AI, payment, environment: test your business creativity with Edition 179 of our weekly quiz!
This insightful feature from YourStory tests and strengthens your business acumen! Here are 5 questions to kick off this 179th 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 179th 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: Payment systems
Despite being central to financial transactions, many banks struggle with outdated infrastructure that hinders adoption of modern digital solutions for payments. How can banks be digitally enabled to handle changing consumer behaviour in digital payments?
Q2: Hydroponics
Modern hydroponics systems make it easier for urban dwellers to grow their own food at home or in their office. However, existing solutions are highly manual, complex and cumbersome. How can such gardening practices be improved?
Q3: Co-working spaces
Many co-working spaces rely only on large office spaces in major business districts. They also focus on high-end commercial spaces. But how can other opportunities in this segment be tapped?
Q4: Container efficiency
Traditional container logistics have problems of inefficiency, with containers headed to inland locations returning empty to sea ports. This is not environmentally friendly either. How can this gap be tackled?
Q5: Clean solutions
The cleaning industry is dominated by a few large players, with products largely reliant on chemical-heavy formulations and plastic-intensive packaging. How can more transparency and environmental friendliness be introduced here in a viable manner?
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: Payment systems
Founded by Rajjat Gulati and Rohit Mahajan, fintech startup plutos ONE helps financial institutions modernise their payment systems, ensuring efficiency, security, and scalability. Its scalable digital payments backbone integrates a network of service providers such as utility companies, telecom firms, and financial institutions.
It covers over 1,200 billers across electricity, water, gas, and telecom sectors, and leverages AI-driven conversational interfaces to enable users to pay bills via WhatsApp across 18 Indian languages. Read more here about its partnerships with industry leaders like Visa, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Google Cloud.
A2: Hydroponics
Founded by Shamil Bicha, Croppico offers smart hydroponic systems powered with AI to manage and automate various aspects of urban farming. Homie, its flagship product, has a four-tier vertical structure that supports 72 plants and includes a nursery for 80 saplings.
Its 40-litre reservoir has sensors monitoring levels that require only weekly refills, and the smart dosing mechanism precisely delivers nutrients. Read more here about its pricing at Rs 1.25 lakh for urban homes and Rs 1.45 lakh for corporates.
A3: Co-working spaces
Founded by Meghna Agarwal, IndiQube has become a leading workspace solutions provider that caters to small startups as well as large enterprises. Its hub-and-spoke model consists of key hubs in major business districts complemented by smaller satellite centers.
“By positioning ourselves in high-demand micro-markets with robust infrastructure, connectivity, and strong talent catchments, we ensured long-term adaptability,” Meghna explains. Read more here about how it has revitalised older Grade B properties, offers ‘Sustainability as a Service’, and promotes its SaaS products to property managers and businesses.
A4: Container efficiency
Founded by Dhruv Taneja, Harsh Vardhan Gupta, Abhishek Baheti, and Manish Singh, MatchLog Solutions is a digital platform that uses AI and ML to map and match empty containers with export bookings in real time. Reuse of container capacity thus optimises fleet utilisation and container movement.
It claims to reduce container turnaround time from an industry average of 34 days to just four days through triangulation. Read more here about how MatchLog has onboarded 5,000 transporters, operates over 1 lakh trailers, and handles 3,000-4,000 containers per month.
A5: Clean solutions
Founded by Shashank Noronha, Mumbai-based TABBSZ offers multi-surface, floor, toilet, and glass cleaners that are eco-friendly. Its cleaning tablets that can be dissolved in water eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles.
It is committed to 100% toxic-free and plastic-free cleaning solutions, with fully compostable materials that decompose within 180 days. Read more here about how TABBSZ has garnered 15,000 users of its products priced between Rs 25 and Rs 299.
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).