Hi, Friends I’m Nisha Kaushik and आज हम बात करते है नीविया ब्रांड की | दोस्तों ! क्या आप जानते है कि नीविया क्रीम को तैयार नहीं किया गया था बल्कि नीविया का तो आविष्कार हुआ था नीविया एक नवाचारी प्राडक्ट है और इसका नाम भी बहुत अनूठा रखा गया |

सबसे प्रसिद्ध त्वजा की देखभाल ब्रांड के जन्म की शुरुआत दुनिया में तकरीबन 125 साल पहले चिन्हित की गई | नीविया एक Brilliant research वाला,Outstanding Creativity वाला और एक अच्छे कौशल व्यापर वाला उत्पाद है फार्मासिस्टपॉल बेर्सडोर्फ़ ने नीविया का फार्मूला तैयार किया | नीविया क्रीम तेल और पानी पर आधारित पहली क्रीम थी | इस क्रीम के फार्मूले को बनाने के लिए फार्मासिस्टपॉल कार्ल ने कई वर्षों तक शोध किया | नीविया शब्द लैटिन भाषा के ‘Niveus’ शब्द से लिया गया जिसका अर्थ होता है “सफ़ेद बर्फ” इस क्रीम का नाम नीविया इसलिए रखा गया क्योंकि यह क्रीम सुंदरता बढ़ाने और त्वजा को साफ करने का दावा करती थी

नीविया ब्रांड की एक खासियत यह भी है कि हर देशवासी इसे अपने ही देश का प्राडक्ट समझता है | नीविया ब्रांड को बनाने वाली जर्मन कंपनी बेर्सडोर्फ़ की शुरूआती कहानी बहुत interesting है पॉल कार्ल बेर्सडोर्फ़ ने 28 मार्च 1882 को बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी की स्थापना की | उस समय यह कंपनी सौन्दर्य प्रसाधन नहीं,बल्कि मेडिकल प्लास्टर बनाती थी | कंपनी के आठ साल बाद कॉल बेर्सडोर्फ़ ने अपनी कंपनी सन 1890 में आस्कर ट्रोप्लोविट्ज को बेच दी |

    फिर बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी को खरीदने के बाद आस्कर ट्रोप्लोविट्ज ने सोचा कि मेडिकल केयर प्राडक्ट्स की जगह क्यों न कॉस्मेटीक केयर प्राडक्ट्स बनाये जायें,तब उन्होंने सबसे पहले उन्होंने होठों की सुन्दरता को बढ़ाने वाली लिय बाम “लेबेलो” के नाम से सन 1909 में बाजार में उतारी | “लेबलो” लिपबाम आज भी  बेर्सडोर्फ़ का एक  लोकप्रिय ब्रांड है लेकिन फिर भी,आस्कर ट्रोप्लोविट्ज जानते से कि स्किन क्रीम के बिना कॉस्मेटीक केयर के क्षेत्र में शिखर पर पहुंचा जा सकता है | इसलिए उन्होंने 1911 में नीविया क्रीम को बाजार में उतारा गया और इसी नीविया क्रीम ने कंपनी की किस्मत को बदल दिया |ऐसा होने का एक कारण यह भी था कि इससे पहले एनिमल और वेजिटेबल फैटस पर आधारित क्रीम ही बाजार में उपलब्ध थी और यह पहली क्रीम थी जो तेल और पानी पर आधारित थी |

    बाजार में उतरने के तीन साल में ही नीविया 34 देशों में बिकने लगी बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी को 1929 में हैमबर्ग में हैमबर्ग स्टॉक एक्सचंग में लिस्ट किया गया | लाइन एक्सटेंशन करने से नीविया के प्राडक्ट रेंज बढ़ी और नीविया के नाम से सनैटन लोशन,रोविंग क्रीम,शैम्पू और फेशियल टोनर भी बनने लगे | नीविया का पहला डिओडरेट सोप 1951 में और 1955 में नीविया की हैंडक्रीम बाजार में उतारी गई | आज नीविया को प्राडक्ट पोर्टफोलियो में 500 से अधिक प्राडक्ट्स हैं |

    नीविया क्रीम की सफलता को अनुमान यहीं से लगाया जा सकता है कि 1911 में नीविया क्रीम के सिर्फ 1200 टिन ही बिके थे,जबकि आज नीविया क्रीम के 15 करोड़ से भी ज्यादा टिन हर साल बिकते हैं जब नीविया  क्रीम तैयार की गई यह केवल जर्मनी में ही बिकती थी,जबकि आज नीवीया क्रीम को 200 से भी अधिक देशों में पाया जाता है |

    जब दिसम्बर 2011 में नीविया क्रीम को बाजार में उतारा गया तो उसके टिन का रंग पीला था | फिर 1925 में नीविया क्रीम को गहरे नीले टिन में रिलान्ज किया गया | उसके बाद में नीविया क्रीम के टिन पर बहुत बदलाव हुए,लेकिन नीविया की कलर ब्रान्डिंग नहीं बदली जिससे निविया  की एक अलग पहचान बनी हुई है |

सन 1941 में 2nd World war में जर्मनी की हार को बाद बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी के सभी अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय ट्रेडमाकर्स को छिन लिया गया | लेकिन फिर बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी के धीरे-धीरे आपने सभी ट्रेडमाकर्स को दोबारा खरीदा और सन 1997 में पोलैड  में अपना अंतिम विदेशी ट्रेडमार्क खरीदने के बाद आब एक बार फिर बेर्सडोर्फ़ कंपनी पुरे संसार में नीविया ट्रेडमार्क की स्वामी बन चुकी है |

    सन 2008 में नीविया की बेवसाइट www.nivea.com बनाई गई और नीविया की हर देश के लिए एक Local वेबसाइट भी बनाई है|

    सन 2011 हैमबर्ग में जहाँ से नीविया ब्रांड का इतिहास शुरू हुआ था में दुनिया भर के प्रशंसकों ने नीविया ब्रांड की 100 वीं वर्षगांठ मनाई |

Is it too late to be a writer or entrepreneur?

He was definitely too old. Everyone told him he was too old. Publishers hated him. He tried year after year.

He was getting tired. It was harder to get up in the morning. He hated his job. Maybe he hated his life. He was stuck.

He was getting frustrated. Rejections piling up. Another and then another and then another…

BUT… Louis L’Amour didn’t publish his first novel until he was 43 years old. Almost 20 years after he started writing on a daily basis.

Shortly before his death he said, “Only now am I getting to be a good writer. Only now.”

He was 80 years old when he said that.

By the time he died, he had written over 100 works of fiction, which sold over 320,000,000 copies.

He didn’t call himself a writer of “western” fiction. He prefers to be called a writer of “Frontier” fiction.

Everyone confronts their frontier. My fears are my frontier. Fears are the first thing I face when I wake up in the morning. The first question asked of me is how I will deal with them. Today. Now.

In Bob Dylan’s “Chronicles”, Dylan says: “I was lingering out on the pavement. There was a missing person inside of myself and I needed to find him.”

He found that missing person. Nobody was going to help him.

Every creative deals with the worst demon. Stephen Pressfield calls it the Resistance.

It never ends. It’s part of what you do.

L’Amour: “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. Yet that will be the beginning.”

Sometimes I felt so finished I just wanted to give up. Nothing was filling the emptiness.

Change is not exciting. It’s not “Beginning, Middle, End”.

It’s: ENDING….FOG/FEAR….BEGINNING.

This is when I have to just surrender. To give up. To lose hope in order to surrender. To throw everything out and be left with nothing.

Louis L’Amour: “Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before – it takes something from him.”

Whenever I’m angry I try to stop myself mid-anger and ask, “What am I afraid of?” I always believe that anger is fear clothed.

“No one can get an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process.”

This is where I believe in the simple mantra: ‘plus, minus, equal’

Every day find your PLUS: someone to learn from.

Find your EQUAL: someone to challenge you.

Find your MINUS: someone to teach. For teaching solidifies the learning.

This is education. Not the standardized education we were given to train kids to be factory workers and soldiers.

L’Amour: “For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived.”

A good writer pours a lifetime into a book. A good reader can steal that lifetime in just a week.Here are the excuses L’Amour had to conquer to break out of his comfort zone and achieve success:

I’m too old to start a new career.

I’ve failed too much. Nobody likes what I write.

Publishers won’t let me write more than 2 novels a year.

People are pigeonholing me into the ‘western’ genre.

The critics think I have no imagination.

320,000,000 copies later, with 100% of his books still in print, Louis L’Amour chose himself. He explored the frontier of his fears.

I’m scared every day. How will I answer the question today?

Reference:https://yourstory.com/2016/12/writer-entrepreneur/

Say goodbye to the hassles of calling customer service, Aino is here

Aino app bridges the gap between customer service departments and the end customer. It allows users to add a brand to their dashboard in order to post queries, book requests or register a complaint. And a customer care representative will call the user as per their convenience.

Since Divij Singhal is an old player of the entrepreneurship game, he found it easy to overcome the challenges today’s young entrepreneurs face. In 2004, he started his first venture with ICCS, one of the leading BPO service providers in India. With strong determination and laser focus, Divij led ICCS to new levels of scalability and witnessed the success of the company through its 2,000 employees and a turnover of Rs 40 crore.

Divij Singhal, Founder and CEO, Aino

Being in the business of outsourcing services for more than a decade, Divij took stock of the major pain areas for customers during brand service calls. And an appetite to address the problem led to the conceptualisation of mobile-based helpdesk application Aino in November.

Delhi-based Aino is a unified voice-driven platform that bridges the gap between customer service departments and the end-consumer. Catering to both B2C and B2B customers, the platform accelerates the process of hassle-free queries, requests and complaints across various categories, including utilities, travel, and consumer electronics.

"Available on both Android and iOS, Aino enables its users to add a brand to their dashboard in order to post queries, book requests or register a complaint. Customers can also request an instant call-back from the customer care representative or schedule the call at a time of their convenience." says Divji.

Basically, users can select a brand, then select an issue and place the call request to the customer service department. And anyone from that department of the brand will call the user to address the problem. Categories of brands are mentioned on the app for the convenience of the customers and each of them is given a unique subscriber ID.

Aino App

Divij, who holds a BE in Computer Science and Electronics from University Of Sussex UK, says Aino has a seed capital of Rs 1 crore, with 60-70 percent of it used in product development and in tie-ups with brands.

How it works

The startup helps businesses eliminate redundant consumer touch points and decrease call abandonment rate, thereby eradicating the cost of toll-free numbers. It claims to optimise consumer services by directly connecting the customer with the concerned consumer response team, aided by an intuitive GUI.

“Services offered by Aino reduce Average Handling Time (AHT) by a minimum 40 seconds and save up to 10 percent on customer service budgets for brands, whilst also enhancing consumer engagement and satisfaction by driving greater efficiency. This makes it the perfect tool for organisations to optimise their customer service operations,” says Divij.

For the end consumer, Aino provides the ease of receiving a call back once a call request is placed on Aino, saving the hassle of searching for a number, going through IVRS and holding the call in queue.

Aino Team

The India unified communication market is predicted to reach over $1,500 million in 2018, according to a report by 6Wresearch. Voice-based unified communication has captured a major pie of the market revenues in the India unified communication market, which can be attributed to its affordability and ease of usage.

Revenue model

Aino is currently generating revenue through its B2B model, where it charges the brands a monthly listing fee—ranging from Rs 5,000-50,000—along with per interaction/transaction cost, which is generated by its customers on the app. The platform is free for end users.

Since its launch, Aino has acquired close to 10,000 registered users who are making close to 300 calls everyday to more than 200 brands piloting the service currently. By December, the 20-member startup is expecting to have at least 10-15 paid clients.

Divij considers digital marketing platforms to be the most effective way to reach out to consumers, and is therefore leveraging platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

In 24 months, Aino aims to have 10 million users, more than 1,000 brands listed, and plans to cater to at least 20 million customer service calls every month.

The platform plans to integrate with Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of different brands in order to allow consumers to receive live updates on their queries. Self-service options like recharge, bill payment, bill details, plan upgrade/change, and complaint registration are expected to be added, while other new features, such as a payment wallet for users and the issuance of brand tickets via CRM integrations, will also be launched in the near future.

Reference : https://yourstory.com/2016/12/aino-app/

Why weight loss should not be your only reason to take up a physical activity

With the new year just round the corner, most of us are already going fast on our list of resolutions. It won’t be wrong to say that if not all at least a majority of us are considering hitting the gym or taking up some form of physical activity or the other to shed those extra kilos and look fabulous. But as compelling as they may seem, let’s admit it: these resolutions are not half as easy to keep. In less than a month’s time we are most likely to get back to either crash dieting or starving ourselves in the quest to achieve that ever-elusive ‘perfect body’. Enough has already been spoken about what these can do to our bodies, but is there an incentive as glamourous as weight loss to compel you to train hard and actually help you realise your resolution in 2017?

We spoke to Grand Master Akshar of Akshar Power Yoga to understand the deeper need to exercise and why weight loss is only but a by-product of leading an overall healthy lifestyle.

How important is it for a person to pick up a physical activity and be regular at it?

In the present day lifestyle that most people follow with growing levels of stress, pollution and irregular food habits it is quite important that one takes up a physical activity and make it a habit regularly. This will ensure increased confidence, productiveness, and bring in more life to whatever one does and enjoy it.

What is the mindset with which one should take up a physical activity? What should be our primary areas of focus?

The prime focus should be to achieve wholesome wellness and be healthy. According to our Akshar Power Yoga regime we strongly follow a systematic training on weight, strength, flexibility and core muscles through the practice of meditation, pranayama, and mudra. This ensures overall contentment of mind, body and soul, thus taking care of the important aspects of peace and happiness.

Can weight loss be achieved by irregular/erratic patterns of exercise?

Weight loss can never be achieved with erratic patterns of physical activity as it is not systematic. There should be a routine of exercise and diet on a daily basis. Being regular at a physical activity is equally important as that of maintaining a proper diet.

One needs to put oneself into a system that is in sync with regular exercise and diet to achieve positive results.

What are the various benefits of regular physical activities like yoga?

Yoga is the best form of physical activity as it takes care of overall wellness and focusses on the aspects of health, mind and soul. An ideal Yoga regime like the one we follow at our academy comprises training with weight, core muscles, strength, flexibility and conditioning the mind by mudras, pranayamas, and meditation. The aim should be to attain an improved immune system, defense mechanism of the body, getting rid of internal ailments like that of stomach, kidney, liver, allergies, depression and stress, thereby contributing to a stronger body with positive vibes.

Why is our present generation so result-oriented? Do you think this attitude is resulting in short-sightedness?

We absolutely need to be result-oriented but the process needs to be holistic. It needs to be systematic in terms of practice and focus. If you are not able to achieve the desired results, then there is a definite lack in genuine efforts. When efforts are in the right direction, encompassing sincerity, integrity, peacefully – one will surely get positive results.

What are your tips/suggestions to maintain physical and emotional well-being?

In simple words, I would suggest to follow the Akshar Power Yoga regime that includes asanas, mudras, pranayama, meditation and diet– the combination of these five elements is integral to achieving wholesome wellness. The systematic engagement in this form of yoga takes care of body, mind and spirit, thus creating stronger body, healthier mind and powerful spirit. One can adopt the Akshar Power Yoga for holistic wellness, which makes oneself agile and happy.

So, this 2017, take up a physical activity for the fun of it and let it change not just the way you look, but how you feel as well.

Reference : https://yourstory.com/2016/12/weight-loss-not-reason-take-physical-activity/

Startups can make a meal of big businesses in the new tech frontier

What are global companies doing different in their digital transformation journey to stay relevant? CEOs deliberate.

It is most likely that when you wake up one morning in 2025, you will be met with the headline: ‘Accenture and Bosch Extinct’. The global behemoths, which are at the forefront of a new digitally connected world, may disappear like the dinosaurs of the past.

CEO Conclave at BengaluruITE.biz

“For all you know, a startup could well eat your lunch,”

said Krishnakumar Natarajan, Executive Chairman, Mindtree, baiting a few top CEOs, including those of Accenture and Bosch, at the CEO Conclave, ‘Define the next: New frontiers in technology and business’ at the BengaluruITE.biz that concluded yesterday.

As businesses increasingly confront a VUCA world, where there is a high sense of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, an important question that begs to be asked is how they are strategising to stay relevant in this new world. In this era of digital transformation, business models are being turned over their heads — the world’s largest transportation or hospitality companies are those with zero assets. Think Uber and AirBnB.

Do CXOs feel fearful that their jobs will no longer be valid? In the future, will scale and brand no longer matter? And what are global companies doing different in their digital transformation journey to stay relevant? These were some of the existential questions that the CEO panel fielded, in turn providing new insights and learnings for others.

Natarajan, who deftly steered the conversation through the alleys of self-doubts and challenges that global businesses encounter, was joined on the panel by Rekha Menon, Chairman and Managing Director of Accenture in India; Vijay Ratnaparkhe, Managing Director, Bosch; Sreekanth Arimanithaya, Managing Director, CSC India and Global Lead- Workforce Management, CSC; and P Nagaraju, CGM, Karnataka Telecom Circle, BSNL.

Disruption, disruption, disruption.

“If we don’t disrupt ourselves, someone else will,” said Ratnaparkhe, adding that by 2020, gadgets will be digitally connected to each other, and your Bosch microwave oven will actually bake you a cake. All you will need to do is give it instructions from your smartphone, sitting in your office miles away.

Rekha Menon

As Menon put it, “Before we think of changing client mindsets, we need to change ourselves,” and that involves arming the teams with the right skill sets and training.

Interestingly, she pointed out that there are encouraging examples of customers adopting digital transformation. A mining client, which had existed in the old world, is disrupting itself by putting its entire infrastructure on cloud. “It is interesting to see how they are doing capital efficiency in their location using data analytics,” she said.

But what does all this talk of digital transformation really mean to people like you and me? Ratnaparkhe gave a striking example of how this works. He said,

“When I was in Berlin recently, it was heartwarming to see that not only OEMs and companies like Bosch, but the city mayor and citizens participate in the new world order, building communities using digitisation.”

You pick up an electric car and after your work is done, park it where you get off. “Now the question is, who charges the car? Students pick up these cars and take it to a charging station. They get credits to use the car for free. This is a cue on how to build communities using technology,” added Ratnaparkhe.

Impact of automation on workforce

According to Arimanithaya, this presents a unique opportunity to develop Tier II cities in India. “By 2025, 100 million jobs will be replaced by robots. CSC plans to roll out 100–1,000 robots in India this year,” he said. Reportedly, Vinod Khosla had said 80 percent of people in the infrastructure management workforce will lose their jobs.

This impact of automation and AI on the workforce is a crucial dialogue to have, and Arimanithaya’s suggestion to look at cities other than the metros could take the sting off this fact.

Yet, for global companies, the fact remains that disruption is coming quick and fast from non-traditional industries. For example, Uber is using its traditional cab-hailing platform connecting nurses to pharmacies for vaccination requests. “Today, it is all about the art of the possible,” said Menon.

It boils down to who is creating more value. “At some point in time, there was some person who replaced the horse with the car and created value. Today, we are seeing the car being available when we want to drive without owning one; that is the creation of value,” added Ratnaparkhe.

The audience at the CEO Conclave

Talking about value, Natarajan took advantage of his moderator’s chair to ask the panelists — tongue firmly in cheek —

“With all these changes, your jobs will be lost too. How will you hold on to it?”

“I am hoping that it will then give me more time to play golf, but having said that, I will stay relevant,” said Menon.

“At CSC, I hold a dual role — one on the tech side and another on the workforce. Technology converges very fast, but human minds need not. So I will focus on human minds to converge,” shared Arimanithaya.

“I will remain on a digital journey and see how I can help Bosch digitise itself,” said Ratnaparkhe, while Nagaraju said he would become a consultant in the communications domain.

Answering his own question, Natarajan said he will opt out of the workforce and retire. But for those who will choose to run with the changes, digital transformation presents many new avenues and opportunities.

Reference : https://yourstory.com/2016/12/startups-big-businesses-digital-transformation/

The explorer’s code

The Explorer’s Code:

I wanted to wake each morning, not anxious about my day anymore. Not worried about what so-and-so would say, or where my career was going, or what was I going to write today.

My only job each day is to explore something new.

So I called up Josh and asked him how I could be an explorer. He told me.

– Have a Mission

Every day, whether it’s “be creative today.” Or “go some place you’ve never been” or “talk to ten random strangers”, make a mission.

Learn something new.

Missions are for people who DO. Mission statements are for people who DON’T.

– Uncomfortable Situation

Try to put yourself in as many uncomfortable situations as possible.

“For instance,” he said, “you should apply for a temp job. See what it’s like.”

Or maybe one day you and a friend can make a bet: who can get the furthest out of town with just $100.

The uncomfortable zone is where you find out who you are, the comfort zone is where you sleep.

Task: make a list of uncomfortable situations. Stretch the idea muscle. – Partners/Team

Josh has 100s of people who submit items to Atlas Obscura and atlasobscura.com. “There’s over 10,000 weird and obscure places on there now.”

He also started it with two partners.

Even superheroes need a team. Superman still needed the Justice League. Luke Skywalker still needed Han Solo and Princess Leia. Luke Cage needs Iron Fist and Jessica Jones.

Who are on your team? Are they good people? Do you each have your super power?

I am constantly looking for my team of fellow explorers.

“Try to experience wonder every day,” Josh told me.

A few months ago, my mission was to throw out everything I owned.

What would it be like after 40 years of collecting things, to own absolutely nothing. And a few months before that, my mission was to track down someone who had disappeared from my life.

Reference:https://yourstory.com/2016/11/explorers-code/

Digital Dhobi will clean dirty linen of college hostels

Damaged clothes, misplaced pants, or simply something that isn’t laundered right. For 21-year MBA student Karan M, getting his shirt perfectly laundered for his Monday morning class was a recurring pain.

Twenty-one-year old Ashutosh Mishra, a student at Manipal University, could commiserate, as he faced the same problem. Often, his clothes were damaged from careless washing, or were misplaced altogether.

After speaking to a few other college students he realised that the problem was universal. He then came up with the idea of Digital Dhobi, an online laundry platform that aims to upgrade the service standard of the local unorganised market.

(L-R) Ashutosh Mishra, Snigdha Mishra and Chandan Singh

Setting up the team

Digital Dhobi has set its sights on capturing the student market, by providing its services to all colleges and universities in different cities. The focus is enterprise businesses. While Ashutosh kickstarted the idea with a few friends, he found it difficult to keep the team together due to various reasons.

However, one friend remained in the team – Snigdha Mishra, another 21-year old college student. Additionally, Ashutosh roped in 23-year old Chandan Singh, his senior in college. With Chandan’s help the team secured a meeting and tied up with Manipal University. The tie-up was crucial in staving off threats from the strong laundry union in the city, which was wary of disruptive competition.

Breaking the market

The main objective to start the operations in Manipal was to provide services to Manipal University hostels. The team also offers regular deals, discounts, and cashbacks.

They claim to have the capacity to give up to 50 percent cashback on dry clean services and 30 percent on other regular services. It works on a revenue-sharing model with the local laundry.

The workings and future

Digital Dhobi decides the total number of tie-ups based on area size, market, college-student quantity, quality of the service, the capacity to delivery and timeliness of a service. The rates are generally mutually decided, with pick-up, delivery, tagging, packaging services provided by Digital Dhobi. The local laundry is responsible for only washing, iron/dry clean and gets a 25-percent commission.

On their immediate plans, Chandan says, “We are in talks with the colleges in Pune and couple of other cities. We are planning to get the contracts from the colleges in Pune to expand there after Manipal. Our plan is to expand our service in all the colleges and improve the laundry service there. In next 1.5-2 years we are expecting and targeting a turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore.”

Market

Last year, there were multiple investments in this space, but it failed to continue this year. Unlike last year, investors have lost confidence in on-demand startups. As a result, several startups (including poster boys like Mywash and Doormint) either acquihired or shut shop.

In November 2015, Wassup acquired Chamak for an undisclosed amount in an all-equity deal. Delhi-based Tooler shut shop early this year, while Hyderabad-based Ezeewash got acquihired in a humble deal by Wassup. Earlier in February, Housejoy acquihired on-demand laundry startup Mywash for an undisclosed amount. Recently, Mumbai-based Doormintceased operations.

The estimated size of the laundry market is Rs 2,20,000 crore, with the unorganised market (which includes dhobis, maid servants, and mom-and-pop stores) valued at Rs. 5,000 crore. The sector is fragmented, with 7,67,000 establishments, 98 percent of which are micro-sized laundries with fewer than 10 workers, according to a report by Euromonitor International.

Praveen Sinha, Founder, Jabong, who has invested in online laundry startup Wassup, says, “The organised segment comprises 2-3 percent of the entire laundry market. The online part will be close to 25 percent of the organised segment, with significant growth potential.”

Reference : https://yourstory.com/2016/11/digital-dhobi/

The unstoppable VSS – ‘I don’t need to sleep; I am living a dream’

Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma seems to be making the most of the recent demonetisation announcement by the government.

In a recent interview with CNN-News18, he said, ‘I don’t need to sleep; I am living a dream,’ to a question on how many hours of sleep he is getting these days.

In the past, VSS, as he’s fondly known in the startup ecosystem, has been a source of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs with his quotable quotient. 

VSS’ rise has been meteoric; from being a simple boy from Aligarh, he has grown to become a well-renowned founder, building one of the most formidable unicorns on the startup scene.

His quotes champion the art of entrepreneurship. Here is a quick recap of some of them that have appeared in various publications : 

Sometimes, a failure is a blessing in disguise. Failure to launch an IPO gave birth to Paytm.

The Uber of India is Uber. The Google of India is Google. I can sign it on a wall that the PayPal of India will not be PayPal.

I was a black sheep in many ways. In my family, most people are doctors or teachers. But I always tell them that it's not necessary to imitate someone. You should choose what you like.

You may give up on your co-founder, but not on your investors.

I would always prefer an entrepreneur who went through tough times over a cushioned, 'been there, done that' person.

Work-life balance is such an overrated thing. If you enjoy something, you don't balance it, you do more of it.

To Indian investors: Take a chance on us, and some of us might make something that the country needs.

You are what your situations make you.

Every lie is a truth in some situation.

I never wanted to go out to Silicon Valley. Instead, I wanted to build something out of this country. If I couldn’t be an army man, let me be a civilian who does something good.

Reference:https://yourstory.com/2016/11/unstoppable-vijay-shekhar-sharma-paytm/

In search of the meaning of life at 4,000m through Wi-Fi links and telescopes

“Are science and spirituality linked in some way,” asked Karan, aka the Himalayan Shepherd who runs Hotel Deyzor along with a bunch of local travel and conversation initiatives in the mountain town of Kaza in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. The person on the other side of the table is Anish Mangal, another traveller of life and lover of mountains who had just arrived in Spiti to help set up telescopes and schoolservers in Spiti. Accompanying him is Sohail Lalani, who is a web developer and photographer. This question often pops up and has been a topic of intense discussions in the recent past. From books like The Tao of Physics or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, to conferences between scientists and monks, a lot of us are currently interested in exploring this beautiful mystic intersection. The answer probably lay somewhere deep, deep within us, but the questions make for some interesting conversations.

You know where in Spiti

This story is about Anish’s quest with learning, telescopes and mountains. An Electronics and Communication engineer by training, Anish joined Freescale Semiconductor (erstwhile Motorola) but quickly grew out of it to explore other interests. “I started looking for opportunities where I could contribute in the areas of my interest. I heard of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project (launched by MIT Media Labs), and got immediately hooked to the idea of coding for children. I started making contributions as a volunteer, but then it slowly got to a point where I got an invitation from a laptop deployment in Paraguay to work on site. I immediately left my job at Freescale and applied for a Paraguayan visa,” says Anish. Most stories would lead to ‘bigger and better’ things after this opening but this story stands for the spirit of exploration. No big ambition, no desire to reach somewhere but a fuel for exploration and somehow come closer to the nectar of life.

School servers and Wi-Fi links

After reaching Paraguay, he got a taste of interacting directly with kids for whom he was developing software activities. He also ended up starting a company that would help OLPC deployments and, at one point. their OS ran on every one of the 4,50,000 laptops used by children in Uruguay, and in 50,000 laptops in Australia.

Moving on from there, Anish pursued a Master's course in entrepreneurship from Michigan, during which the idea of computer education for kids took shape. During the course, they launched a project called School Server Community Edition (XSCE), which makes the world's freely available educationally relevant material available on the Internet accessible in places where there is no Internet.

He then worked in Silicon Valley for a year-and-a-half but soon returned to India. “I realised that the contribution I was making to XSCE was very relevant to India. At the same time, I started volunteering time to support NCERT in their efforts to make educational content available to the remotest parts of the country,” Anish explains. Roaming the country, meeting a lot of people, his quest had currently taken him to Rakkar village near Dharamshala, which has now become his base to explore further possibilities.

Along with Sohail, a small group of people are setting up school servers wherever the schools want them and are experimenting with with long distance Wi-Fi links to establish communications between neighbouring villages.

Astronomy, telescopes and preserving our pale blue dot Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere, to save us from ourselves. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot - the only home we've ever known. 

- Carl Sagan, "We often talk about the Pale Blue Dot in our conversations and this quote points towards a possible answer when I asked Anish why he is in Kaza setting up telescopes. His love for astronomy kicked in early. “Though it seems scarcely believable, as kids growing up in Delhi we used to sleep on the roof peering at the star-studded night sky,” he reminisces. It was much later that he discovered a pair of astronomical binoculars and he took it for a spin. Even through the (now, heavily) polluted skies of Delhi, many stars and planets were visible! Anish's excitement took him to a local where they had organised an evening viewing session. He familiarised himself with the crater-ridden surface of the Moon, Jupiter and its satellites, as well as the Saturn rings. He was hooked.

“I was getting a telescope one way or another. Then I asked for the price, which was ... astronomical,” says Anish. A bit later while at Freescale when he had time in hand, he started researching and found out about a large community called ATM (Amateur Telescope Makers) and stumbled upon a large collection of resources, which explained every aspect of telescope construction. He decided to make one and a few months later, voila! He had constructed an eight-inch, six-foot tall Dobsonian reflector. During HillHacks, a maker unconference in Dharamshala, he ended up making one more, which is currently stationed at Rakkar.

The telescope built at HillHacks (image credit: Arpit Agarwal)

And as we know, Kaza in Spiti has three more now. How did that work out?

I was invited to Spiti by folks after they had heard of my work building schoolservers and telescopes. The local district administration was interested in trying out the schoolservers as a pilot in schools in Spiti valley, and also wanted a couple of telescopes. Karan, who runs the amazing Hotel Deyzor, wanted a telescope built as well. I already love mountains, so it was an easy decision to come to Spiti (along with a friend Sohail).

In a place like Spiti, which is generally awash in Buddhist spirituality, a dose of scientific temper might be an interesting complement. “The presence of these telescopes will be a success even if one kid in Spiti has his/her curiosity aroused; even if one adult in Spiti can appreciate the logic behind this quote,” says Anish.

Telescopes in Kaza (image credit: Hotel Deyzor)

Thoughts on open technologies

One thing is clear. Neither the school server nor the Wi-Fi links nor the telescopes would be enforced onto any community. Anish believes, “For technology to be successful, there must be right intent behind it. There must also be local ownership. I went to Spiti because a couple of people were using the schoolserver already, and more people in the educational setup wanted it -- so it was their pull that brought me here.”

The approach being followed is to enable technology transfer, and not actually set it up. Many a times, NGOs or the government or the so-called educated enforce solutions onto a village community. And then things don’t work out. This approach is debatable but Anish adds,

I am a big believer of open communities and grassroots movements. This ensures local ownership and relevance. The schoolserver project is completely open source and the community spirit is deeply engrained. I dont have any expectations whatsoever for this being scaled up. Having an expectation itself would be a false premise. It is completely dependent on the local folks, whether they want something like schoolservers (or telescopes for that matter) in their community.

Having said that, the response to both in Spiti has been incredibly positive so far, and it drives Anish to continue improving. “We are also investing in opening a makerspace, called KnowledgeGarden, in Upper Bhagsu to facilitate the continued development of solar technologies, schoolservers and other projects of value to community,” signs off Anish from a sub-zero Kaza late in November 2016.

Reference:https://yourstory.com/2016/11/kaza-anish-mangal-telescopes-wifi-links/

How this 20-year-old company crafted a niche for itself in online pharmacy

Zota Healthcare launches an online pharmacy platform which sells nutraceuticals, ayurvedic and cosmetics products.

In this world of rapid technological development, no business can afford to remain conventional. They have to adopt the online position if they want to remain valid in this age. When Flipkart introduced the country to a new way of shopping — via the internet — many followed suit.

Himanshu Zota

As the years went by, several old businesses also opened their online stores, succumbing to the new choice of consumer shopping. Aditya Birla launched Abof.com and Tata opened Tatacliq.com, and several other traditional business giants have followed their lead.

While the fashion industry has shown the greatest adaptability in the present scenario, other businesses have also witnessed the change and are working to adapt to the new age of the buying and selling of products.

Himanshu Zota, Director, Zota Healthcare, a two-decade old pioneer in the world of manufacturing and selling medicines, observed the changing market and thought of launching a niche online platform.

He observed that the nutraceutical market was witnessing a rapid growth due to consumers’ increasing inclination towards healthy and nutritional food, dietary supplements and beverages. Dietary supplements are consumed not only to meet the required daily intake of nutrition, but also to boost physical performance. All of these factors have changed the nutraceutical market considerably and are expected to propel the market in the next few years. Himanshu noticed the similar inclination of consumers towards Ayurvedic and cosmetic products.

In June 2016, he launched Nutravedic, an e-commerce healthcare portal. “Our product range is a combination of varied nutraceutical, ayurvedic and herbal products. The wide array of products consists of relief therapies, protein powders, multivitamin supplements and a few other patented products that help in healing many diseases and maintaining natural body processes. The Nutravedic range includes various ayurvedic and herbal products, which are tried, tested and appreciated by many users, with no side-effects,” says Himanshu.

Growth, step by step

Nutravedic is backed by strong financial support, with Zota Healthcare being its core investor.

Himanshu infused Rs 40 lakh into the venture as an initial investment, which went into product manufacturing, website building and marketing.

In its first two months, the platform ran on a trial basis, where it faced many technical glitches. It was not actively promoted at that time.

The promotion part took off aggressively in August. The platform has been educating people about their health. It is also connecting with consumers through its smart social media campaigns, informing them about their products and the benefits of consuming them.

In the past three months, the platform claims to have had 14,000 downloads on android. Himanshu says that they clock 30 orders a day, with an average ticket size of Rs 500. Nutravedic has around 50 products listed on its platform across all its three categories.

Himanshu plans to expand the product base to 250 items soon. In the next few years, he also aims to target over 10 lakh customers, clocking around 500 orders a day.

Nutraceutical, a niche segment 

The global nutraceuticals market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.3 percent between 2015 and 2021, according to Transparency Market Research. This market was already valued at $182.6 billion in 2015, which means that it can go up to $279 billion by the end of 2021.

Himanshu says that India is observing the rise of the category in a similar way to the other countries of the world. He says that as the world market grows, so will the Indian market.

According to him, though there are various other online platforms, he sees little competition. He says that while other platforms are selling all kinds of medicines, his business is very niche.

A look at online pharmacy

Over the past couple of months, there have been several online pharmacy and e-pharmacy startups. These include NetMeds, which raised $50 million from OrbiMed, mChemist, started by the ex-president of Ranbaxy, Medd, DeliMedi, CareOnGo and MediDali and now, even the Sequoia-backed Practo.

During April this year, 1mg, the digital healthcare platform, raised Rs 100 crore in a Series B investment led by Maverick Capital Ventures, along with participation from existing investors Sequoia India and Omidyar Network.

According to experts, the online pharmacy has, in the past, faced some troubles owing to government regulations. However, they have since learnt to work under the said rules and have shown immense growth.

Reference : https://yourstory.com/2016/11/zota-healthcare-nutravedic/