Startup Fever Grips VVISM

Covid could not abate it. And now that Covid is behind us, the Startup fever has gripped the PGDM students. Yes, it is time again for the Annual Business Plan Contest named VVISM Launchpad!  As part of the core course titled 'Entrepreneurship and Startup Management' taken by the students of a two-year full-time PGDM program at VVISM Hyderabad, it is an exciting contest.

Forty teams, forty startup ideas. Twelve hours of gruelling pitches. Assessed by 100 peers and six faculty members drawn from marketing, finance and HR specialisations! Eight finalists to battle it out. Five Jury members from India and overseas. The battlefield is set!

How were the finalists selected? After every team pitch, every student as well as a faculty panel made an online assessment. On completion, it was sorted to select the eight finalists. It was heartening to note that 7 out of 8 selections made by the peer group and the faculty, matched 100%. Many times, teachers do not entertain peer assessment by the students. But this is the third year in a row, when it has been proven that both assessor groups arrived at the same merit list! You may browse our previous story listed below proving the same point:

Startup Contest Finalists Selected by the Students Themselves

So, if you are a faculty reading this story, empower and trust your students to be fair and just. After all, we want them to be fair and just in their later life! So, make a beginning now. 

Sharing below few pictures of the selection round.

The Jury

We are grateful to the Jury all of whom are the founders of startups and enterprises. As you can see, the Jury comprises of people from different sectors like manufacturing, agri-business, space-technology, education using AI/ML and microbe-resistant textiles. We thank them again.

The Finalists

Eight Startups which made it to the Finals of VVISM Launchpad 2023, are listed below:

The Startup ideas range from manufacturing to environment to leisure travel to mental health. It was a matter of satisfaction that few teams conceived their startups in the social impact space like Health Therapists, Crunchy Cups and Waste to Wood.

The Contest

Each team was given 8 minutes for making a pitch followed by 7 minutes of Q-A. Sharing below few action shots.

Words of Wisdom

Each of the Jury members shared their experiences with the students drawn from MBA, PGDM and BBA programs. The Jury not only drilled the founders on their B-plans but also mentored the teams very effectively. Few nuggets of their wisdom superimposed on the picture of the Jury member:

The Winners

The winners and two runners up of VVISM Launchpad 2023 were announced by the Jury. Each team received a cash award, certificate and a book prize. 

Winning Startup: Waste to Wood. The founders J Hasmitha and BP Sindhura made a business plan to set up a unit to convert the rice husk into compressed board which can be used for making furniture, false ceiling etc. They received the Winner's cash prize of Rs 30,000.

1st Runner Up: Aqua Lights. The team of Vivek Mattam, Mohd Nawaz and Akshitha Goud proposed setting up a company to generate light out of salt water using magnesium in off-grid regions in India. They won a cash prize of Rs 13,000.

2nd Runner Up: Health Therapists. The team of Anusha Patro and J Sushmitha plan to provide necessary therapy to people suffering from depression and other mental health issues. They won a cash prize of Rs 7,000.

Congratulations to the winners. We hope they will browse the book given to them and implement their startup idea someday. The book titled 'BITS of Social Impact' is a primer on Social Entrepreneurship and carries the stories of 25 founders who have made a social impact on the lives or people. Readers may browse the following link to get a glimpse of the book:

BITS of Social Impact is Released

The readers may also browse other related stories below:

Can Startup Management be Taught?

Get Your Hands Dirty - Advise from Startup Investors

Can 9th to 12th Graders become Entrepreneurs?

Igniting the young minds is always a fulfilling experience. I thank VVISM for providing the platform for teaching and learning. It enables the students to get hands-on learning experience like organising the above event. The org-team in the picture below deserves special thanks.

We end with a quote from Aldous Huxley about things known and unknown. Startups start with many unknowns to convert it to known!

Thanks for browsing the story and encouraging the budding startup founders.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad 26th Jan 2023

#startupindia #entrepreneurship ##startups #vvism1 #startupmanagement #nep2020 #yourstory #thebetterindia #wayahead #ignitingyoungminds #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

BITS Of Social Impact Is Released

"Educational institutions of repute don’t just produce engineers, scientists, doctors, and others, but create leaders. Leaders with the intellectual firepower and the moral compass to build a better world", says Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla in his Foreword to the book 'BITS of Social Impact'. He goes on to add that the book "captures the stories of BITSian Founders who have pursued their passion for making a difference in people’s lives. The stories are insightful and full of compassion."

We are delighted to share that the book has been released during BITSAA Global Meet (BGM) at Jaipur on 7th Jan 2023. See the pictures below.

Sharing few pictures with the founders of social ventures taken either during the BGM or while interviewing them for the stories.

"At last, the job is done", seems to be what the authors are saying!

Highlights

The book would be of interest to  entrepreneurs, researchers, students, budding social entrepreneurs, policy makers, civil service organisations, NGOs, educational institutions, investors and the government. It focuses on real-life stories and examples rather than any theoretical inputs. Key contents are as follows:

• A chapter titled 'Social Entrepreneurship 101' with practical examples and tips. It is like a primer on social entrepreneurship.
• Twenty-five real-life stories of founders and co-founders of successful change makers who have made a social impact. It includes the story of one posthumous change maker.
• Eight short stories of 'Emerging Stars' who have displayed empathy and passion for a chosen social cause.

Featured Founders and Co-founders

The book features the following BITS alumni who either founded or co-founded organisations which have made a social impact. There are numerous other BITSians who work in the social sector as CXOs. The rationale of selecting these founders has been explained in the teaser of the book earlier. We thank the founders for sharing their inspiring journey with us.

PART I: HEALTHCARE

1. Making Genomic Medicines a Reality - Vijay Chandru (Strand Life Sciences)

2. Creating the World’s First Braille Self-Learning Device - Aman Srivastava, 

Sanskriti Dawle, Dilip Ramesh and Saif Shaikh (Thinkerbell Labs; Annie)

3. Making Healthcare Accessible and Affordable for All - Chetan Anand, Anurag Prasad, Shashvat Tripathi and Vaibhav Singh (Visit Health)

4. Making 1.7 Billion People Free from Muscle and Joint Pain - Ashutosh Ajay

Mundhada (Your Physio)

PART II: EDUCATION

5. World-Class Education for Every Child in their Own Language - Aniruddh

Mishra (ApniClass)

6. Empowering the Underprivileged to make India Rise! - Mayur Patnala (Nirmaan)

7. Improving the Quality of Education in Government Schools through Systemic Reform - Madhukar Reddy Banuri (Leadership For Equity)

8. Making Education Accessible to Students from the Lesser Privileged Community - Naveen Bannur (Educait)

9. Caring for the Children of Migrant Labourers - Saraswathi Padmanabhan (Diya Ghar)

10. Computer Literacy for Under-Served Communities - Rakesh Suri (Computer Shiksha)

11. Management for a Just, Equitable, Humane, Sustainable World - Gaurav Shah (ISDM)

12. Towards Creating a Future, Where Passion and Profession Intersect - Surabhi Dewra (Career Guide)

13. Empowering the Rural Youth of India - Ajay Chaturvedi (Kautilya Fellowship Network)

PART III: ENVIRONMENT

14. Waste to Energy - Devendar Kumar Ahuja (Ahuja Engineering)

15. Recharging the Belly of Mother Earth - Vijay K Kedia (Kedia Rainwater Harvesting)

16. Giving Back to Nature - Raghavendra Suryavanshi and Akshat Tyagi (Sustainable Biosolutions)

17. Saving Tons of CO2 - Vinod Agarwal and Kapil Kathpalia (Applied Solar Technologies)

18. Alleviating Water Scarcity in Rural Communities - Bhagwati P Agrawal (Sustainable Innovations)

19. An Innovator Who Overcame All Odds - Bhag Chand Jain (Posthumous) and Ankur Jain (Ankur Scientific)

PART IV: ART AND CULTURE

20. A Polymath Propagating Vedic Knowledge Globally - Dushyanth Sridhar (Desika Daya)

21. Giving Wings through Arts - Vinita Sud Belani (EnActe Arts)

PART V: COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION

22. Creating Rural Entrepreneurs - Raju Reddy and Phanindra Sama (Kakatiya Sandbox)

23. Transforming the Lives of Communities Around One’s Alma Mater - Sunil Nanda (PARC)

24. The Transformation of Urban India - Ramesh Ramanathan (Jana Group)

25. Supporting the Support System - Raghu Rajagopal (Punarjanm)

EMERGING STARS

1. Ensuring Children Don’t Drop Out of School - Antara Sarkar (Sunday Class)
2. Creating Assistive Technology for The Disabled - Mohit Patil and Parth Shah (Abilitare, USA)
3. Helping the Marginal Farmers with Residue-free Cultivation Practices - Keerthi Priya (Koh! Foods)
4. Women Empowerment, Hunger and Education - Advik Singh (Chhalaang  Foundation)
5. Inculcating Social Leadership in Youth - Akarsh Shroff (YuvaSpark)
6. Making Mental Health Resources Accessible to the Young - Anagha Rajesh (Yours Mindfully)
7. Countering Hate in the Society - Pratyush Rawal (Sadbhavna)
8. Bridging the Gap between Law and Action - Tarun Cherukuri (Indus Action)

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the following people for their contribution and support during various stages of the book:

1. Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor, BITS Pilani for the Foreword.

2. Dr Archana Pillai of IIM Bangalore and Dr Ranjan Banerjee of BITSoM, for brainstorming the project.

3. Kailash Gupta, K. Srikanth and the BGM-23 team for supporting the idea  behind this book.

4. J.A. Ramamoorty, Nishank Varshney, Anagha Rajesh, Kaushik P.S., Nidhi  Upadhyay and Neeti Pokharna, for research and editing-related support.

5. Akarsh Shroff, for suggesting the book title and winning the title contest.

6. ICFAI Business School (IBS), Centre for Social Initiative and Management (CSIM), Byrraju Foundation and Vishwa Vishwani Institute of Systems and Management (VVISM), all at Hyderabad, for providing the platform for  teaching and fieldwork for the courses and supervising more than 100 field projects on social entrepreneurship over the last twenty years.

7. All the students of Harsh Bhargava, the first author, who undertook projects and internships in the social sector, and thus, enriched the knowledge base with real-life  examples.

8. BITS Pilani, for nurturing and sensitizing its students to the needs of society.

9. Rakesh Chander, Pooja Sanyal, and the team at HarperCollins for rowing the boat together against the tide of time.

10. Haitenlo Semy of HarperCollins for designing the cover.

We seek the pardon of those whom we may have missed out listing here.

Lastly, we are both ever-grateful to our spouses for allowing the ubiquitous laptops to take our place during the last six months!

As a humble gesture from our side, we have pledged the entire royalty from the sale of this book to BITS Pilani.

To encourage the teenaged entrepreneurs at Young Entrepreneurs' Bootcamp (YEB) held at BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus (BPHC) recently, our book was given as Book Prize for best Team Pitch. Readers may browse the YEB story here. Sharing two pictures of the recipients of the Book Prize with Dr G Sundar, Director BPHC. Pictures courtesy DOPY, BPHC.

The book is available on Amazon- both hard copy and Kindle versions.

We hope you enjoy reading the book. We look forward to your feedback either as comments on this blog or on mail ID hbindia@gmail.com .

Postscript, 15th Jan 2023: "The 25 inspiring stories in the book embellished with visuals wherever required and also a few blurbs highlighting the core activities of these social entrepreneurship companies, is a valuable collection of material for those who aspire to be entrepreneurs on similar lines. The language is very easy to comprehend and would surely give the reader a great feel of how India's professional lot are working to make a real difference in elevating the society and mitigating its disparities", wrote Naresh Kumar in his review of our book in Hans India. Readers may browse the epaper for the complete book review.

Thanks for browsing.

   -  Harsh Bhargava with Sai Prameela Konduru/ 8th Jan 2023/ Jaipur 

#socialentrepreneurship #socialimpact #bitsianfounders #socialventures #bitsalumni #bitspailani #bitsaaglobalmeet #bgm2023 #bookrelease #bitsofsocialimpact #saiprameelakonduru #bitsaa #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #kumarmangalambirla #reallifestories #volunteering #nep2020