Interview With Pallavi Singh Keshri, Eyaas.com

Pallavi Singh Keshri
Founder Eyaas.com
[Category: Emerging Markets & Trends
Tweak The Supply-Side In Your Business Model]

 

Pallavi formed Eyaas.com with the aim of providing all things that are hand-made and ‘green’. There are two main areas of focus: 1) Crafts and hand-made goods which are endangered or lost. 2) Provide a platform or channel of consumer access for all those individuals and groups for whom handwork is a form of livelihood.

Eyaas.com is not only providing the commerce part for the hand-made products, but they are also endeavoring to provide information about how the product was made and who made that particular product.

Here is what Pallavi has to say about starting Eyaas.com.  

Emerging Market Segments and Trends: Part II

Tweak The Supply-side in Your Business Model

Online retail business model is not a new concept. But if you are introducing it in the new market segment with a bit of tweaking with one of the levers, it could be an opportunity worth experimenting!

Interview With Chandini Harlalka, Artflute.com

Chandini Harlalka
Founder: Artflute.com
[Category: Emerging Market Segments & Trends
Online Collaboration in Verticals]

Artflute.com was formed with the fundamental of providing an online platform for the artists and the art enthusiasts. Its philosophy is to build an online community in Contemporary Art. Its endeavor is to allow the budding artists an easy access at the same time allow art collectors to buy at early artists’ prices.

Artflute is not just about buying and selling artwork, it is about sharing ideas through the blog; its about getting inspired by works from other artists and art schools; it’s about watching videos and owing your own little gallery.

Here is what Chandini had to say about her entrepreneurial venture in an interview with me.

Emerging Market Segments and Trends: Part I

Online Collaboration In Verticals

The Web 2.0 is a passing concept now in the West, paving way to Web 3.0 already. Though the concept of Web 2.0 [practically 2004 onwards], has picked up in India, surprisingly e-commerce which is a phenomenonon of Web 1.0, has not picked up drastically. Online collaboration is yet to penetrate in some segments.

Interview With Dakshayini Kanna, TREAMIS World School, Bangalore

Dakshayini Kanna
Founder/Director TREAMIS World School, Bangalore

[Category: The Recession Proof Corner - Education Industry: Part I
Integrate 'The Change']

Treamis World School was formed with the mission to provide an integrated learning environment that develops independent thinking and promotes self-discipline. Based on their philosophy, Treamis has developed a practical approach that prepares children to face real life issues and succeed in their future endeavors. It creates an ideal environment through which students become competitive and are educated for knowledge creation, lifelong learning and leadership. Treamis prepares them to take on leading roles in their future working environments: directing change, solving problems and developing new knowledge.

Dakshayini is a rare phenomenon in the primary education industry. She can be called a serial entrepreneur, whose experience has not been limited to classroom teaching, but she has been involved in setting up quite a few educational institutes from scratch. Born to parents who were into teaching profession, Dakshayini developed interest in teaching early. A gold medallist from Bangalore University, Dakshayini is currently a consultant at Heritage Academy, Bangalore, Deeksha High, Bangalore, Comorin International, Kanya Kumari and Little Elly, Bangalore, apart from being the Founder Director at Treamis World School, Bangalore.

Here is what Dakshayini has to say about her entrepreneurial journey:

The Recession Proof Corner - Education Industry: Part I

Integrate 'The Change' Into the Traditional Format

India’s $20 billion (Rs 93,401 crore) kindergarten-to-12 (K-12) education sector is anticipated to grow almost twice as fast as the economy itself. Coupled with this, globalization has influenced Education Industry in India creating a demand for schools with new formats.

Whereas on one side our education system is one of the best in the world, it still has lacunae, which need to be bridged. Dakshayini Kanna can relate to these gaps with her 25 years of experience in education industry in India. Dakshayini is a rare phenomenon in the primary education industry. She can be called a serial entrepreneur, whose experience has not been limited to classroom teaching, but she has been involved in setting up quite a few educational institutes from scratch. I had the opportunity to get inputs from Dakshayini Kanna about the opportunity which has in the K-12 segment of Indian Education System.

Opportunities in Education Sector in India: Part I

Industry: Education
Segment: K-12

The K-12 segment of education industry in India has a few un-met and un-tapped opportunities. The most ignored members of this segment are the teachers.

Though on one side there is increase in use of multimedia for improving the teaching aids for the students, but there is not much attention paid towards empowering the teachers to make their contributions more effective.

Anyone who has been in teaching profession in the K-12 segment, will know the time that is spent by the teachers in:

1. preparing lesson plans
2. correction of notes/worksheets/assessments
3. preparing assignment sheets
4. preparing assessment worksheets
5. Preparing grade sheets

If these tasks can be streamlined and digitalised, then the teachers will have more free time on their hands. This will give them more bandwidth for teaching purposes.

The gap is imminent for this target customer - the teachers of K-12 segment of Education Industry.

Interview With Anu Lall, Snartak Solutions

Anu Lall
Founder: Snartak Solutions
http:// www.snartak.com

Snartak Solutions works in the niche of ERP – Human Resources and Payroll, providing a wide range of services. They understand the distinct requirements of this function, and deliver effective solutions based on experience, process knowledge and best practices that help your organisation choose a solution from a variety of alternatives.

Here is what Anu Lall, founder of Snartak Solutions, has to say about her venture.

The Building Blocks of A Start-Up

Important Drivers and Levers

Idea Conception

This is the key to starting any business. The first challenge is to come up with an idea (if you haven’t spotted one already). If you think carefully, actually you may come up with an idea reasonably quickly! Refer to my articles earlier [Home Grown Business: Part I; Mompreneurship Part I; The Early Riders]. They are a guidance as to how you can spot an opportunity and turn it into a business idea.

Finding the Right Business Partner

Interview with Jyoti Ramnath, CraftMyGift

Jyoti Ramnath

Founder: CraftMyGift

[Category: Home-sprung Business Model: Part I
Preen The Passion]

 
http://www.craftmygift.com/

CraftMyGift creates unique gifts high on creativity and personalization. It is not just a gift shop but the team works as a gift advisor to suggest and create gifts which are perfect for special occasion. Their philosophy behind this business idea is that gifts are a wonderful means to express your thoughts and feelings for your loved one and it requires great detailing and attention to ensure it creates an impact. CraftMyGift was started in 2008 with a vision to make the art of gifting an enriching experience. CraftMyGift creates gifts for individual occasions, corporate gifting as well as for events. CraftMyGift also works with corporate companies for creative branding ideas.



1. A little about your background – education, past work experience, do you have entrepreneurial roots?
I come from an engineering background with a work experience of 6 years in Hewlett Packard. I have completed my MBA from ICFAI as well as done a certificate course on Entrepreneurship from IIM-B. I am very much a first generation entrepreneur. My parents and relatives have always been working professionals.

Early Riders: Part I

Master The Knowledge & Unravel The Dogma

Shahnaz Husain
Founder: Shanaz Husain Herbals

Shahnaz Husain is probably the first successful woman entrepreneur in India.  She popularized herbal treatments for beauty and health problems. Her company, Shahnaz Husain Herbals, was the largest of its kind in the world and had a strong presence in over 100 countries, from the US to Asia. By 2002, the Shahnaz Husain Group had over 650 salons around the world, employing about 4200 people. The net worth of the Group was $100 million.

She was born into a royal Muslim family and received

Mompreneurship: Part I

Opportunity In Disguise


Julie Aigner-Clark
Founder: Baby Einstein


Julie Aigner-Clark, the founder of Baby Einstein, is an exemplar of the ‘Mompreneurship’ ! She made a paradigm shift just by looking at a problem as an opportunity.
When Julie Aigner-Clark had her first daughter, she became fascinated by the research/studies on the capacity of newborns to learn. She wanted to buy something for her baby that was both educational, appropriate for her baby’s development and at the same time fun for both of them. She couldn’t find anything in the market.

Aigner thought that if she couldn’t find what she was looking for, maybe other mothers were in the same situation. This gave birth to the idea of

Home-Sprung Business Models: Part I

Preen The Passion

Debbie Fields Rose
Founder: Mrs. Fields Cookies


Passion is one thing, which enthuses an entrepreneur. Unless you are passionate about the business you do, it is unlikely that you will be successful.

Let us put it the other way. If you have a passion, can it be turned into business? Can it be integrated with innovation and launched in the market as a full-fledged business?
Yes this course can be taken, as has been many times in the entrepreneurial history.

Many women entrepreneurs have been successful in their ventures when they turned their passions into business. One classic example of this fact would be Debbie Fields Rose, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies.

As a child Debbie Fields loved making cookies. She got married to Randy Fields, (a Stanford graduate), and was relegated as a homemaker. She found it difficult to answer at various social gatherings as to what she was doing for a life. In 1977, Debbie decided to open a chocolate-cookie shop. Debbie Fields baked great cookies. Business efficiency and customer satisfaction were her two focal points. She is an example of someone who started out small and made it big. She even became a Harvard Business School Case Study on business efficiency.

The Perspective:

Back in 1977, selling cookies was an untried concept. Debbie Fields initiated with a relatively simple new concept in an untapped market segment, by merely perfecting her passion [i.e. baking cookies], and executing it well, keeping customer satisfaction as her priority. Her company motto "Good enough never is", says all about her business philosophy.

It is a hard work and toil to run any start-up no matter how simple a concept is. The crux of the matter is to identify and focus the key differentiator in the whole business proposition and to focus on maintaining and constantly innovating on that differentiator. In case of Mrs. Fields Cookies, Debbie Fields kept the focus on maintaining the quality [taste] of her cookies, which was the reason why she had customers streaming in for repeat buying. She also increased her product assortment by introducing many types of cookies.

It is equally important to gauge the increasing demand and cope up with the production [baking cookies] without any slack in supply and without any compromise on quality. This means having a good forecast for all the raw material needed, balancing the production vis-a-vis consumption with least shelf life for the cookies, planning for the manpower and contingencies like sudden absence/shortfall of either the raw materials or the manpower.

One of her quotes very aptly summarizes everything here - "The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it”.