Making your business recession-proof, streamlining warehouse automation and other top stories of the week
This week, SMBStory, also covered the journey of Parentsalarm, an edtech company that offers services like attendance management, bus tracking through GPS, fee reminders, performance updates related to exams, and much more.
The last two years have been difficult for the world economy. Amid the economic and financial uncertainty, people are now working towards establishing businesses that are safe even when the economy takes a dip.
There are a few industries that survive and thrive during the economic downturn and SMBStory has listed out six recession-proof small business ideas that can be started with an investment of Rs 50,000. These businesses need not have a large manufacturing setup or huge capital investment. You can work through an online medium or even in a small set-up.
- Food Business
- Apparel
- Baby Products
- Hygiene Products
- Spices
- Sanitary Napkins
Atmos Systems
With the onset of COVID-19, businesses have realised that they cannot go on as they wish to without leveraging technology. The pandemic has accelerated the pace at which businesses, especially SMBs, are adopting technology.
This also means that India is ushering in a ‘new industrial revolution’ that will be defined by the use of technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), connectivity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, advanced engineering, and much more.
SMBStory recently spoke to Faraz Alam, Co-founder of
, and Business Development Head of Saifi Con Fab Systems.Faridabad-based Saifi Con Fab Systems was started by his father Khursheed Alam in 1987. From a simple material manufacturing company to making conveyors, Saifi has scaled quite a bit in the last 35 odd years. It has also been witness to the evolving manufacturing and warehouse ecosystem of India.
One of the newest trends to have strongly emerged in the Indian manufacturing industry is warehouse automation, a market that is exhibiting significant growth owing to the growing need for a cost-effective method of production.
Keeping up with this trend, Saifi launched a smart automation solutions provider brand, Atmos Systems, in 2020.
In a conversation with SMBStory, Faraz takes us through Saifi’s journey and what led to the launch of Atmos.
Parentsalarm
The Indian education system has seen quite an evolution over the years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic which forced everyone to go completely online overnight.
One of the companies that have seen this sector evolve and transform over the last 10 years is
. Founded in 2010 by Kanhaiya Kumar, the Chennai-based company provides cloud-based ERP solutions to schools.While it started by only offering homework-related features (homework updates to parents, tracking submission, etc), today, it has become a complete solutions provider that offers services like attendance management, bus tracking through GPS, fee reminders, performance updates related to exams, and much more.
Parentsalarm has 550 customers as its clients and claims to serve 5.2 lakh students all over India. When Kanhaiya started the company, he did not expect it to scale up so much, he tells SMBStory.
Today, it has made a name for itself as a complete ERP solutions provider, competing with the likes of MyClassboard and new-age edtech companies like iWeb Technologies, MyClassCampus, and more.
Edited by Kanishk Singh