Safety, sustainability, inclusion: Test your business creativity with Edition 172 of our weekly quiz!
This insightful feature from YourStory tests and strengthens your business acumen! Here are 5 questions to kick off this 172nd quiz. Ready?
Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 172nd edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?
Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
Q1: Traffic safety
Speeding, reckless driving and disregard for traffic rules are leading to an increase in road accidents. How can technology help make our roads safer?
Q2: Affordable smartphones
Smartphones are seen as status symbols and are essential in modern life – but not everyone can afford their high price tags. How can phones be made more affordable?
Q3: Inclusive access
Persons with disabilities (PwD) face numerous challenges in daily life due to restrictions in mobility and livelihood. What’s a way to make mobility more feasible for the disabled?
Q4: Children’s toys
Infants often put toys into their mouths while playing with them, raising concerns of safety and health. How can this concern be addressed?
Q5: Waste management
The ever-increasing volumes of e-waste and plastic garbage are causing serious harm to the environment and habitats. How can this waste problem be tackled, while also tapping revenue opportunities?
Answers!
Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning, and happy creating!
A1: Traffic safety
Founded by Suman Gandham, Dacio.ai is trying to make roads safer via its AI-powered dash cams with multi-channel cameras. They provide drivers and fleet operators access to key data on driving behaviour and patterns.
For example, its Driver Monitoring System (DMS) analyses critical parameters such as eye movement, facial expressions, and head position to detect drowsiness or distraction. Read more here about how it already has a pipeline of 7,000 vehicles in the next six months.
A2: Affordable smartphones
Founded by Shrey Sardana and Nitin Goyal, Grest (‘greatness in restorations’) offers refurbished phones and other electronic devices of high quality and performance at affordable prices. Launched in 2021, the re-commerce platform specialises in refurbished iPhones, MacBooks, and laptops.
It sources used devices from individual consumers as well as established retail partners such as Apple outlets, Reliance Digital, and Croma. Read more here about how its team of over engineers boasts a 70–80% success rate in repairing devices and generated a revenue of Rs 15 crore in FY24.
A3: Inclusive access
Prateek Khandelwal launched his accessibility startup Ramp My City to improve the lives of the disabled. It began with designing metallic ramps that could be added without requiring major building changes.
“Disability isn’t about sympathy; it’s about equality,” Khandelwal emphasises. Read more here about how his startup has expanded to build tactile paths, improve signage, conduct accessibility audits, and train staff on creating inclusive environments.
A4: Children’s toys
Founded by K Kokila, WoodBeeToys crafts non-toxic, eco-friendly wooden toys, and has grown to become one of Tamil Nadu’s leading toy manufacturers. Its product line now includes over 100 Montessori and Waldorf-inspired wooden toys.
The portfolio consists of wooden teethers, rattles, shape sorters, counting frames, alphabet number puzzles, stacking towers, and wooden toolkits. Read more here about all its toys are coloured with non-toxic paints, certified, and adhere to international safety standards.
A5: Waste management
Founded by Nandan Mall, Hulladek Recycling has managed 25,000 tonnes of waste for recycling over the last 10 years, including electronic waste and plastic waste from across India. According to Astute Analytica, India is the third largest generator of e-waste in the world after China and the US.
Precious metals are extracted from waste and sold to businesses from sectors like jewellery. Read more here about how the company has worked with over 300 brands, including Nestle, Cadbury, Tata Steel, Mondelez, Kwality Walls, and Punjab National Bank.
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).