DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

During TieCon Delhi 2009 Conference, held at Taj Palace in New Delhi, I had once again the opportunity to meet Professor Anil Gupta once again.  This was the second time I was meeting him. He was a panelist at one of the discussions at the conference on grassroot level innovations in India. As usual, he was all pepped up and lively dressed up in a kurta pyjama, unlike the other speakers. And as expected he surprised the audience by showing a very remarkable innovation!

The innovation was a laptop, made by an Indian doctor, which had two screens one at the front and one at the back! During presentations, especially informal ones consisting of three or more people, one often had to face the discomfort of peeping onto the presentation presenters’ screen to get a clue of what was going on. Now, with this simple innovation the presenter could view his presentation from his side and the others from the other screen without any discomfort. If you thought such innovations would have had ready takers, then you are probably wrong, because the innovator had to run pillar to post with the innovation to get it to the market. Finally help came but from a foreign based company, which agreed to manufacture the laptop with a promise not to do reverse engineering of the product

In India, there are several such remarkable innovations that could as well be the game changers for some industries. However, the problem with them is that there are often no takers. Lack of awareness of these products is another problem, and so is their inability to reach markets as they have not been proven yet. Now, this trend is slowly witnessing a change thanks to the efforts of some incubation centers that are working towards increasing the business potential of such grass root level innovations. If entrepreneurship is all about  risk taking, then I think this is a risk worth taking!

 

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Food makes everybody happy, a wise guy had once said. I couldn’t agree more after being an ardent fan of Delhi’s street food. But there is one problem that continues to haunt foodies not only in Delhi but maybe the entire country. Venture late in the night, and you would find practically nothing to eat. And even if you manage to find some food outlet, it would either burn a hole in your pocket or you would have to compromise on quality (if not taste and price) of food at the roadside eateries.
Could night food streets be a solution to this problem? Space for creating such a street could be an issue with the Government. For this, we can take cue from Singapore. In Singapore, a road (I am missing its name) that is busy by the day transforms into a food street by the night. In India, one such night food street model was started in Chandigarh. Unfortunately, the street became more of a nuisance than a revenue spinner due to the law and order problem it created. If this issue is taken care of, it could be a good business opportunity for food entrepreneurs. This could especially be lucrative thanks to the upcomming Commonwealth Games 2010.

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It is a known fact that the hospitality industry will receive a much needed shot in the arm after the devastating slowdown thanks to Commonwealth Games 2010. But is the NCR prepared for handling all the action? Here is an update.

It has been estimated that an additional 30,000 rooms in Delhi NCR region would be required for catering to the tourist inflow during the games. According to a press release by the Tourism Ministry, another 11,000 rooms would be made available from the approved guest houses. Apart from these, the ministry also expects another 3,000 rooms to be made available under the Bed & Breakfast scheme. However, in a in a review meeting, the Union Secretary of Tourism Sujit Banerjee found that as against the 9,597 rooms in the definitive category, only 3,952 rooms (or 41%) have been completed so far. Hence, he has directed all the on-going projects under the 2, 3 and 4-star category, to be commissioned and classified by March 31, 2010 to avail the 5 year Tax Holiday. Keeping these facts in mind and also the additional demand the Games would create, there is an huge opportunity for entrepreneurs, both big and small, to tap into the potential.

Also read an interesting story on Business Opportunities around Commonwealth Games in the latest issue of DARE.

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This incident happened while I was traveling back to Delhi from Chandigarh a fortnight ago. Since I and my friend reached the station just on time, we did not get time to buy water from the station. As soon as the train started on its journey towards Delhi, a number of uniformed vendors started selling their goods, especially water and other refreshments. We stopped one vendor, and asked him for water (Rs. 12), a packet of chips (Rs. 10) and biscuits (Rs. 10). We gave him a Rs 50 note and the vendor cooly gave us back Rs. 10 saying that the total was Rs 40. Then there ensued a big fight, after which the vendor started pleading (when he say fellow passengers pitching in) that there is hardly any money left if he sells at the MRP. We then returned the products back to him, took back our money and let him go.
This made me and my friend do a quick calculation among ourselves. If a vendor covers 10 trains daily   and manages to sell his products to 30 people per train (we assume an average number of passengers per train: 1000), this means he sells his products to 300 people. If he sells his products for atleast Re 1 more than the MRP he earns Rs 300 X 30 = Rs. 9000 extra per month! This is assuming that he charges just Re 1 extra per product (which is often not the case). Moreover, he also earns a profit of an average of Rs. 2 per product given to him by the distributor.
Read related  DARE story on Profitable Businesses with Products under Re 1 and blog on Most low-profile work earns Rs.20,000 a month.

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That the automobile industry in India is on the growth curve, is a known fact. While on one hand we have have our very own REVA, India's first electric car, on the other we have the low cost NANO. Another area worth venturing couls be cars specially designed for the physically handicapped.

Recently, it was informd in the Lok Sabha that the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) has been advising car manufacturers to bring out models of their cars suitable to be driven by the physically challenged persons. Moreover, the Government is also providing excise duty concession on vehicles meant for physically challenged people. Is there a business opportunity?

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