Headlines
Pin It

Widgets

Published On:Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Posted by devil

Five entrepreneurs offering innovative solutions in rural India

Share The Knowledge


Villages in India have spending power, but they also has some unique problems. What this combination has done is to stoke entrepreneurship among professionals aiming to offer solutions and tap into the rural opportunity... 

Tweaking technology is also making it possible for startups to offer new applications that suit rural consumers. It is the scale of the opportunity that is drawing scores of entrepreneurs to rural India. We take a look at five entrepreneurs who have are offering unique solutions: 
Five entrepreneurs offering innovative solutions in rural India
1) EVOMO Research & Advancement - Abhinav Kumar CEO, EVOMO 

Based in: Ahmedabad 

USP: Aims to replace non-licensed local transport vehicles 

Funding: Rs 5 lakh from NID 

What it does: Designs and makes lowcost rural utility vehicle 

As a young automobile engineer Abhinav Kumar dreamt of joining a professional racing team. But a casual visit to rural Uttar Pradesh, where he saw a range of locally manufactured vehicles being used to ferry people and goods, changed the 27-year-old's career ambitions. 

He realised there was consumer demand for a transport vehicle that was both affordable and reliable. Soon he quit his job at auto-parts maker, Sona Koyo Steering Systems to set up his own venture, Evomo, in 2010. 

Evomo's rural utility vehicle costs Rs 1.5 lakh, which is less than the price of a Tata Nano, dubbed the world's cheapest car. Kumar said he manages to keep costs low by using locally sourced material and drawing from global design ideas that are past the patent-protection stage. His target is to sell at least one vehicle in each of India's 6.5 lakh villages in the next five years. 

2) Ampere Vehicles 

Based in: Coimbatore 

What it does: Makes electric bikes 

USP: These bikes are used for local distribution by small entrepreneurs 

Target Revenue: Rs 100 crore in the next four years 

Funding: Rs 20 cr from Forum Synergies and Spain's Axon Capital 

In Coimbatore, electric-bike maker Ampere Vehicles is selling thousands of bikes being used by retailers to distribute water and milk in villages. Founded in 2008 by Hemalatha Annamalai, 45, a computer engineer, the company is expected to reach revenue of Rs 100 crore within the next four years. 

3) iKure Techsoft 

Based in: Kolkata 

What it does: Sets up rural health centres 

Target Revenue: Rs 1 crore this year 

Funding: Rs 45 lakh from Intellecap Impact Investment Network and Calcutta Angels; Rs 70 lakh from WEBEL 

Kolkata-based iKure Techsoft has built a network of rural health centres where doctors are available through the week and pharmacists dispense only accredited medicines. In addition the company has built a back-end software platform on which all health records are stored. This is used to centrally monitor key metrics such as doctors' attendance, treatment prescribed and pharmacy stock management. 

Sujay Santra, iKure's founder said the idea for the business came to him when he realised that his relatives and friends in a West Bengal village could not relate to his work at a US technology firm. "I was not doing anything which would impact them directly," said Santra, 36, who left Oracle to launch his healthcare venture. 


Get Free Updates in your Inbox
Follow us on:
facebook twitter gplus pinterest rss
You Enjoyed This Post Please Take 5 Seconds To Share It.

About the Author

Posted by devil on 10:12 AM. Filed under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response

0 comments for "Five entrepreneurs offering innovative solutions in rural India"

Leave a reply

Subscribe to infofilic Now

Receive all updates via Facebook. Just Click the Like Button Below

You can also receive Free Email Updates:

Powered By Blogger Widgets

Followers

Blog Roll