6 entrepreneurs who have infused new ideas into Gujarat's entrepreneur-rich society
From customised on-call meal services to creating a repository of events in the city, Gujarat is home to a number of innovative ventures.
GROOMING TO PERFECTION
Surabhi Mehta, 44, Magnolia Image Consulting
When Surabhi Mehta launched Magnolia Image Consulting, a personal grooming service in 2012, one of her first assignments was to tutor a young girl in what to speak during an arranged marriage meeting. "Back then, image consulting was a new concept in Ahmedabad but I saw a gap in the market and took up all sorts of work," she says.
Over the years, she's helped people shop for fashion wear made of natural fabrics, taught professionals dining etiquette before a business trip, written answers to potential questions for an arranged marriage meeting and helped brides choose their make-up. "There is this young generation of Gujaratis who wanted to package themselves better," says Mehta. And that's where she steps in. MADE TO ORDER Magnolia's sessions begin with a personal lifestyle consultation to understand what the client needs and the package is then tailor-made for him.
At times, people enroll for personal shopping services but Mehta identifies a need to help them with their posture, make-up or communication skills and accordingly offers consultation. A popular request is to help brides choose make-up. "But I have to tell people that I don't have a salon. I teach young girls to understand their face and personality and buy make-up accordingly," she says. Last year, she saw a "gush of interest" with more professionals coming in for corporate etiquette consultation. "With businesses going global, people want to put their best foot forward," she says. Mehta has recently launched fine dining workshops for pre-teens and teenagers. AT facebook.com/Magnolia-Image-Consulting
HUNGER GAINS
Ashish Pirojiya, 20, and Yash Thakkar, 20, Foodella
At a time when most of their classmates are busy enjoying the carefree campus life, Ashish Pirojiya, 20 and Yash Thakkar, 20, both "passionate entrepreneurs", spend their afterclass hours ensuring that their fledgling entrepreneurial venture, Foodella, a customised tiffin delivery service, rakes in more business. They realised that delivery of home-cooked meals was an area that was lacking an organised system.
"There's a huge population of students and working people in Ahmedabad but not a single organised tiffin service," he says. In June 2015, the two classmates at Nirma University started Foodella with a start-up capital of Rs 5 lakh with the tagline ghar ka khaana aapke ghar. "We utilise restaurant and canteen kitchens in their low business hours to keep costs low," explains Thakkar.
MEAL AT A CLICK The user time on the app, says Thakkar, is merely 45 seconds and users can customise the meal in 24 different ways. While Foodella currently delivers to 50 neighbourhoods from Sarkhej to Vaishnodevi and Paldi to Ashram Road, they plan to expand their network and also introduce diet food options. The Foodella app has seen 10,000 downloads in the past one year with around 50 orders everyday. COST Rs 79 to Rs 119 AT foodella.in
ONE-STOP SHOP
Amit Panchal, 27, and Ruchit Patel, 27, All Events in City
On January 1, 2011, Amit Panchal and Ruchit Patel, business partners in an IT firm in Ahmedabad, attended an event called the 'Ahmedabad Tweet Meetup'. Here they met "all the exciting entrepreneurs" from the city and shared various new ideas. "We realised how attending events can benefit in networking. So, we decided to attend all the events happening in Ahmedabad," he says. But finding news on events wasn't easy.
Seeing a gap here, Panchal and Patel decided to build a website called allevents.in that would list events from different cities. All Events in City, started out with Ahmedabad back then, but today, has events from 30,000 cities of the world with over three million people exploring events through their platform. "From simplifying events discovery to becoming a well known listings platform, we are now a one-stop solution for events discovery, promotions and ticketing," says Panchal. To cater to people in a constantly-connected world, they've also devised various promotion plans and have integrated social media with it for greater reach to organisers.
BUSINESS OF THE FUTURE The popularity of the venture is evident in the names that have registered their events here-Tomorrowland, VH1 Supersonic, India Bike Week, TEDxGateway events and BBC Sports are all here. The All Events in City platform has a plethora of events, from fine arts workshops to food fests and from wellness sessions to trade fairs. People can view, share, register and promote events, all at the click of a key. From 15,000 events and 5,000 users in the first month, they now have a network of three million users from 30,000 cities and a repository of six million events. AT allevents.in
DESIGN EYE
Charuta Bhatt Kaneriya, 30 and Parth Kaneriya, 30, Sparrow Design Firm
We all see a million images every day but Charuta Bhatt Kaneriya, 30 and Parth Kaneriya, 30, both architects from the Indubhai Parekh School of Architecture, Rajkot, decided to turn these "visual stimuli generated from everyday life" into a handcrafted products venture.
Soon after finishing her master course in lifestyle accessory design from the National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, Charuta started developing ideas for a company where she could manufacture and sell products under her own brand name. With the interestingly named Sparrow Design Firm, the couple started making notebooks and sketchbooks, initially. They soon expanded their scope of work to make T-shirts, cushion covers, mugs, stoles, wall frames and greeting cards using different techniques of printing and developing to make products unique.
INSPIRATION AND IDEAS They've created product lines based on the vibrant colours of the art and craft that Gujarat is known for. "We try to give a new life into these legendary designs by translating them in our contemporary graphic style," says Parth. Their designs are a result of weeks of research after they brainstorm on an idea together. They travel extensively to "collect elements for inspiration", photograph various things, sketch and then design. PRICE RANGE Notebooks start at Rs 200 while tees cost Rs 750 AT facebook.com/sparrowdesignfirm
BUILDING BUSINESS
Akash Domadiya, 28, Tradohub
Be it pistachios for a sweetmeat mart business or PVC resins for pipe manufacturers, no matter what your business is, Tradohub can procure the raw materials for you. Founded by Ahmedabadbased entrepreneur Akash Domadiya, 28, Tradohub is an end-to-end supplier for small and medium enterprises as it manages the supply chain from sourcing raw materials from local and global producers to delivering them using a simplified online platform.
Besides the ease of procurement, the benefit lies in the prices, which are often much lower than placing an order directly with the producer. They combine similar requests and get lower rates for bulk orders. "I want to use technology and trade intelligence and leverage them to get better rates and easier credit," says Domadiya, a graduate in Information Technology from the Nirma Institute of Technology.
TECH TIMES In a field that is largely devoid of technology, Tradohub allows customers to place and track orders on their website. They've even launched an app recently. "No one in the businessto-business space offers this," says Domadiya.
The in-house research team gets details on the best manufacturers and prices and the platform offers trade of products ranging from chemicals and polymers to metals and the food and agriculture business. For now, they've got a list of 2,500 suppliers and 550 small and medium businesses from across India as customers.
GLOBAL EXPERTISE Domadiya brings the best from around the world to India so polyols come from Belarus and Russia, PVC resins come from Taiwan and Korea, citric acid from China and almonds from California. AT tradohub.com
HEALTH ON CALL
Yash Shah, 24, eSwasthya
Be it a blood test, a facial or vitamin supplements, it all comes to your doorstep at the click of a key on the eSwasthya app. Launched by Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur Yash Shah in August 2014, the mobile app brings medical, healthcare and wellness products and services to your house, making health facilities more accessible and affordable.
"Most focus only on medicines but we have even healthcare, salon and spa on our app. We have all the licenses to sell prescription medicines on the app," says Shah, a computer engineer from the Gujarat Technology University. Upload your doctor's prescription on the app and a pharmacist will call to confirm the order before it reaches your doorstep within a maximum of 48 hours. The app also has physiotherapy services, contacts of nurses, medical equipment and pathological tests. For various services, eSwasthya collaborates with noted local partners such as VLCC, Thyrocare, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and PVR.
FUTURISTIC HEALTHCARE A revolutionary initiative that promises to change the face of healthcare for lower income groups and rural areas is an ATM-cumdiagnostic machine that eSwasthya will launch by end of August. The pilot project will be installed at the Kalupur Railway station where people can buy over 700 categories of medicines by inserting cash or swiping a card. The first-of-itskind machine, which is being made in Bangalore, has plug-ins that can conduct five quick tests to measure blood pressure, sugar, BMI, blood count and an eye check-up for Rs 20. Within the next few months, Shah plans to take this machine to more railway stations, townships and 20 villages in collaboration with the state government. In rural areas, the machine will enable patients to consult doctors in cities and even offer 12 free of cost checkups for people. "This will be a revolutionary step to link rural areas with cities for healthcare upgradation and make medical care cost effective and accessible," says Shah. AT eswasthya.in