From momos to clean rivers these start-ups have stunned their IIM-C mentors

KOLKATA: At a time when the media is abuzz with news about tea gardens shutting down and retrenched tea garden workers committing suicides, here is a young professional, all of 29 years, who is going around recruiting as many as he can to run his start up business. Debayan Biswas, a mass communications graduate from North Bengal University and his Tibetan wife, Tashi Doma Bhutia, who used to head finance for Bajaj Allianz in Sikkim have quit their jobs to sell momos and Tibetan food on wheels!
With 21 carts rolling all over Siliguri in just one year, they are indeed a start up to reckon with, so much so that none less than the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC), has chosen their start up idea as one that can be groomed for venture/angel investing.A total of 50 such start-ups have been selected for grooming that range from innovative food and drinks like frozen momos from Darjeeling to setting up mobile apps for local service providers like grocery stores.
“We are thrilled already but we are looking for a big expansion so that our ‘Momos on Wheels’ can be taken to every corner of the country and this will require big ticket investment so that we can employ much more than just 50 jobless tea garden workers!” Debayan said.
Nearer home, Yellow Straw is a one-off juice bar brand run by a brothers-in-law duo who have caught the attention of office goers at Dalhousie and Sector V and the elite at Tollygunj Club alike! Both in their early 30s Piyush Kankaria and Vikram Khinwasara have given up their plush jobs to extract fresh and unspoilt fruit and vegetable juices in their five bars. “Not only are water and sugar a complete no-no, but specially designed juicers that extract the pulp from the fruit or vegetable without slicing it to retain maximum pulp. Again, the juicer runs at a very slow speed so that very little heat is generated and the juice doesn’t oxidize,” said Khirwasara. There are specialized juices to address issues like fatigue, skincare, detox etc.
Then there’s a start-up that takes care of those not just in love with the jungle but who are passionate about wildlife photography. Soumyajit Nandy is himself a wildlife photographer and during his travails in the forests of India he realized that it is one thing to be a tourist but wildlife photographers need specialized support that tour operators are not yet ready with. “You might have to organize for permissions to enter certain demarcated zone for example. Again, since you might have to be stationary at a place waiting for an animal, you have to be properly equipped. Also for beginners enough mentoring for light and angles are needed. At Going Wild we are offering such specialized packages only for wildlife photographers,” said Nandy.
IIEST M Techs, Prantik Sinha and Sandip Nair are in their late 20s have formed their Agastya Buyont to clean up waterbodies with the help of specially designed trash booms. Recently the Kolkata Improvement Trust used their boom to clean up the Rabindra Sarobar and the IIEST incubation park set it up at the Shibpur Ghat to see how it helps to clean up that part of the Hooghly. “These are inflated dams that help to collect the garbage and can simply be pulled up leaving the water clean,” said Prantik, who did his masters in fluid mechanics.
All the 50 shortlisted start ups are being groomed to form viable business plans and make proper pitch statements infront of venture/angel investors. “We have tied up with Sidbi ventures, Calcutta Angels and Unitus Seed Fund who will interact with the start ups to evaluate their plans and decide if they are credit worthy. We are thrilled at the ideas. They just needed a bit of handholding to make their claims smarter, which we have done. If all goes well many of the shortlisted start ups will enter fast track expansion lanes!” said Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO of IIMC’s Innovation Park that is also the state MSME department’s knowledge partner for incubating start-ups.