can take benefit out of it. Generate

profit so we can create more employment and more value.

His entrepreneurial journey- Raxit is an entrepreneur who does not believe that

having a regular job can detract from his effectiveness. He says I am doing a 9 to 5

job. @Night and Weekend, developing products and services. Its not about doing a job

or leaving a job, its about creating value to end user, making their life easi er.

His woes and challenges have been many but Raxit has fought and conquered them

all. He told us how they could not procure Bus route data from BEST but countered

this by going Viral and Word of mouth info. He adds It has become our great

advantage to let people contribute and Get Famous... Many people are contributing

data to us... Keep telling other people about the same. Top-3 Contributors will get

their name on Application.

We decided not to raise any money, (till now few PE guys are approaching us directly

and indirectly) with zero Marketing costs. Within our first week of pre-launch we got

on the Home page of Tech2.com for 4-days!!!

During our early periods (private beta), people were not ready to believe it can run

without GPRS on even phone of Rs. 3000/- (no external memory on phone). We were

keeping cheap phones with us to show them... Saying -See, this phone is basic, 2500/-

phone, and try our software on this. Post that they were insisting on getting the same

copy! As adoption of new concepts is bit tough, correct way of communication is the

key.

Raxit also spoke at length of the lessons that mistakes have taught him saying

Technically we had written the first code in C then in python and then came to know

none of them will work on Mobiles used by normal people....Then we moved to Java(tough as by heart we were Java Haters and C-Lovers) ...Our private beta was taking 8

minutes to install on some phones...users were assuming it was hanging...completely

re-architect our code.

Biggest mistake was extending Private beta for long time... 8 month+, finally after a

great push from a couple of friends and entrepreneurs like Moksh Juneja...we

launched... No need to say first week was crazy... Unable to handle response...Never

assumed we were on even a small note of Tech2.com...instead we got the Home page

for 4-days!!!

Got calls from couple of TV channels etc..Many of them I have rejected

(except bloggers...)... I was completely dumb on Media handling! (No shame!).

However our main marketing medium is Viral and Word of Mouth... Still Within 2

months we have got 20 times more end users than our prediction...

Recognition gained- Raxit is proud of what he has achieved telling us about the

moments he treasures most saying Acceptance of our product by end users, Love of

our products by our end users. Love of our services by our end users.


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During the first 4 weeks of our launch, we were getting daily 50+ Call/SMS/E-mails...

Great product, Cool Idea, helpful product, we want more features...These routes are

missing please add it etc...Great help of tech community like -I am a Java developer

working for Big MNC with 6 yr of Exp and I want to be part of your Team... I can

create good websites for you for Free !!!! This is the biggest achievement for u s. Apart

from that few PE guys pitching us, so we assume even there is no cash flow in,

something is great...and something will be great :)

Many people have blogged and twittered about us... Got newspaper coverage in DNA,

Hindustan times and livemint. More details at www.m4mum.com/buzz.html and

www.m4mum.com/wib.html.

Entrepreneurial lesson Raxit has a good idea of what it takes to make things work

and sums up his entrepreneurial experiences saying Everything is uncertain but just

keep your feet firmly on ground... Keep faith with yourself. We are budding

entrepreneurs...what we think is - Propose to your GF, either you will succeed or you

are lucky :) Dream and Live your dream, Execution is the key. Create Win-Win for all

your stakeholders.

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ARTICLE 19

Everyone keeps talking about the next big thing and how the next Google or the next

Facebook will emerge out of India. However when it comes to making it then most fall

short of the mark. Sreelaj John is not among the latter that fall but is among thosewho are in contention to be world players. His venture going by the name of iDuple

has been turning heads and making waves. He told us more about it saying The word,

iDuple, means "I sell dreams". It is suggested to me by a friend of mine, and the idea

was simple. iDuple should be able to build products that are world-class, stuff that

now only apple or Google can build. From day one, we were very clear about our

competition, Google and Apple. Not because they work in the same domain, but

because of their passion for excellence.

In his quest to be ranked among the best he has also found a great ally in Sun

Startup Essentials Programme. He told us of their association saying iDuple hasbeen an active member of Sun Startup Essentials for a very long time. Sun Startup

Essentials has always encouraged startups and embraced opensource, while big

companies tend to treat them as threats. Partnership with Sun, in various domains

would make real sense for a startup, because it gives visibility to potential customers.

One thing that is worth mentioning here is their willingness to help. We have worked

with a couple of SSE facilitators, and all of them were very well connected and eager to

introduce us to potential partners / customers.

Business Idea- The fact that iDuple is aiming for the stars means that the idea

behind it is a worthy one. Sreelaj explained what they are selling and developing

saying Our product, www.iDuple.com is a webtop, a computer living in the

internet. You could store your entire digital life in that. The world is moving very fast

towards browser based OS, and net-tops. Once you have an account with a webtop, you

can check your mails, subscribe to blogs, chat with your friends, store and share your

data, everything inside one single platform. Trust me, it is insanely great!!!

What sets them apart- Sreelaj best summed up what they have that will take them to

the top saying iDuple.com, was a dream project for the entire team. It has an amazing

user interface, and a great reusable architecture, real time technologies. Its truly a

world-class product. There are not many small companies that could dream of such ahuge one.

His Entrepreneurial Journey- Sreelaj had always been interested in business and

money making. His entrepreneurial talents were already beginning to show through

even in his early years. He says I was always a salesman, even from the college days.

I used to take part time jobs just to earn some extra pocket money. And I was always

fascinated by technology and I would travel miles to attend a conference. Doing a

regular job can only give you so much. At one point you realize, that, you are destined

to do more, better stuff. Somehow it was a very easy decision for me.


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I used to take up freelancing / consultancy works, part-time while I was working in

Europe. I had good enough money to start off, hire a few employees and an office from

the beginning. But I was extremely skeptical about my talent as an entrepreneur. And

because of that, I was very orthodox in terms of handling money and was doing

everything myself in the beginning. The one good thing about being an entrepreneur

is, one day you will learn to have enough confidence to start spending money and place

your own bets."

His positive attitude has ensured that every mistake has been taken in the right vein;

he says The funny thing about mistakes is, once you realize that it is a mistake, you

would change it. And it is not a mistake anymore. There are certain things, which I

wouldn't want to repeat. Again, the only way to be wise enough to know that is by

doing it wrong at least once.

He summed up his entrep

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