Topics:::: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

( For smaller articles divide form group of 2 each and for big articles form group of 3 each )

ARTICLE 1

Innovates to Make Agriculture easy

“IT IS a fallacy to think that innovation is a high-end activity that takes place only in sophisticated
laboratories. “Innovation encompasses technological innovation, a fresh way of management or a
different way of doing the same task, but which would result in better performance,” said Smt
Pratibha Patil, President of India, at a meeting in New Delhi to honour grass root innovators.

Wasteful expenditure When crores of rupees are being spent for agriculture by the Government
every year for developing new machines and systems to help farmers, the sad fact is that either the
machines developed are not popular, or in some cases fail to meet the expected requirement. But a
farmer in Assam, Mr. Uddhab Bharali, developed more than 85 engineering devices for different
purposes in agriculture. Out of these thirteen are commercialised. Mr. Bharali set up a research
workshop to help local communities and industries solve their technological needs in his hometown
of North Lakshimpur on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Natural flair “I believe that developing
new machines comes naturally to me and it is this flair which helped me repay my father’s debts by
starting a polythene film making industry to cater to the demand from the surrounding tea estates,”
says Mr. Bharali. He designed and developed a new polythene making machine at a subsidised cost
of sixty seven thousand rupees, when company made machines were priced at Rs. 4 lakh. The
success of this machine gave Mr. Bharali the confidence to develop more machines. After repaying
his father’s debts, he got a contract for maintenance of machinery in a hydropower project in
Arunachal Pradesh near the Indo-China border. Some of the other machines which he developed
are: Pomegranate de seederwhich separates the outer hard skin and the thin inner membrane without
damaging the seeds. Using this machine one can easily deseed 50-55 kg of pomegranates in an hour.
The machine has been exported to Turkey and the U.S. Arecanut peeler Manual peeling of areca
nuts is a cumbersome job and there are chances of fingers getting cut. Mr. Bharali developed an
areca nut peeling machine with a capacity to peel 100-120 nuts in a minute. Another device, the
cassava peeler is a portable electric machine that can process up to 5 kg of cassava per minute. Mr.
Bharali developed an assembly of machines that performs operations such as splitting long lengths
of bamboo, sizing, surface finishing and polishing them. These units are installed with the help of
the National Innovation Foundation at North Cachar hills. Other innovations In addition to the
above, the farmer also developed remi recortication machine, garlic peeling machine, tobacco leaf
cutter, paddy thresher, cane stripping machine, brass utensil polishing machine, safed musli peeling
machine, jatropha de-seeder, mechanised weeding machine, passion fruit juice extractor, trench
digger and a chopper for cattle and fisheries feed. Many of the innovations are popular in foreign
countries. The Central Silk board sought his guidance to redesign a sophisticated reeling machine.
He also designed a stevia pulveriser & passion fruit gel extractor for North Eastern Region
Community Resource Management Project (NERCRMP). Resource scholar Mr. Bharaliis also a
resource scholar for the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship and a technical consultant to Rural
Technology Action Group (RUTAG) for the development of technology at the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Guwahati.

ARTICLE 2
Mrs. S. Saradhamani is a progressive lady farmer of Perianiackenpalayam village in Coimbatore
District. With hardly 2-3 acres, Saradhamani has been successfully integrating goat, cattle rearing,
vermicompost manufacturing and growing a number of crop varieties such as sunflower, vegetables
and high yielding fodder grass varieties.

A goat shed was constructed on her farm with financial assistance from the University, which also
supplied her with about 5 female and 1 male Tellicherry goats.

Tellicherry goats are mainly reared for mutton purposes, and stall feeding is highly suitable for this
breed. “In about 3 years I have earned about Rs. 75,000 from the sale of goats alone,” she said. But
why did she prefer to pay more attention to goat rearing when cattle would have been a better
option? “Rearing goats is relatively easier compared to cattle as the expenditure involved in goat
rearing is less when compared to cattle.

“The feed for my animals is mostly grown in my field. In fact I spend about only Rs. 2 per day as
feed cost for one animal. “A female goat gives birth to 4 kids in a year and the kids are sold for Rs,
2,000 each when they attain 3-4 months of age.

“Also, selling the goats is easy when compared to cattle as there are no middlemen involved, as
farmers approach me directly if they need any animals. The cost factor is small when compared to
that of cattle. Farmers can easily pay the small amount for buying the goat kids unlike that of cattle
which costs several thousands. In short, goats are similar to ATM cards which can be used to get
money in times of emergency,” said the enterprising lady.

ARTICLE 3

First rural financial institution to receive cooperative bank license

The women of Mann Deshi Mahila in India’s rural North Karnataka district have just introduced
another innovation in a series of self-help initiatives that began in 1997 with the creation of the first
rural financial institution in India to receive a cooperative banking license. They have created a
mobile business school that will take information and training to the rural areas where women live.

Annual rainfall of only 5 inches has slowed local agriculture due to continuously poor harvest and
high farmer indebtedness; of those who have not gone to urban centers in search of work, many live
in poverty. Early in life women have to shoulder responsibilities  and their illiteracy rate is as high .
While emigration has always been a problem, the area has recently attracted media attention due to
a high rate of suicide among farmers.

The Mann dehsi Mahila sahakari bank run by and for women in rural Maharashtra, works with two
NGOs, Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha (Mann Vikas), established in 1994, and Mann Deshi Mahila
Bachat Gat Federation (Self Help Group Federation), to achieve the goals of empowerment, asset
creation, leadership development, capacity building, and property rights for women.

The Bank has grown from an initial shareholder capitalization of 600,000 rupees (US$15,000) to
total assets of 90 million rupees (US$2,250,000) in 2005-2006. It has helped create nearly 17,000
women entrepreneurs, has a repayment rate of 97.5%, a profit of 232,000 rupees, three branches,
more than 6,200 members and 58,000 clients, conducts 4,250 transactions daily, and won first prize
in social sector of the international 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Innovation award.

Mann Vikas promotes girls education provides women with health education student scholarships,

vocational skills training, and information regarding life insurance; offers classes on commerce,
marketing, and management; runs two agricultural collectives that help make milk, livestock, and
grain available at affordable rates; and offers fodder insurance for agriculture loans during dry
spells. The federation includes more than 2,300 self-help groups (SHG) each with 10 to 20
members, self-employed women from each sector of the local economy. Groups receive loans
directly from the Bank and, with additional support from the Indian government, conduct lending
activities.

In September 2007, with the help of Deshpande Foundation and Ashoka Foundation, Mann Deshi
and Mann Vikas began a five-year project to offer financial services to women (formal and
informal) and establish a Business School for Rural Women that will make courses accessible to
rural women who cannot attend the central location in Hubli. Travelling from village to village
within the Hubli-Dharwad area, the Business School on Wheels will offer training in technical and
practical business skills that will enable women to expand or start new businesses, which will in
turn be supported with start-up micro-loans. Financial services offered will be coupled with
comprehensive and accessible financial literacy training. Local NGOs advise the business school on
locations where mobile classrooms can be held. The leaders of village SHGs coordinate the local
logistics in their villages.

Bank founder/entrepreneur Chetna Gala Sinha, an economist, farmer, and activist, has been honored
nationally with the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar award for rural entrepreneurship, and by by Yale
and Harvard Universities.

ARTICLE 4

Gorgon nut or makhana is an aquatic weed which grows in shallow water bodies of north Bihar. 
The seeds (which are small in size and white in colour) are used for making different food items.
North-eastern Bihar accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the global makhana production. A pioneer in
its cultivation, Kedar Nath Jha of Ujjan village of Manigachhi (Madhubani district) raises this crop
in about 70 ponds taken on lease from others. He grows and markets the crop himself. “Cultivation
was uneconomical earlier due to the low price paid by traders in this remote rural area with poor
communication and market information facilities.

“I started makhana cultivation in the mid-nineties and started marketing it in the Varanasi markets
and have not looked back since then. I harvest about 1,000 to 1,500 kgs of makhana from a hectare
of pond and earn about Rs. 17 lakhs in a year,” he says.

“Sowing is generally done during December-January and the seeds are sown at a distance of 1 to 1.5
metres on the water surface. About 80 kg of seeds are required for an hectare of pond. The crop
flowers during April and the flower comes above the water surface and again dips into the water
within 3-4 days for fruit formation.

The fruits burst during June-July and float on the water surface for 24 to 48 hrs and sink to the
bottom and are later collected (during September-October). Mr. Jha has his own processing units
and employs a dozen skilled labourers for processing the seeds. This is still done by the traditional
methods such as drying under sun, size based grading, storage, boiling of the seeds, frying and
popping.

“I spend Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 for growing this crop and earn an average net income of Rs 40,000-
50,000 per hectare.”
Entrepreneur Satyajeet Kumar Singh who has established a modern makhana processing plant at
Patna by investing of Rs.70 crore and has also established linkages with farmers spread over in eight
districts.  His network currently covers more than four thousand farmers and his Sudha Shakti
Industry and Centres of khet se bazaar tak (from field to the market) network for increasing
production and organizing marketing is paying dividends to a large number of farmers. If farmers in
Bihar properly exploit this crop, they will have the potential to produce makhana worth more than
Rs. 400-500 crores.

ARTICLE 5

Chinthala Venkata Reddy got a yield of 20 to 25 tonnes of Black Beauty seedless grape from his
five-acre grape garden in Alwal without using any  fertilizers. Mr. Reddy, an entrepreneurial
farmer, got a world patent for his innovative technique of improving soil fertility without using
fertilizer, took it as a challenge to prove that grass indeed is good for growing a grape garden. His
technique is simple. He allows the grass to grow and at the drip points use some dung. The
continuous drip of water combined with dung would allow earthworms to grow.

“The secret lies in the earthworms. These worms increase the soil fertility. When they die they
would become compost and further improve the fertility. A healthy bed of grass would provide the
natural habitat for earthworms to grow. I have proved that grass is indeed beneficial to a grape
garden,” says Mr. Reddy. "Farmers waste a lot of money on weedicides and thereby the pesticide
residue in grapes would also grow causing harm to those who consume the fruit. Use natural
methods to improve fertility and it would not only benefit the farmer but also the consumer,” he
says.

ARTICLE 6

Mr. C. Boopathy, a  farmer of the precision farming technology (PFT) in Morappur village of
Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu has grown musk melon in his one hectare farm. “I had spent
about Rs. 90,000 as cultivation cost and was able to get a gross income of Rs. 3,60,000. Deducting
the expense I have earned a net profit of Rs. 2,70,000 solely from musk melon,” he says.

I was able to harvest two fruits from a single vine he said. Each fruit weighed 1.25 - 1.5 kg. About
45 tonnes of fruit was harvested from a hectare and sold at Rs. 5 to 12 a kg,” said Mr. Boopathy.
Though it is mainly a summer crop it is now being cultivated throughout the year in Tamil Nadu.

ARTICLE 7

SCIENTISTS AT the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, have developed a
technology called precision farming, said to be a first of its kind in India. The technology is being
presently implemented in several major areas of Tamil Nadu. At present precision technology is
implemented in about 200 hectares in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. More than 100 farmers
have been benefited by this project.

Under this farming concept, the University gives technical advice to farmers on soil and water
conditions, weather mapping, forewarning of pest attacks and also supplies water soluble fertilizers
to be applied along with drip irrigation. Mr. P.M. Chinnasamy, is one such beneficiary farmer in
Dharmapuri, who has harvested about 135 tonnes of tomato from his one hectare field in nine
months using this technology.
The yield is almost triple that of the farmers growing tomato under the conventional system of
planting. The first harvest was done on the 65th day after planting. The fruits were uniform in size
and the skin colour was deep red. The fruits were sold at the rate of Rs.10-20 per kg. Mr.
Chinnasamy, has earned a net income of about Rs. 5 lakhs from tomato cultivation in nine months.

ARTICLE 8

The main part of Mr. Bhise's implement is the front portion of a bicycle, namely handlebar, front
axle and the wheel. A steel fork is connected to the axle and the other end carries different kinds of
attachments. Separate attachments for weeding, tilling and harrowing are attached to the working
end, using bolts and nuts.

This helps in changing the attachments as required. Suitable slots in the device are provided for
adjusting the distance between blades to suit specific requirements. Safety provisions are
incorporated so that the blade does not injure the user at the time of reversing the device during
weeding operations,” explains Mr. Bhise.

“People laughed at me in the beginning, but I never gave up. Perseverance finally paid off and today
my Krishiraja is received well in the local market,” says the poor farmer proudly. The tiller
attachment enables the farmers to cultivate medium-hard soil up to a depth of about one foot.

Mr. Gopal uses the device to carry out most of the farming operations. He no more needs bullocks.
So far more than 200 devices are currently being used by farmers in the region. Priced at Rs 1,200, a
person can weed 0.08 ha in one hour. It is easy to operate and suited for those who cannot afford
bullocks. More than 200 farmers are today using the multi-purpose cycle weeder. It gives the much
needed independence to a small farmer who does not own bullocks or a tractor.

ARTICLE 9

The member of the Self-help Group Van Suraksha evam Prabandh Samiti, Village - Atatiya, Range
- Ogna, District - Udaipur (Rajasthan) after successful training at PHT centre, established the
Gwarpatha Prasanskaran Kendra (Aloe vera processing unit) in Ogna village.

The tribals were trained to use the motorised small scale gel extraction machine, and in processes
for value added products such as Aloe vera juice, squash and RTS beverage with/without blend of
lemon, ginger and mint extracts, at the PHT centre, Udaipur. Between December 2008 and
February 2009, the unit produced about 500 litres of Aloe vera juice. Processed and bottled Aloe
juice was launched for sale to general public and tourists as a health drink. At present the processing
unit is running successfully. Effective aloe juice recovery is about 30% as the plantation is under
rainfed condition on Aravali hills. Total cost of production of Aloe vera juice is Rs 40 per litre with
sale price as Rs 100 per litre, with a net profit of Rs 60 per litre.

The low sale price has been fixed after considering the prevailing market price of Rs 200 to 550 per
litre juice. Local tribals and members of Van Suraksha evam Prabandh Samiti are earning profit by
sale of Aloe vera juice. Aloe vera is a plant of great potential and value in the field of therapeutic
pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industries, and in Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicines, it is
particularly useful for treatment of burns, bleeding wounds, as eye drops for sore eyes.

Aloe vera gel comprises 75 nutrients, 200 active compounds, 20 minerals, 18 amino acids and 12
vitamins. There is about 125 ha of Aloe vera plantation in the adjoining area of the processing unit
within the Ogna forest area of Udaipur district, which amounts to 12.5 lakh plants of Aloe vera.
These plantings were done by the Forest Department on degraded forest land for conservation under
different schemes since 1996-97. However, due to lack of awareness and non-availability of simple
technology for value addition at production catchment, tribal people were getting little or no
monetary benefit from this large Aloe vera plantation.

From November 2009 to January 2010, the group handled approximately 4 tonnes of aloe leaf and
produced 950 litres of aloe juice. The expenditure on labour, electricity, preservative (KMS),
bottles, cans, etc. has been estimated as Rs 31,000. As the raw material i.e. Aloe leaf is a forest
produce and managed by Van Surakshya Avam Praband Samiti, Atatiya hence no cost has been
incurred for aloe leaf. The building for housing the principal equipment and product was provided
by the Forest Department, Government of Rajasthan. Therefore, with a revenue of Rs 95,000
obtained @ Rs 100/litre against the expenditure of Rs 31,000, a net profit of Rs 64,000 was realized
for the duration.

This Aloe vera processing unit established with an investment of Rs 70,000/ is providing
employment to 8 persons/ day (collection of leaf, processing, packaging and marketing). The unit
can be effectively operated from September to February i.e, 6 months in a year, while the cost of
unit could be recovered in almost three months. Quality raw material (aloe leaves) are not available
from March to September, as the production area is rainfed hill forest.

This is the first such processing unit in underdeveloped tribal area of the Rajasthan for livelihood
strengthening, economic empowerment and conservation of forest. The success of its Aloe vera
processing unit has encouraged the entrepreneurship among the tribal farmers of this area

ARTICLE 10

Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar in Uttranchal. She has
only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property. Her soaring economic condition forced
her to earn livelihood through farming. Her courage to take initiative and choosing new varieties for
farming changed her life forever. Now, she is showing a way of prosperity to young farmers

As other fellow farmers were doing cabbage farming in her village, she also took-up cabbage
cultivation but it could not contribute much to her income. Meanwhile, a group of agriculture
scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) visited her village for interaction with farmers.
Scientists provided them information regarding work done at Ranichauri hill campus. It was decided
that a first line demonstration will be organized in Kharif season for the benefit of farmers

As per schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line demonstration of soybean in the field of 28
farmers. Farmers got around 10.5 quintal/hectare production which is more then what they were
getting from their previous crop. This demonstration encouraged them to do some experiment with
their traditional farming techniques. Second step in this direction was another first line
demonstration in Rabi season by the KVK’s scientists. This time, they got around 24% more
production which is 23 quintal/hectare.

Scientists came to know that farmers are not having knowledge of off-seasonal vegetables which
can contribute in their income handsomely. This area had the model ecological conditions for
growing off-seasonal vegetables. Farmer’s enthusiasm encouraged scientists to provide them the
technical know-how for non seasonal vegetables.
Under this programme, 28 farmers trained for raising a good nursery of Challenger (cabbage) and
Manisha (Tomato) varieties with the use of vermicompost and organic fertilizers. Rukmani Devi
was one of the beneficiaries of this programme. She got 100 plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much more then the invested
money. She earned Rs 600 by selling 60 Kg cabbage at 10 Rs/Kg rate. She saved another 10 Kg
cabbage for her household consumption. Thus, she could get a bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare
of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmani earned money out of vegetable farming. She is
grateful to the scientists for showing her a new way of economic independence

Economics of off-seasonal cabbage farming was very attractive for the farmers. Now, many more
farmers are approaching to scientists to get their help. Thanks to initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

(NAIP Sub-Project on Mass Media Mobilization, DIPA with inputs from GBPUA&T,
Pantnagar)Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar in Uttranchal.
She has only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property. Her soaring economic
condition forced her to earn livelihood through farming. Her courage to take initiative and choosing
new varieties for farming changed her life forever. Now, she is showing a way of prosperity to
young farmers
As other fellow farmers were doing cabbage farming in her village, she also took-up cabbage
cultivation but it could not contribute much to her income. Meanwhile, a group of agriculture
scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) visited her village for interaction with farmers.

Scientists provided them information regarding work done at Ranichauri hill campus. It was decided
that a first line demonstration will be organized in Kharif season for the benefit of farmers. As per
schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line demonstration of soybean in the field of 28 farmers.
Farmers got around 10.5 quintal/hectare production which is more then what they were getting from
their previous crop.

This demonstration encouraged them to do some experiment with their traditional farming
techniques. Second step in this direction was another first line demonstration in Rabi season by the
KVK’s scientists. This time, they got around 24% more production which is 23 quintal/hectare.
Scientists came to know that farmers are not having knowledge of off-seasonal vegetables which
can contribute in their income handsomely. This area had the model ecological conditions for
growing off-seasonal vegetables. Farmer’s enthusiasm encouraged scientists to provide them the
technical know-how for non seasonal vegetables.

Under this programme, 28 farmers trained for raising a good nursery of Challenger (cabbage) and
Manisha (Tomato) varieties with the use of vermicompost and organic fertilizers. Rukmani Devi
was one of the beneficiaries of this programme. She got 100 plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much more then the invested
money. She earned Rs 600 by selling 60 Kg cabbage at 10 Rs/Kg rate. She saved another 10 Kg
cabbage for her household consumption. Thus, she could get a bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare
of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmani earned money out of vegetable farming. She is
grateful to the scientists for showing her a new way of economic independence

Economics of off-seasonal cabbage farming was very attractive for the farmers. Now, many more
farmers are approaching to scientists to get their help. Thanks to initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

(NAIP Sub-Project on Mass Media Mobilization, DIPA with inputs from GBPUA&T,
Pantnagar)Rukmani Devi is a senior citizen from Sondhaar village, Block Jakahnidar in Uttranchal.
She has only 0.2 hectare farm land, house and a buffalo as property. Her soaring economic
condition forced her to earn livelihood through farming. Her courage to take initiative and choosing
new varieties for farming changed her life forever. Now, she is showing a way of prosperity to
young farmers
As other fellow farmers were doing cabbage farming in her village, she also took-up cabbage
cultivation but it could not contribute much to her income. Meanwhile, a group of agriculture
scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) visited her village for interaction with farmers.

Scientists provided them information regarding work done at Ranichauri hill campus. It was decided
that a first line demonstration will be organized in Kharif season for the benefit of farmers. As per
schedule, scientists demonstrated the first line demonstration of soybean in the field of 28 farmers.
Farmers got around 10.5 quintal/hectare production which is more then what they were getting from
their previous crop.

This demonstration encouraged them to do some experiment with their traditional farming
techniques. Second step in this direction was another first line demonstration in Rabi season by the
KVK’s scientists. This time, they got around 24% more production which is 23 quintal/hectare.
Scientists came to know that farmers are not having knowledge of off-seasonal vegetables which
can contribute in their income handsomely. This area had the model ecological conditions for
growing off-seasonal vegetables. Farmer’s enthusiasm encouraged scientists to provide them the
technical know-how for non seasonal vegetables.

Under this programme, 28 farmers trained for raising a good nursery of Challenger (cabbage) and
Manisha (Tomato) varieties with the use of vermicompost and organic fertilizers. Rukmani Devi
was one of the beneficiaries of this programme. She got 100 plants for farming.

She invested merely Rs 25.50 for cabbage farming but the income was much more then the invested
money. She earned Rs 600 by selling 60 Kg cabbage at 10 Rs/Kg rate. She saved another 10 Kg
cabbage for her household consumption. Thus, she could get a bumper crop of 240 quintal/ hectare
of cabbage. This is the first time that Rukmani earned money out of vegetable farming. She is
grateful to the scientists for showing her a new way of economic independence. Economics of off-
seasonal cabbage farming was very attractive for the farmers. Now, many more farmers are
approaching to scientists to get their help. Thanks to initiatives taken by Rukmani Devi.

ARTICLE 11
Once a farmer dies, the burden of supporting the family falls on his wife. With little or no education,
and a poor financial background, it is a tough job for a single woman, especially in a village, to
overcome the several odds and succeed. Kottrapatti village in Pudukottai district is like any other
village in the country. But the incidence of widows in this village and surrounding areas is quite
high.

Having lost their husbands, the ladies were finding it difficult to carry on with their daily work and
also take care of their children. Most of them were unable to obtain one square meal a day or send
their children to school. They were neglected and in some cases sexually exploited by some male
members in their village. The women were also trained to produce their own organic inputs. says
Mrs. R. Maruthambal, a lady farmer:

“I lost my husband, a chronic alcoholic, seven years ago, and found it difficult to take care of my
three children. With no money and work. I did not know what to do for food. I even contemplated
suicide, but backed out at the last moment because of my children. But today my life is better,
thanks to Kudumbam. My two children are going to school and I am able to lead a decent life,”
Another beneficiary, Mrs. M. Pakkiyam, says:

“After my husband died in an accident 5 years ago, my in-laws chased me out of the house labelling
me a misfortune. “My parents were also not keen to take me back as they had three other daughters
who needed to get married. I turned into a vagabond overnight with no food and shelter. If not for
these people I would have killed myself.” At present there are about 15women in this group and all
of them are taking active interest in the work.

A portion of the harvested produce is kept for food and some is saved for sowing in the next season.
The rest is sold and the income is equally divided among all the members. In order to increase the
economic development of the women, a revolving fund of Rs. 20,000 has been created.

Members can avail loans from this fund and repay it in easy monthly instalments. In fact, this fund
has reduced their dependency on private moneylenders who charge a heavy interest which ranges
from 40 to 60 per cent on the loans. Kudumbam an NGO in Tiruchi has been responsible for all
these developmental works.

ARTICLE 12

Mohammad Mehtar Hussain and his younger brother Mushtaq Ahmad are farmers in the Darrang
district of Assam

These entrepreneurial brothers own two acres of land, and produce just enough paddy to feed their
families. As cultivating paddy is a water-intensive task, drawing out large amounts of groundwater
was difficult due to frequent power cuts. Moreover, the alternative of pumping out water using a
diesel set was too expensive and hand-pumping required a lot of effort. This set the brothers
thinking, and in 2003 they came up with a solution that was a much cheaper and effective
alternative. They invented a simple windmill using bamboo and a tin sheet, and attached it to a
hand-pump.

The genesis of their invention is interesting, given the fact that the brothers are educated only up to
higher secondary level and have no technical background. While looking around for an answer to
their problem, their eyes fell on the movement of a sewing machine. They observed how the circular
motion of the wheel resulted in the up-and-down movement of the needle. This formed a rough
impression of how their solution would work. However, the major problem of how they would
generate enough energy to make it function still remained.

The solution to this came when one day they were watching kites, and a sudden gust of wind made
them soar higher. They concluded that a large wheel, moving by the power of wind, could be
attached to the handle of a hand-pump to pump out water continuously. They made their first
prototype using bamboo, old tyres, iron, and so on. How the innovation took shape -

The basic model of the windmill consisted of a tower-like structure, made of two parallel bamboo
posts. These were connected using an iron shaft, which in turn mounted the blades of the windmill.
The wind makes the blades move, thus rotating the shaft. Being connected to the handle of the hand-
pump, the rotating motion of the shaft results in the pumping out of water. However, this static
model of the windmill has several advantages and disadvantages.
Cost: Rs 6,000 (Static Model) / Rs 40,000 (Improvised Model)
Made of inexpensive, locally available materials, such as bamboo and aluminum sheets, made it
much cheaper than traditional windmills. Moreover, the entire unit could be assembled and
dismantled in an hour, making it portable. No foundation was required for installation as the
bamboo poles could be erected by digging holes in the ground. On the flip side, as the blades were
static, they rotate only when facing the direction of the wind. Second, being light in weight, it did
not withstand high-velocity wind. Third, there was no brake system in this design—it has to be
stopped by inserting a wooden pole between the blades. Fourth, compared to traditional windmills
made from sturdy materials, bamboo has a shorter life. This limited its use in all seasons, especially
during the rains and the winter.

As the popularity of the windmill slowly spread, another innovator, Karunakanth Nath, whose
innovation was already being supported by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) North East,
introduced it to the organization. The NIF awarded it a cash prize and a certificate from former
President Abdul Kalam. Says Mushtaq “That was the proudest moment of my life.”

The National innovation Foundation supported the innovation through its offshoot Grassroots
Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) by providing funds. It started working on the defects of
the windmill. Several were installed in IIT-Guwahati for technical analysis. At around the same
time, GIAN West installed a prototype of the windmill in Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat for salt
farming on an experimental basis. India, with an average annual salt production of 157 lakh tonnes,
is the third largest salt producer in the world. However, according to GIAN’s estimates, for
producing 1,000 tonnes of salt, a salt farmer has to spend approximately Rs 1 lakh, of which nearly
Rs 60,000 is spent on fuel for diesel sets for pumping out saline water. According to Mushtaq, “The
response that we received was very positive. Our windmill proved to be cheaper as well as
effective.” The two brothers have definitely added their names in the Indian rural innovation
chapter.

NON TECH ENTRERPRENEURS

ARTICLE 13

From the slums to the Foodking

Sharath Babu is not just the star of a true underdog story he is also an inspiring entrepreneurial tale
for those who come from similar backgrounds. This is the story of someone who dreamt big, and
gained an incredible education while living in a slum. Today he is a successful entrepreneur and
proud owner of ‘Foodking’ with branches in five cities across India. Sharath Babu was also
adjudged the Pepsi youth icon in 2008. Yourstory found out how he went on from the slums to
become the Foodking of entrepreneurship.

He was born and brought up in a slum in Madipakkam, Chennai with two elder sisters and two
younger brothers. Raised by a hard working mother who was the sole breadwinner of the family he
never let his circumstances soil his dreams. Sharath recalls his mothers’ sacrifices saying “It was
really tough for my mother to bring up five kids on her meager salary. She sold Idlis in the
mornings, worked for the mid-day meal at the school during daytime and taught at the adult
education programme of the Indian government, thus doing three different jobs to bring us up and
educate us”.

His Formative Years

Sharath did his schooling from Kings Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai, and
graduated in Chemical Engineering from BITS, Pilani.  After working for 3 years in Polaris
Softwares, he went on to complete his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. While working at Polaris he
paid off his loans and started preparing for the CAT. Sarath Babu spoke of those times saying,
"When I was in my third year at BITS, I organized an event. My friends thought my management
skills were very good and suggested that I pursue a course in management."

The first time Sarath appeared for the CAT, a mishap occurred and the paper got leaked. He came
home feeling confident of success and the moment he knew the paper had been leaked, he got really
upset. However, he sat for the CAT again and got interview calls from all six IIMs.

He graduated from BITS, Pilani on a Tamil Nadu government scholarship, and IIM, Ahmedabad too
gave him a scholarship. His relatives also pitched in with money for him. This was not new for him
as even in school, his teachers would help pay his fees. Impressed by his intelligence and hard work
everyone wanted to help Sharath Babu.

Foodking- his Business Idea

Sharath’s mother, a 'mid-day meal' worker in a government school cooked idlis, which he and his
two younger brothers used to sell. He believed that there lay a business idea under all the experience
he had gathered in selling idlis which would help him make a successful foray in the catering
business, Sharath refused an offer of Rs 8.5 lakh from a reputed IT firm to pursue his hunch.

Foodking was setup with a vision to offer employment to illiterate and semi-illiterate people and
bring up their living standards. Foodking started its operations on May 16th, 2006 by supplying
snacks to corporate sectors, banks and software firms. It undertook Event Catering, Industrial
Catering and Institutional Catering and also has Retail Outlets. Today Sharath is CEO of Foodking
Catering Services which is provides services at BITS, Pilani, IIM, Ahmedabad, BITS, Goa, BITS
Hyderabad and SRM, Chennai among others and has a turnover in Crores.

Sharath says that serving someone food is an extremely satisfying feeling. The smile you get after
giving good food to someone is an experience to cherish. Food King www.foodkingindia.com is an
entrepreneurial dream come true for Sarath Babu.

His firm, Food King catering services, was inaugurated at Ahmedabad by IIM-A chairman and chief
mentor of Infosys N.R. Narayanamurthy. Begun with just Rs 2,000 of seed money and started from
a mess in Ahmedabad his venture today is spread across several locations to the tune of Rs 9 crores
and is geared to double by the year-end. Through Food King he desires to give quality employment
to the poor. In the next 5 years he aims to make Food King a source of employment for 50,000
people by opening 400-500 branches all over the country. For 28 year old Sarath, his mother, who
once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah (nanny), is a pillar of strength.
According to him his mother is the true successful entrepreneur.

The entrepreneurial selling point

Food King was specially designed for the customers to serve them good food at nominal prices.
“The specialty of the food king is to serve good food at a nominal price. We design the menu
according to the customers” says Sharath.

Sharath admitted that even for a fighter like him Foodking has thrown some hard challenges. The
novelty of the business and the need to understand people’s tastes and the business were hurdles he
had to level up to overcome.
The Road ahead

Yourstory asked what’s in store for the future and Sarath said that the future lies in spreading his
business to every part of the country. In addition to that Sharath also wants to grow his political
career. Very few know that Sharath contested in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and managed to get
around 15,000 votes which is a great achievement for an independent candidate.

Sarath Babu has had political aspirations for almost three years. "I saw the poverty and illiteracy and
decided that the city needs someone who is actually concerned about people's welfare". He aims to
improve employment opportunities and provide education to all. Top on his list of goals, though, is
poverty alleviation. He states "I know what real hunger is ... the pain of not being able to afford
food."

He said that it was a great experience although he lost the elections but he feels satisfied that in the
first year he managed to collect a respectable number of votes. The results gave him the courage to
contest in the elections again. Sharath Babu has also started edu bharat an enrichment programme
for local management students.

Article 14

Heal the world; make it a better place….’ Michael Jackson.

I am sure if the king of Pop was alive today, he would think someone is doing justice to his song as
the lyrics of this song are the mantra of Brussels born Doctor Walter Fischer.

MAY 2007 was indeed a turning point in the life of Dr Walter Fischer, an acupuncturist, who had
visited India many times in the past.  Only this time, he didn’t know that fate had planned a much
longer stay for him in this country. ‘Infact when I was 19 years old, I had visited Calcutta and
volunteered at Mother Teresa’s ashram. I had also worked with another Doctor who hailed from
Europe.  Though I was young, I enjoyed my stay of one month helping as much as I could’ he states
humbly.

So why India of all the countries? And Dr. Walter replies very matter-of-fact; ‘It wasn’t that I had
consciously planned on coming to India. I arrived in 2007 in Bombay and got associated with an
NGO – CSSC (Center for study of social change). We set up a free camp for a month and I offered
my services to the hilt.  I was not sure of how it would be received but I went into it headlong. A
month of service and then I took off to Kashmir, to relax’, he smiles. ‘And it was in Kashmir, that I
took a decision to stay back’. What was it that made him take such a decision? ‘Actually, it was the
people. When they came to know I am a doctor and offering acupuncture service almost free, they
flocked to me. That was the real reason I decided to come back to Bombay and start something in
full swing’.

January 2008. Walter Fischer sets up a small clinic in a slum of Mumbai.

One wonders how the slums of Bombay would react to some ‘gora’ setting up a Samaritan service.
A million doubts and questions could crop up – political, religious and more. ‘Well,’ replies Dr
Walter, earlier on when I was serving with the CSSC, I came across Ujwala Patil, a young Indian
social worker  who offered to help me in my mission. Her family is well known in this area and the
people trust them very much. They understood my mission and knew it was a genuine attempt on
my part.  Together we opened a rudimentary acupuncture clinic (7 square meters, two treatment
beds, no running water). Look, people are often suspicious when they find an NGO / Christian
organization etc, because they hold that fear of getting converted and all such things. Such reactions
are normal. I was welcome from the start. We got extremely positive results and nothing could have
made me happier’.

A few months later Ujwala created her own NGO, ‘Barefoot Slum’ . This will be in charge of
running the future acupuncture clinics in Mumbai, in association with Dr. Walter  and the ‘Barefoot
Acupuncturists’.

‘Barefoot Acupuncturists’ is a non-profit organization and was formed in Belgium in January
2009. ‘This,’ says Dr. Walter, ‘was after a year of active presence in the slums of Mumbai which
had necessitated such an initiative. The administrative functions of the organization are handled by
the five founders on a voluntary basis. Work in the field is done by a team which includes Dr.
Walter Fischer, Ujwala Patil and an Indian staff. Visiting acupuncturists from various countries
regularly meet up with us. We share our experiences and knowledge, by giving both, treatments as
well as imparting the skills’.

Honesty is his second name and it very evident from the efforts he has made to make this mission of
his a success. Very simply clad in clean, crisp cottons, his clinic titled ‘Barefoot Acupuncturists’ is
set in Vijaynagar, on the ground floor in building C.  The white-washed walls and the impeccable
interiors  leave you amazed at how much must have gone into keeping this five room clinic in such
a fine state.

A year ago, I had a much smaller place, where I could accommodate only two beds and without a
washroom.  I wanted to understand the pulse of the people, their reaction, to understand whether
they would accept and welcome my services. Also, it was my own investment in the place and I had
to be very practical about everything and spend wisely. One may have great ideas but if the people
around you are not ready to accept them, then it makes no sense at all’.

And what about family?  He flashes his appealing smile ‘I’m all of forty, unmarried. Sure, I have
my parents whom I visit once or perhaps twice a year. I am in regular touch with them’. Did they
ever try to dissuade him from his goals? ‘No, never. My Mom has been a social worker and my
parents encouraged me from the very start. They are proud of what I am doing’ he replies in the
most humble manner.

It takes courage to set foot on foreign land and set up a clinic no matter how noble your intentions
are and yet when you question  Dr. Walter, all he says is; ‘It is more than courage. It is your inner
passion.  I had had a vision of setting up a “Barefoot” project while studying acupuncture at the
Swiss Institute of Chinese Medicine Guang Ming. The very fact that acupuncture is an economic
drug-free so powerful treatment, I had decided then itself that it could be a boon for the poorest lot
of society. Thereafter I spent two years in China, further improvising upon my acupuncture skills in
a government hospital as well as in private clinics’.

One can’t but wonder what could have drawn a man like Dr. Walter to pursue such a goal in life all
by himself, without anyone backing him financially or otherwise. Was it something personal that
triggered it off?   ‘Honestly, I have been trying to find the meaning of life since I was 15 years. I
realized even then, that it was very important for a person to follow his dreams. As far as doing it on
my own, I have been independent since an early age. At 18, I left for the US to pursue my studies.
In the west, it’s different and yet though I do respect the family emotions and attachments of the
east, which also form an important part of one’s life, it is my freedom which has helped me to
pursue my goals. When one is married, your priorities change, your family comes first and there are
things which though you would love to devote yourself to, you simply cannot. But family is
important, I agree. I am as fond of my parents and my sister as they are of me. I respect them for
being so supportive of what I am doing.’

How powerful is acupuncture as a treatment?  Dr. Walter answers without sounding like a braggard.
‘We treat paralysis, neurological pathologies, digestive problems, sleep disorders and even
gynaecological diseases. It offers immense relief in cases of various bodily pains and aches.  90% of
the patients who have come to us with ailments of pain have been cured’. What about serious issues
like strokes etc? ‘In such cases, it does not heal but definitely helps to a large extent, e.g. in the
elasticity of muscles, atrophy etc.  We have seen very good results in patients who have taken
sessions in a period of less than a month’.

Ask Dr. Walter which patient proved to be one of the most challenging and he replies ‘There was
this one patient who had come to meet me because she wanted to avoid the torture of undergoing an
operation. And she was healed’. And all this healing for Rs 20 only!!?  ‘No, no, this amount is only
for the poorest of the society. They will not be able to afford more than Rs 30, perhaps.  There was
this one patient who got me an apple as a gesture of appreciation’, he reminisces ‘and it gave me
unimaginable joy.  However, the middle-class and the wealthy also expect me to charge them Rs
20/-. They must understand that this service is for the very poor. I charge those who can afford Rs
300 - Rs 500 per session depending on the ailment they are suffering from.  I charge because we
need to run this place. I have assistants, there are electricity and maintenance bills, all of which
needs to be taken care of. You know sometimes I get patients who just can’t pay but they leave me
wealthier by showering all their blessings on me. Need I ask for more?’

Pooja Zendey, a commerce undergraduate who works with Dr.Walter smiles in agreement and says
‘He is god-sent. No one would offer such services. I have been working with him for a year now
and it gives him sheer joy healing the poor.

So what drives Dr. Walter? ‘I don’t know’, he replies, his eyes twinkling. ‘I guess I have to yet
figure that out. I have no expectations. My greatest joy is my work being received in India. I am not
going to spend my life here. My duty is to impart my skills to others like Pooja and more, train
them, make them perfectionists and move on to set up another such clinic elsewhere. But, this is my
dream. One must accept situations. The day I don’t have funds, I will face poverty but I will
continue doing my work at any cost because this is what makes me the happiest and gives my life
meaning’.

Ask Pooja if she would like to continue in the same vein as Dr Walter and she says ‘Yes, I will
continue in his footsteps for sure. This is the best way one can serve the underprivileged lot of
society.  He has been very, very kind to train me and I will carry the torch forward and train others
in return’.

Dr Walter intervenes and says ‘Look, it is my project. I am never going to give it up.  I will train as
many people, impart all the knowledge and then go where my help is required and set up clinics
elsewhere. I will always be a part of this, always’.

‘Barefoot Acupuncturists’ welcomes patients from 9.30 am until 1.30 pm every single day of the
week. Since its inception, "Barefoot Acupuncturists" has treated over 1000 patients in India.
About 15-20 patients are treated per day. A treatment requires several sessions, from a few days for
common problems to several months for heavy handicaps’.

So what does this noble man do in the remaining hours of the day? ‘I am on the computer,
networking, trying to raise funds, seek help, offer help and explore other places where I may be
needed. We plan to open more clinics in other slums of Mumbai and also in isolated villages in
India. We are co-operating with an Indian acupuncture school (ATAMA) in Tamil Nadu, southern
India, and we opened our first rural clinic in June 2010. We hope to inaugurate one more by 2012,
with a constant objective:  to reach the poorest populations. We have been successful in our various
activities because of some private fundraising, both in Europe and India. We also have approached
a few Indian Government institutions have been approached regarding the issue of subsidies aimed
at healthcare and self-employment projects and are hopeful of some positive results’.

As Dr Walter guides you through his clinic, explaining how they function, you wonder if he is
some kind of modern day messiah. Perhaps he reads my thoughts, for the next thing he tells
me is; ‘Messiah’, he nods his head in the negative. ‘I do believe there is some power or order
above us all but beyond that, nothing. ‘Barefoot Acupuncturists’ is a non-profit organization.
We have no political or religious affiliation. Our only objective is to offer acupuncture treatments
and training to less privileged populations in order to relieve them from illness and support them in
having greater autonomy in healthcare’.   In order to meet these goals, Dr. Walter believes that they
have to achieve local autonomy, producing clinics run by local practitioners who will in the future,
manage the day-to-day operations and hopefully take over the management.  They also plan to train
local people in acupuncture who will be able to practice in their own communities. ‘Presently active
in India's slums and villages, our project could be adapted and transposed to other countries or
communities’ he adds.

Secret to the success of his dream:  ‘The best way to succeed is by training Indian acupuncturists
through our own training centre in Mumbai and the ATAMA facilities in Tamil Nadu. Since March
2010, we started classes with our present staff. Practitioners from India and several other countries
have already joined us and will continue to support us by teaching and practicing in our clinics’.

Before I leave,  I ask Dr Walter the most important question ‘Why the name ‘Barefoot’.  With his
signature smile, he explains ‘In China during the 1960's, thousands of peasants, men and women,
were selected for an intensive three- to six-month course in medical training. Those “barefoot
doctors" continued their farming work in the commune fields, working alongside their comrades.
Their proximity made them readily available to help those in need. They provided basic health care
and taught hygiene. Ten years after, there were an estimated 1 million barefoot doctors in China.

In the 1970s, the World Health Organization and leaders in some developing countries began to
consider China's program as an alternate model to Western-style health care. They were looking
for inexpensive ways to deliver health care to rural populations: China had set up a model that
seemed to work’.

Dr. Walter lives by the day. ‘Yes, of course, who knows what the morrow brings but one’s efforts
must continue. Dreams must be pursued and achieved. If you believe in it, you can achieve it. We
will continue to put our efforts into building up autonomous structures, giving acupuncture training
in villages and slums and reaching the poorest to improve their tomorrow. We know it can be
achieved and we are sure that it will make the world a slightly better place’.

Does he ever get frustrated at patients, circumstances etc?  ‘Of course, I do. I have many frustrations
but not for craving or avarice of something but because I feel I should be able to do more and
perhaps I am unable to do it’.  And how does this gentle man fight such frustrations. ‘Hmm, I go
jogging and meet up with friends.

The finale was when I asked him what if someone gave him the world’s wealth, to which he gave
another very honest and realistic answer;  ‘With an indisputable, unquestionable sense of justice and
greatness, I would redistribute it  back to the world, after keeping a bit of it, and buy myself a nice
posh house on the beach. Rapidly the world would turn back into a total mess, I would very sadly
have to sell my beach house and... go with my needles to where ever I believe I could be most
useful to the people.

“Amidst the Bombay slums

Dr Walter Fischer stands tall

He offers his acupuncture services without expectations

Spreading joy in the lives of all”! …………..Canta Dadlaney

Article 15

Its always said, "Great ideas are born humble" similarly are few such business ideas.
Our entrepreneur of the week Velroy was into networking and web domain technologies at the start
of his career, providing web support etc. Being closely associated with the technology sector in
India, he felt that less focus was given on connectivity and how outages was making people suffer.
“Rather we give a lot of importance to web based applications but less to the challenges of
connectivity” says the young entrepreneur.  Thus this challenge presented Velroy with an
opportunity to embark on his entrepreneurial journey.

Briefing about his web startup ('ThomasWireless') Velroy says, “ it will specifically try to address
all the Internet Service Provider (ISP) related temporary (DNS) disruptions/outages through
focusing on designing & development of web based 'OFFLINE' technologies and applications
which (in the long run) could lead to an to an internet free from all such related temporary
disruptions"

The initial goal will be, creating such kind of 'TECHNOLOGY MECHANISM’ which will DELAY
the temporary ISP based DNS outages in REAL TIME extending from few microseconds to
seconds, ultimately extending towards minutes without any additional modifications or network
infrastructure based resource utilization.

In other words, its like letting lights go dim slowly & then to dark inspite of switching off.

The Business Ideology –

On the business model Velroy says, “ThomasWireless largely relies on an 'Open Source Policy'
allowing like-minded web/internet technology professionals, developers and enthusiasts to be part
of my effort through few of my proprietary web technologies to make internet an 'Outage-Free
Internet'.”

Products & Services -

*MagDale* (TM) Web Browser -

First in the line of development of product/s is my Open Source web browser christened 'MagDale',
a possibly one-of-its-kind web browser to be based on Ruby on Rails (web based application)
framework and MARRYING Web Syndication Technology (RSS/Atom) respectively.

Till today, web syndication's available & popular technology was only used for providing its web
based subscribers with frequently updating website content based on popular web syndication
technology formats, RSS/Atom through ' Aggregators ' (Feed Reader). However, web feed/s will
play a (part) key role in web pages rendering with MagDale browser.

It wil be 'glued' (integrated) using cross platform object oriented programming platform/s (most
preferably 'JRuby' )  with the popular web rendering/layout engine esp. WebKit.

Few of MagDale features will be: Virtual machine compatibility, Browser based remote desktop
access, Parallel Browsing (Application resource sharing proprietory technology, for browser clients
on a enterprise network managing similar secure web session on a company's intranet. Etc),

Boot functionality - To lay foundation for spinning web based OS'es services across internet,
supporting existing online/internet based data storage solutions....etc

Feedle *(TM) - An Search Engine for Web Feeds

An search engine service for RSS/Atom feeds, popularly referred as 'Web Feeds' will be second in
line of development. FEEDLE will help create an 'interface/medium' were the prospective feed
subscribers will find a one-roof solution to explore/search & manage all the web feed/s based
update/s. This unique initiative will make sure the respective feed owners get some kind or other
form of 'perk' if anyone uses/subscribes their web feeds.

Feedle's User Interface (U/I) will ensure an organized way to make their respective web feeds been
heard & subscribed more popularly over web.

*'INTLL'* - An Internet Protocol:

A Session Layer protocol will be third in the line of development, ‘tunneled’ to work over
Application Layer based on HTTP technology with an minimal to negligible level of
upgrades/changes to the existing network infrastructure. An unusual thing about it would be its
ability in performing amidst sudden/unexpected ISP based short term DNS disruptions.

Talking about the Sun Start up essentials he says that it has helped in many ways to overcome the
problems start ups face be it gaining visibility or getting the right technical advice. “It has been a
great experience working with SSE and I have benefitted a lot from this” he says.

Velroy has many interesting ideas and concepts in the pipeline. Your Story wishes him all the very
best  and hope to see all his ideas shaping well.
ARTICLE 16

“Surging Forth”
Knowing what an employer is seeking and being able to accurately judge the worth of a candidate
for a job are two sides of the same coin. A system that integrates the concerns of both the employer
and the career seeker is a win-win situation for both.  Emmanuel Justus has been instrumental in
creating SurgeForth Technologies which addresses this very quandary. The Young Entrepreneur has
been on his entrepreneurial journey since ’08 and has focused on People Analytics as his niche.

His venture is aligned with Sun Startup Essentials and he spoke of their collaboration saying “The
experience with Sun Startup Essentials has been quite good.  We’re yet to realize the full benefit,
but our team members have been helped in some of the technical challenges we faced.”

Business idea - SurgeForth has embarked on building the Next Generation Employability Eco
System bringing together all the stakeholders.  The key stakeholders who play a role in the
employability ecosystem are the Employers, Institutions and the Career seekers.  The challenge
faced in employability is that the Career Seekers have to show case their strength only through their
resumes and academic performances.

Employers have to go through thousands of resumes to shortlist a few career seekers who might be
interested.  Employers do not have a way of knowing the strengths an institution has other their
affiliation to a certifying body or accreditation  In all of this the loser is the Career Seeker since
there is no way he/ she can show case their strengths. SurgeForth has taken up this challenge to
bring all of them together through its offerings TalentWeaver and Career-Weaver.

On the monetary side they charge the Enterprises on a Per Employee per Month Model and the
Educational institutions Per Opportunity and Per Student per Month

Target Market – It’s not just the employer and the employee that benefit from SurgeForth,
institutions also have much to gain. Emmanuel says “The scope of our organization is to provide an
integrated Talent Management suite which brings together all the stakeholders.  Our customers are
Enterprises who provide Career Opportunities for career seekers, Educational Institutions
(Academic institution or Training organizations) who meet academic needs of Career Seekers.”

“The beneficiaries of our systems are the Employers who subscribe to Talent Weaver who’re able to
look at a Pool of Assessed Talent and their employees benefit from participation in the Career
Development Workbench.  Educational Institutions are able to showcase the strengths of their pool
of students for opportunities from Employers. Career Seekers are able to realize the expectation of
the employer and showcase their strengths quantitatively.”

What sets them Apart – SurgeForth is a one of a kind venture that aims at three consumer bases.
The Collaborative Talent Management brings the Career Seekers, the Employers and the
Educational Institutions on a platform of understanding.

Emmanuel states “We offer the Talent Management Service on a Subscription Model and having
our product Cloud Enabled, allows us to enhance meaningful collaboration amongst the
participating stakeholders”. “The Predictive Analytics Algorithm being developed at VIT will make
us stand tall amongst the rest.”
Future Plans- SurgeForth is for the moment restricted to the South Indian market but Emmanuel is
looking at a pan India presence by the third quarter of 2010.  He says “Our strategy is to partner
with chosen Educational Institutions in a non-exclusive franchisee.  This enables us to position our
product and service with Enterprises with whom they have relationship.”

He aims to “build the complete Employability Eco System for the Seekers and Providers.”

Entrepreneurial Journey - Emmanuel has taken up the entrepreneurial life despite the dearth of
“Access to information on funds!” for Indian entrepreneurs He asks “Where’re the ANGELS?”

He then explained why he has stuck to his work despite such drawbacks saying “It has always been
my dream to realize and benefit from my ideas.  I’ve been successful in implementing my ideas for
various customers and it was time for me to have them for myself.”

“Our bandwidth is the cumulative bandwidth of the founding team.  We always have more to
accomplish and wish the days had more than 24 Hours!  We’ve built up the core team of which
we’re extremely proud of their contribution. They’ve taken up more than what they can to spare us
the bandwidth.”

Emmanuel has learnt quite a few “hard lessons” chief among which is “Counting the eggs before
they hatch.” He says “Initially we had met with a lot of employers who were ready to sign up with
us and in our mind we treated them as customers and started projecting revenues based on interests. 
The reality was completely different although the market conditions had a squeeze on us.  But now
we have paying customers who’re happy with our services.”

Recognition gained - SurgeForth has grown from a two member team to a twelve member team
and are still growing. They have been chosen to be incubated at VIT TBI for the development of
their Predictive Analytics Engine. They have also been finalists in the Power of Ideas contest by
Economic Times. Emmanuel is however of the opinion that his greatest achievement is “…
customers, it is a great feeling to see customers appreciate your product and pay for the services. 
That is reward for our ideas.”

Entrepreneurial lesson – Emmanuel believes that the most important factor in entrepreneurship is
focus. “Staying focused while there are a lot of distractions that come along the way as you build
your product.  Beware funds arrive only when you have paying customers.”

ARTICLE 17

If you are sick, tired and frustrated at the speeds that your website loads up due to high latency to
US based servers, but yet have no reasonably priced option to turn to in India, then maybe you have
not heard of E2E Networks founded by Tarun Dua and Ashish Shukla yet. Tarun and Ashish have
come up with a novel solution in the shape of E2E Networks that promises to change the present
chicken and egg problems of slow high priced broadband and high cost of hosting content &
applications in India.

Tarun attributes their battle ready status to the support he has received from Sun Startup Essentials,
'Sun Startup Essentials helps us with co-marketing and business networking'. The biggest advantage
that comes with such an alliance is the business networking opportunities it provides.”  E2E
Networks other partners    include Microsoft Website Spark program and Hayai India's fastest
broadband operation currently being setup in Mumbai.
Sun's partnership also provides E2E Networks with an option to leverage their technical expertise to
scale up larger web operations by providing deep technical support for MySQL and other software
stacks supported by Sun. Sun Startup Essentials initially had also provided E2E Networks with lab
testing environment which helped in validating sizing for performance assumptions.

Business Idea- E2E Networks plans to do away with the twin road bumps that are slowing website
response times in India. Their customers can avoid directly dealing with over priced national data
centers and buying low cost but high latency hosting+bandwidth services available in US/UK based
datacenters. E2E Networks makes sure that Indian companies have low latency hosting
infrastructure in India and US style high volume of bandwidth available to them for US like low
prices.Indian companies especially among the mid segment companies and startups do not have
access to quality infrastructure services. They either have to choose data centers abroad with high
latency or shell out a huge amount of money for data center services in India for buying expensively
priced bandwidth here. This prompted him to come up with a business idea where in he could
provide quality services to Indian companies within India for US like prices.

His entrepreneurial journey- Tarun has spent many years of his life buying and selling
datacenter+bandwidth services for the companies he has worked with and as a consultant has helped
companies to optimize their hosting, network infrastructure and bandwidth costs without
compromising on performance. Tarun spoke about why his company chooses to specialize in this
segment saying “A lot of Internet players in India now recognize the importance of having their web
applications available at a lower latency for faster response times for the end users and Internet
audiences. The latency to US/German datacenters is around 350/300 ms which translates into
several additional seconds while loading up pages of websites.”

“The big players (with requirements of a couple of dedicated servers and dedicated load balancing
equipment) can actually afford to pay for co-location in the expensively priced Indian datacenters.
The smaller blogs have the option of reducing their latency and response times by moving to Y!
India Small Business hosting plan which is good for blogs and small LAMP sites. There are
currently no competitively priced mid-segment offerings for Virtual Private Servers or Dedicated
Servers or public cloud computing environments available in India itself.”

“Where does that leave the Web 2.0 entrepreneurs and small mom and pop hosting businesses run
by web developers? They all have a common need for administrative ( root ) access to their servers
for installing custom software libraries etc. for their applications. A vast majority of them do realize
the advantages of lower latency to reach their audience but most don't like paying 4 times the price
for the same configuration available in US or UK. Practically none of the Indian datacenters
advertise a dedicated server with a fixed monthly cost on their websites and many of them have un-
usually long sales and provisioning cycles which startups can't afford to wait for. In fact a lot of
people currently host and resell dedicated servers located in US/UK out here in India due to the non-
competitive pricing strategies adopted by Indian datacenters.”

Future plans – Tarun will be making inroads into public cloud computing and plans to roll it out in
the near future. 'Our public clouds would be compatible with IAAS broking services' allowing for
seamless migration to and from other popular public cloud computing services allowing companies
to take advantage of public clouds without any lock in.  

Factors for Success – Tarun has faith in his products and explained to us why they will have
positive results stating his reasons for it. Through the process of an aggregation based pricing
strategy combined with power efficient virtualization we can create a competitively priced mid-
segment for hosting in India with dedicated virtual private servers and a public cloud computing
platform”

Gaining Traction – Tarun has a lot on his company’s plate and would love to have more. Their
expertise in the area of data centers has made them a much sought after entity. Tarun says “We are
being virtually incubated at Amity Business Incubator. We started our hosting operations on
November 1st and currently have clients ranging from a large domestic BPO in financial sector, a
Micro-finance startup, A GPS/GIS startup, An online travel portal for a part of their infrastructure,
upcoming Web 2.0 finance, e-commerce and education startups, large classified and news sites, an
upcoming widget analytics startup and a growing pipeline built mostly with word of mouth and a
fairly minuscule small marketing spend.”

Tarun seems to have played his cards just right and his venture seems to be a sure winner.

ARTICLE 18

Mumbaikars are now commuting with greater ease than ever thanks to the efforts and
entrepreneurial thinking of Raxit Girishbhai Sheth. His venture “Mobile4Mumbai” not only creates
Mobile applications that makes life easy for Mumbaikars but is also developing products and
services to make your life easier.

Their first product “Mobile4Mumbai” has been accepted by a large number of people in a very short
time frame, and helps you search for buses within Mumbai.

Raxit told us about the help he has received from the Sun Startup Essentials program saying “Very
useful team. Good technical collaboration and superb help.

Mobile4Mumbai is entirely developed in Java using Netbean (both java and Netbeans are from Sun
so we are lucky to get a good amount of tech help from a top-notch Sun tech team). In fact Sun
Microsystem and Samsung India are two big corporates from where Mobile4Mumbai has got
tremendous support.”

His belief is that Indian entrepreneurs face the twin woes of “Bad Execution and Bad Cash flow”
and is looking to network with similar startups and entrepreneurs explaining “Presently
collaboration is among Startup1<--->SSE, Startup2<-->SSE like that way, Among the communities
there are multiple startups which can help each other, Cross selling, Cross Marketing, Co-Branding
their products and services...and it will be win-win for all, Indian people, SSE, and all participating
startups.”

Business Idea- Raxit stated how the demand for his products drives his business saying “Daily 42
lakh people are travelling using City bus, we are aiming to reach to maximum of them, as well few
upcoming **unique** products/services are aiming more people across Mumbai and India.”

His business idea also hinges on “Developing a Team, products and Services that will make life
easier for Mumbai as well other Metros, Provide employment to more people with solid customer
satisfaction.”

What sets them apart – Raxit has a distinct advantage over his rivals and he explained how saying
“First mover advantage, Engagement of end users to contribute, define and evolve our product for
better simplicity, word of mouth marketing…Giving end users what they want. Business model is
corporate branding on useful products.”
Future Plans –Mobile4mumbai will be growing and  “Scaling up by tie-ups with existing big and
medium players, unique benefit to partners as well end users, and hence win-win for all.”

Raxit states “As of now we are in talk with Top Web, Print, TV, Radio, Cinemas chain for
collaboration, which in turn benefit to people + Media companies at a large scale. Scaling up to
move to Multiple cities + multiple product verticals...which will help a lot to Indian people in their
day to day life...”

His main aim for this year is to be “Creating more products which makes life easier, Rolling out
those products so maximum people can take benefit out of it. Generate profit so we can create more
employment and more value.”

His entrepreneurial journey- Raxit is an entrepreneur who does not believe that having a regular
job can detract from his effectiveness. He says “I am doing a 9 to 5 job. @Night and Weekend,
developing products and services. It’s not about doing a job or leaving a job, it’s about creating
value to end user, making their life easier.”

His woes and challenges have been many but Raxit has fought and conquered them all. He told us
how they could not procure Bus route data from BEST but countered this by going Viral and Word
of mouth info. He adds “It has become our great advantage to let people contribute and Get
Famous... Many people are contributing data to us... Keep telling other people about the same. Top-
3 Contributors will get their name on Application.”

“We decided not to raise any money, (till now few PE guys are approaching us directly and
indirectly) with zero Marketing costs. Within our first week of pre-launch we got on the Home page
of Tech2.com for 4-days!!!”

“During our early periods (private beta), people were not ready to believe it can run without GPRS
on even phone of Rs. 3000/- (no external memory on phone). We were keeping cheap phones with
us to show them...  Saying -See, this phone is basic, 2500/- phone, and try our software on this. Post
that they were insisting on getting the same copy! As adoption of new concepts is bit tough, correct
way of communication is the key.”

Raxit also spoke at length of the lessons that mistakes have taught him saying “Technically we had
written the first code in C then in python and then came to know none of them will work on Mobiles
used by normal people....Then we moved to Java (tough as by heart we were Java Haters and C-
Lovers) ...Our private beta was taking 8 minutes to install on some phones...users were assuming it
was hanging...completely re-architect our code.”

“Biggest mistake was extending Private beta for long time... 8 month+, finally after a great push
from a couple of friends and entrepreneurs like Moksh Juneja...we launched... No need to say first
week was crazy... Unable to handle response...Never assumed we were on even a small note of
Tech2.com...instead we got the Home page for 4-days!!! ”

“Got calls from couple of TV channels etc..Many of them I have rejected (except bloggers...)... I
was completely dumb on Media handling! (No shame!).  However our main marketing medium is
Viral and Word of Mouth... Still Within 2 months we have got 20 times more end users than our
prediction...”

Recognition gained- Raxit is proud of what he has achieved telling us about the moments he
treasures most saying “Acceptance of our product by end users, Love of our products by our end
users. Love of our services by our end users.”
“During the first 4 weeks of our launch, we were getting daily 50+ Call/SMS/E-mails... Great
product, Cool Idea, helpful product, we want more features...These routes are missing please add it
etc...Great help of tech community like -I am a Java developer working for Big MNC with 6 yr of
Exp and I want to be part of your Team... I can create good websites for you for Free !!!! This is the
biggest achievement for us. Apart from that few PE guys pitching us, so we assume even there is no
cash flow in, something is great...and something will be great :)”

“Many people have blogged and twittered about us... Got newspaper coverage in DNA, Hindustan
times and livemint. More details at www.m4mum.com/buzz.html and
www.m4mum.com/wib.html.”

Entrepreneurial lesson – Raxit has a good idea of what it takes to make things work and sums up
his entrepreneurial experiences saying “Everything is uncertain but just keep your feet firmly on
ground... Keep faith with yourself. We are budding entrepreneurs...what we think is - Propose to
your GF, either you will succeed or you are lucky :) Dream and Live your dream, Execution is the
key. Create Win-Win for all your stakeholders.”

ARTICLE 19

Everyone keeps talking about the next big thing and how the next Google or the next Facebook will
emerge out of India. However when it comes to making it then most fall short of the mark. Sreelaj
John is not among the latter that fall but is among those who are in contention to be world players.
His venture going by the name of iDuple has been turning heads and making waves. He told us
more about it saying “The word, iDuple, means "I sell dreams". It is suggested to me by a friend of
mine, and the idea was simple. iDuple should be able to build products that are world-class, stuff
that now only apple or Google can build. From day one, we were very clear about our competition,
Google and Apple. Not because they work in the same domain, but because of their passion for
excellence.”

In his quest to be ranked among the best he has also found a great ally in “Sun Startup Essentials
Programme”. He told us of their association saying “iDuple has been an active member of Sun
Startup Essentials for a very long time. Sun Startup Essentials has always encouraged startups and
embraced “opensource”, while big companies tend to treat them as threats.  Partnership with Sun, in
various domains would make real sense for a startup, because it gives visibility to potential
customers.”

“One thing that is worth mentioning here is their willingness to help. We have worked with a couple
of SSE facilitators, and all of them were very well connected and eager to introduce us to potential
partners / customers.”

Business Idea- The fact that iDuple is aiming for the stars means that the idea behind it is a worthy
one. Sreelaj explained what they are selling and developing saying “Our product, www.iDuple.com
is a “webtop”, a computer living in the internet. You could store your entire digital life in that. The
world is moving very fast towards browser based OS, and net-tops. Once you have an account with
a webtop, you can check your mails, subscribe to blogs, chat with your friends, store and share your
data, everything inside one single platform. Trust me, it is insanely great!!!”

What sets them apart- Sreelaj best summed up what they have that will take them to the top saying
“iDuple.com, was a dream project for the entire team. It has an amazing user interface, and a great
reusable architecture, real time technologies. It’s truly a world-class product. There are not many
small companies that could dream of such a huge one.”

His Entrepreneurial Journey- Sreelaj had always been interested in business and money making.
His entrepreneurial talents were already beginning to show through even in his early years. He says
“I was always a salesman, even from the college days. I used to take part time jobs just to earn some
extra pocket money. And I was always fascinated by technology and I would travel miles to attend a
conference. Doing a regular job can only give you so much. At one point you realize, that, you are
destined to do more, better stuff. Somehow it was a very easy decision for me.”

“I used to take up freelancing / consultancy works, part-time while I was working in Europe. I had
good enough money to start off, hire a few employees and an office from the beginning. But I was
extremely skeptical about my talent as an entrepreneur. And because of that, I was very orthodox in
terms of handling money and was doing everything myself in the beginning. The one good thing
about being an entrepreneur is, one day you will learn to have enough confidence to start spending
money and place your own bets."

His positive attitude has ensured that every mistake has been taken in the right vein; he says “The
funny thing about mistakes is, once you realize that it is a mistake, you would change it. And it is
not a mistake anymore. There are certain things, which I wouldn't want to repeat. Again, the only
way to be wise enough to know that is by doing it wrong at least once.”

He summed up his entrepreneurial journey in one word saying “Well, in one word. It is addictive.
With me and with all the entrepreneurs I know. We definitely can talk about the experiences, the
sense of achievement, the glamour or the challenges, or a combination of all these. Once you have
tasted it, it is really hard to go back to an ordinary life.”
iDuple has recently been featured in the Hindustan Times as a “Fundable company” after their
presentation in IIT Mumbai. The endorsement has been a positive note for iDuple and Sreelaj who
are on the lookout for investors; he says “External funding is definitely in my mind. Also we are
negotiating partnerships with huge enterprises. Once we have it, we could spend all our energy on
innovation.”

ARTICLE 20

When your clients are the biggest in the gaming industry, you know there must be something you
are doing right. Mohit Sureka is the man behind the gaming development venture known as Spiel
Studios whose every move seems to be tinted with success. His work and the games he makes are
but part and parcel of his entrepreneurial journey.

Business Idea- Mohit’s described what they do and who they have worked with for saying “Spiel is
a global Game Development Company where we focus on games for all platforms including
Mobile, Online, PC, Handheld and Console. Our goal is to create some of the most compelling and
innovative entertainment content available on gaming platforms. We have one of the most
experienced and talented teams in the gaming industry creating trend-setting products and
establishing new distribution channels.”

“We have in the past worked with brands like actors Arshad Warsi, Riya Sen, cricketer Vinod
Kambli, etc. and developed games for movies like Welcome & Race. Lately we have been
developing games for the iPhone platform and also are one of the only gaming companies in India
to be officially partnered with Sony to develop games for the PSP (Playstation Portable).”
Target Market- If you are only as big as your clients then Mohit has a gargantuan future ahead of
him. His target market and his present clientele all have the hallmarks of colossal magnitude. He
says “We primarily cater to the international market where-in we provide game development
services to other foreign developers and publishers. Our games are published with several Indian
operators, iPhone appstore, and Android market. A few of our games are also available on sites like
Zapak.com, Indiatimes, Rediff, etc.”

What sets them Apart- The gaming industry has already given their stamp of approval to Spiel
which sets them a class apart from the competition. Mohit is proud to state “We are one of the only
gaming companies in India to be officially developing games for the Sony PSP. Also, very shortly
we will be releasing India’s first Indian-centric 3d iPhone game which the world will sit-up and take
notice.”

His entrepreneurial journey- Mohit had a learning experience thanks to a stint working for his
family. He then put his experience to work for him and came up with Spiel. He reminisces “Before
starting my own company, I worked in my family business for 2 years which was into a completely
different field of manufacturing power conditioning products. When I decided to execute my dream,
we started off with 3 employees including myself and a college friend in a small room.”

“Running your own business gives a tremendous high which no other action can match. The
freedom to “Try” without worrying about the end-result can only be exercised by being the owner of
your business. For me, it is extremely important to love the work I do. Playing video games is
something I have loved since childhood and converting that into work was a dream.”

Mohit as an entrepreneur believes that the challenges one faces are not insurmountable. He
advocates will power saying “The biggest challenge lies within yourself the challenge to be patient
and persistent. Being an entrepreneur, there are several challenges you face initially in terms of
project delays, technical snags, employee turnover, etc. but the key is to believe in your idea and
innovate as per current requirement.”

“Whenever I felt like giving up, I worked doubly harder to make sure this worked out, as I had no
other option. I have never worked for someone else and without any professional qualification I may
not even get a job! It is very important for an entrepreneur to Not have a backup career option or
you will never end up giving your 200%!”

“Entrepreneurship is full of challenges which are sometimes fun and stressful. But life without them
would probably become dry and boring. Thinking about the vision and prospects of the company 5
to 10 years from now, is what keeps me going. We are investing in the future.”

His wisdom is not all roses though as he has also seen the harder facts of doing business. “During
the first year and a half, we made huge losses due to investing in the wrong products, targeting the
wrong audience and partnering with the wrong people! However, we realized it soon, booked our
losses and started afresh with a new global vision. In the next year we not only recovered all our
losses but also booked profit. Since then we never looked back. Hence as an entrepreneur it is
important to realize whether your product is working for you or not before it is too late.”

As Indian he believes we can do much better if we learn to factor in the human aspect of it all. “We
need to learn to invest in people. We often get carried away with technology and infrastructure, but
rarely invest on people. Behind every successful business enterprise, it is the creativity and
intelligence of your people who make and execute the product. Find people who are smarter than
you, who can execute your vision.”
Future Plans- Spiel is a company heading into the future aiming at conquering new platforms.
Mohit says “Since we started, we have always been growing and learning new technologies. As per
our vision, we will continue to explore new platforms and develop games for them. In the year 2010
we will be specializing on the PSP platform which will help our company grow manifolds and help
us acquire new clients.”

Recognition Gained- They may be the officially partners with Sony for the PSP, but they are not
restricted to just one platform. Their games have been nominated among the Top 3 mobile games
worldwide by FICCI BAF awards. They are also among the Top 5 mobile games to be nominated in
the Motorola Game Developer Challenge.

Entrepreneurial lesson- Spiel has found their niche and with it has found success. However Mohit
is adamant that success is built with some fundamental facts. He says “Get out of your comfort zone
and just get started! The first few years will be very challenging and several times you will get a
feeling of void, stagnancy and wanting to quit. But stick to your passion and be confident with y our
product/service. Do not venture out with the prime motive to earn profits, but see how your
product/service will help the community and whether they require it. If your process is right, money
is a by-product which you will earn automatically.”

ARTICLE 21

Chairman Sharda Group of Institutions

"the story of Indian Entrepreneurship"
Education is more than just the memorization or learning of theories, it is the pathway of gaining
access to a better life and in the bigger picture it leads to a better human society.  
Mr. P. K. Gupta has been privy to this fact for some time now and as Founder Chairman of the
Sharda Group of Institutions is among the leading educational reformers in India. As the
entrepreneur behind Sharda University he has revamped the way education is imparted in his
colleges and in educational institutions across India.

Business Idea- Unlike most other institutions of formal learning Sharda University stresses upon
not what they are teaching but whom and how… It is “An education system which would inculcate
an application based approach in the young students enlightened the thought of opening up
educational institutions which would focus more on nurturing the talent & develops curiosity of
young individuals.”

Target Market – Every young mind looking for quality education factoring in your average and not
so average students should take a look at their offerings. From the Hindustan Institute of Science &
Technology to the Hindustan Institute of Management & Computer Studies, they cover a large
spectrum of subjects. They also set up Anand Engineering College in 1998 and Babu Mohanlal
Arya Samarak (BMAS) Engineering College in 1999 to meet the growing demand for quality
education

In 2000, Anand College of Pharmacy was established and by 2005, the first of its kind Faculty
Development Institute was also founded. Between 2005 to 2008 few more colleges have been added
under the group’s umbrella like, Hindustan Institute of Dental Sciences, Hindustan Business School,
Hindustan Institute of Technology, HAERT, & Hindustan Institute of Allied Health Sciences &
Research. 

What sets them apart-

Apart from Mr. Gupta’s altruistic vision Sharda University is also known for application oriented
methodology. Mr. P.K. Gupta is also well known for providing and championing the cause of higher
education to the girl child. Sharda University has a 90% scholarship for girls whose family cannot
afford to pay their tuition fee because of Mr. Gupta’s interest in reducing gender inequality.

Future Plans- The group is looking at expansion on a global scale and has recently announced their
intentions. SGI, under the leadership of Mr. P. K. Gupta, is set to realize a new dream of setting up
campuses in U.K., U.S., East Asia & Latin America with a family of 1 lakh students by 2020

His Entrepreneurial story- Mr. PK Gupta believes that the true rewards of entrepreneurship are
not the kind that can be counted or weighed. He explained what has been most important in his
entrepreneurial journey saying “It was not just an intention to be successful or the idea of huge
profits that motivated me to foray into the higher education sector. In fact, I was genuinely
concerned as I saw the drive in the youth around me. They wished to excel in higher education and
it was my good fortune that I was able to provide students in north India with quality education right
at their door step. In a way, being an entrepreneur in the education sector also allows me to fulfill
my duty towards serving the society. Imparting education is gratifying in itself. It’s a matter of great
pride to be able to provide the means for shaping the youth of India.”

Born on 9th December 1959, in Agra, Mr. Gupta was brought up in a family with strong values and
dedication towards social service. His grandfather, the Late Shri Mohan Lal Arya, was an eminent
personality and a freedom fighter in India’s Independence struggle. His father, Mr. A. S. Gupta,
who traded in medicines, was a businessman who was involved in the cause of social service.  

Like any other child, Mr. Gupta, was more interested in the playground than his books. His interest
in studies came from the inspiration and motivation that the principal of his school was able to
impart. This later made him realize the importance of a teacher in shaping the future of a child.  

On completing his graduation from Victoria Engineering College, he started his career with HNT as
a contractor in 1979. By 1980, he was an entrepreneur and had started his business of manufacturing
& supplying engineering equipment to various Educational and Research Laboratories.

He diligently spread his business from North India to South India and travelled all over meeting his
clients. On his business trips he observed that his co-passengers were mostly students who were
travelling from north India to south India for their education. In those days, students had to struggle
for admissions in the engineering colleges due to which they travelled to South India. This
observation sowed the seeds of what was to come.  

In 1985, he shifted to Chennai and through his business networks came across many educators and
institutions which were running their colleges in small rented buildings. Realizing the absence and
need of infrastructure in an engineering college, he decided to set up a college in Agra

From then on whenever he met any faculty or visited any institution, he would observe their
methods of running an educational institution. He would go through the strengths and weaknesses of
the colleges running in Chennai and focused on the teaching pedagogy prevailing in that area. 

In 1995, he established the Sharda Education Trust under which he opened up an engineering
college by 1996 in Agra, well known as Hindustan Institute of Science & Technology. In 1997, he
opened up a second college for students of management and computer science by the name of
Hindustan Institute of Management & Computer Studies.
His journey was not bereft of challenges or trails, but his perseverance and vision helped Sharda
University to be ranked among the best. M. Gupta says “Our biggest challenge was that of
establishing a world class university with one of the best and most flexible education systems in the
country. For this, we adopted the best of international standards. We run a credit-based system at
Sharda University.”

“This system offers students the flexibility to choose subjects from other streams, which provides
them with the opportunity to be exposed to domains other than their core electives .This in turn
helps them to develop analytical, logical and reasoning skills.”

“Initially, there was resistance, but I have always believed that challenging the rules with logic
creates new rules which lead to innovation. Now, in our very first year, we have witnessed an
encouraging response from the community. Parents and students alike have welcomed the
university’s initiative towards re-defining the teaching methodology. I can confidently say that we
are growing by leaps and bounds.”   

Looking at the huge response and demand for colleges, he opened up Anand Engineering College in
1998, & Babu Mohanlal Arya Samarak (BMAS) Engineering College in 1999.

In 2000, Anand College of Pharmacy was established to diversify into other areas of education. By
2005, the first of its kind Faculty Development Institute was set up in the Greater Noida Campus.
This establishment was started based on the vision of shifting the management from theory based
learning to application based learning. The change was witnessed within the classrooms but the
traditional examination system created a resistance in realizing the vision. Thus, the need of a fully
innovative system was felt and the idea to set up a university began to come into existence.

The inception of Sharda University in Greater Noida has been a step towards changing the teaching
pedagogy to a stress free environment with a flexible credit based teaching providing dual degree
courses. 20-30% of the faculties are being appointed from U.K & U.S to provide an international
exposure of teaching for the students.

Today, under the umbrella of Sharda Education Trust, with 160 students in 1996 Sharda Group of
Institutions have grown to a family of 20,000 students. Over 10,000 students have passed out since
the inception. Over 6,000 students have been placed in the best organizations across the nation and
almost 4,000 of these students have become entrepreneurs owing to the relevant exposure to
entrepreneurship.

In addition to the various educational institutions Mr. Gupta has also set up Maxwel Hotel Private
ltd, Agra, Sharda Hospitals Private Ltd, Agra, Sharda Software Solution Private Ltd, Delhi and
Maxwel Products, Agra.

Recognition gained- Aside from being known as Sharda University’s founder and guiding light,
P.K. Gupta has also found time out of his busy schedule to help society. He is a founding member
of the National Chambers of Education Promotion Society of India. At many conferences he has
also championed the cause of educational reforms with leaders like Yashpal Sharma, Dr. Abdul
Kalam and many other prominent personalities.

He had also submitted a report on educational reforms to the Ministry of HRD and many of his
suggestions have been implemented by the Planning Commission. He is an active member of the
Agra Club, the Rotary Club (Agra) and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industries. In 2001,
Mr. P.K. Gupta was honored with the Udyog Ratna award and a year later with the Uttar Pradesh
Ratna award for his many years of service to society.
Entrepreneurial Lesson – The reformer within Mr. P.K. Gupta has advice which he believes every
future entrepreneur should pay heed to. He says “I would like to suggest to the young entrepreneurs
to

Be job creators instead of job seekers so that you can serve mankind.

 Try to earn profits through products of excellence in every field.

 Money is the byproduct of excellence in your field
 Never say I am working very hard, always work passionately you will never get tired
 Do what you enjoy never choose a career by force”