Start Up India the Way Forward to Innovation Growth – BW Disrupt

In an event organised by Women Economic Forum at Vivanta by Taj, Dwarka, esteemed panelists talked about the startups’ innovation and growth strategies. They all shared their own motivational entrepreneurial journey like ‘How they started, What challenges they faced and What has been their biggest learnings so far’.

Sarita Mishra, Founder, Green Cosmos Energy Solutions & OnlyNaturals.com, started the conversation by talking about her own company. She is passionate about applying Science and Technology to achieve a sustainable Earth and a greener and cleaner Environment. With a lean and agile team, Green Cosmos Energy Solutions has designed and developed a real-time energy analytics software solution, “RealNatics” that provides big data energy analytics solutions to smart grids and smart cities. While speaking about the women entrepreneurship and startups’ growth, Sarita said, “Two topics are close to my heart – ‘Role of Women and Environment & Sustainability’. Women are the beautiful gift from the god to handle multiple tasks at the same time efficiently. If I talk about the tech startups headed by the women entrepreneurs, I find the number very less. Mostly women are in the health, beauty and wellness sector. In Tech either they don’t start their career, if they start then they drop out after 2-3 years. Startup has been the flavor of the season from the past few years. But what is actually a startup mean? Taking money from VCs is not a startup. Startup is about being innovative, finding innovative solutions to existing problems or it means to launch an idea which have never seen before. We are made to handle innovation. Also there should be more tech women in the ecosystem. Yes it’s true, women need to do more struggle than men to reach at the same level. But with the support from the family & friends, they can make a difference in the world.” 

Then Saloni Malhotra, Founder and Director, DesiCrew took the stage and spoke about her journey so far. DesiCrew is a socially motivated business process outsourcing company which connects global clients with low cost back office centres in rural India. She stepped down as the CEO in March 2012 but continue to participate on the Board. She shared an inspiring message for the entrepreneurs, Saloni added, “There are a lot of people who quit their job to do something unique or to launch innovative solutions to existing problems. Everyone faced problems on their way but it’s a part of the life and we usually learn from our mistakes. Go ahead, Do whatever you want to do, Don’t harm/kill anybody and Do everything with honesty & Sincerity.” She is currently working on Reboot, an ecosystem and integrated facility for de-addiction. 

Taking the discussion forward, Shelley Subawalla, Founder, Zarin’s Secrets spoke about her food venture through which she is trying to revive old Parsee recipes. She said, “When I started my own startup, I was handling cooking and my cousin was doing branding and packaging. We never started this business for earning money but this was all about to share the indigenous Parsi Masalas and a complimentary recipe along with it. Food expresses love like nothing else and we believe in sharing and caring. I love my Grandma’s recipes and would love for you to have the same.” She further added that It’s not so much hard for a woman to make a career for herself and her venture is a perfect example of this.

Then Shilpa Joshi, Promoter Director at Green Build Products pvt ltd. came into the discussion and highlighted few things that are necessary for a startup growth. She mentioned, “You need to be patient, you need to be perfect and you need to give all the answers your clients need. The major things that are necessary for running a venture are passion, patience, perseverance, talent and funds. If you have all this, then nobody can stop you to become successful.”

Pooja Bhayana, Co-founder of Let’s Barter India also shared the story behind her venture inception. “I am a communication graduate by degree from Oklahoma City University, United States. I have worked in the Public Relations sector for 2 years and ultimately quit the corporate job to look for happiness and found it at Let’s Barter India,” she said. Let’s Barter India is India’s leading app for bartering of goods and services around you. It was launched in 2015 and today is the world’s largest community on Facebook, with over 1,86,000 engaged members. “According to me, startup is a company that makes an impact and we are trying to make an impact by connecting like-minded people in India to barter their pre-loved goods,” Pooja added.