Technology, trends, traction: test your business creativity with Edition 227 of our weekly quiz!
This insightful feature from YourStory tests and strengthens your business acumen! Here are 5 questions to kick off this 227th 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 227th 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: Heavy metal
Much of India’s industrial procurement is still localised and manual. How can more transparency, price discovery, and supply chain reliability be introduced here?
Q2: Fashion trends
Fashion trends shift overnight, and there is a clear need for premium branded and trend-first products to reach customers' doorsteps faster than ever. How can this market opportunity be met?
Q3: Wealth solutions
Many consumers face challenges in getting working capital support in a short period of time. How can technology help here?
Q4: Hygiene solutions
Many women struggle with dignified disposal of their menstrual hygiene products. Where is the opportunity for innovation here?
Q5: The dairy sector
Products like butter go bad quickly in hot climates, with retailers losing money on spoilage. Many dairy firms also produce ghee that is inconsistent from one batch to the next. Where is the entrepreneurial opportunity here?
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: Heavy metal
Founded in 2017 by Naman Shah and Aakash Shah, the marketplace NowPurchase helps metal makers source scrap, alloys and additives. It also runs scrap processing centres and branded product lines.
Its software layer, MetalCloud, uses connected IoT sensors, computer vision and AI to help factories digitise and optimise production. Read more here about how NowPurchase has raised Rs 80 crore in funding from Bajaj Finserv, Info Edge Ventures and Orios Venture Partners
A2: Fashion trends
Myntra’s M-Now is catering to the emerging fast delivery need of customers and reshaping the fashion commerce landscape. Its rapid delivery service offers premium fashion and lifestyle products across a number of cities.
There is growing demand for speed-led fashion in non-metros as well. Read more here about how M-Now is becoming a key growth driver for brands such as Aldeno (menswear label) and Zouk (accessories brand).
A3: Wealth solutions
Founded by Anugrah Jain, Ankur Jhavery, and Mayank Agarwal, the aptly-named Bachatt targets merchants and the self-employed with savings solutions and AI-led wealth and credit solutions. It reportedly has three million users for its debt mutual funds led savings solution.
With the aim of making premium wealth advisory accessible to all, its proprietary AI tool monitors over 4,000 mutual fund schemes and market patterns to identify opportunities for meaningful and stable returns. Read more here about how this startup’s combination of trust with a daily Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) model is on a winning streak.
A4: Hygiene solutions
Founded by Ranu Khade and Hitesh Narula, Flawsome is a menstrual hygiene brand with a fully flushable, biodegradable sanitary pad. The founding team noticed that though the government was distributing pads, women were not using them due to inadequate and inconvenient disposal infrastructure.
Their aim is to promote a flushable sanitary pad, one that disintegrates in any setup, whether a rural squat toilet or a western-style flush toilet. Read more here about this product which is 80% biodegradable and is available in 11+ marketplaces and offline stores.
A5: The dairy sector
Founded by GR Balasubramaniam, GRB Dairy Foods sells ghee, sweets, snacks, and spices in more than 40 countries. The founder began by making and delivering ghee himself, but kept a strong focus on quality even while scaling and bringing in others to run the operation.
He began the first FMCG-style distribution network for ghee in India. Read more here about how GRB Dairy Foods’ revenue crossed ₹1,000 crore in FY23-24.
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.