From a driver platform for logistic companies to safe driving apparel, organic honey and carbon-free tea to electric mobility solutions and battery-charging solutions, the ideas for entrepreneurship covered an entire gamut of issues.
Twelve start-up companies pitched their ideas at Nurture Idea Hunt, a Maruti Suzuki initiative in association with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, on June 27.
Six winning start-ups were given cash prizes of Rs 50,000. They became eligible for onboarding to Maruti’s existing incubation and acceleration programmes.
The objective of the Idea Hunt was to nurture innovators and entrepreneurs from Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya.
All these start-ups are in the early stages of business and the hunt gave them a platform to showcase their set-up and ideas before a jury comprising senior executives of Maruti Suzuki India and IIM Calcutta.
Each startup pitched for five minutes followed by 10 minutes of a question-answer session based on which the winners were selected.
“Over 300 start-ups applied for the contest of which 54 were selected for the regional round pitching in Kolkata, Guwahati and Shillong. Of these, 12 were selected, four each from Bengal, Meghalaya and Assam for the finals,” said Devasis Gupta, programme director of the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park.
The finalists made pitches to a panel that included Rajesh Uppal, member, executive board, Maruti Suzuki India; Aditya Aggarwal, executive vice-president and head of digital enterprise, Maruti Suzuki India; T.N. Hari, cofounder of Artha School of Entrepreneurship; Rohan Chatwal, head, innovation centre of excellence, Maruti Suzuki India; Sanjay Gupta, country head, Google; and Bharat Salotra, of the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park.
“We wanted to promote and catalyse ideas related to rural mobility by engaging with ecosystem stakeholders like academia, innovators and start-ups. We also wanted to identify innovative ideas, design interventions, including capacity building and mentoring and Maruti would also offer rewards like grants for prototyping and fellowships and exposure to Maruti’s factory,” said a Maruti Suzuki spokesperson.
Avijit Das of DriverShaab (a driver platform for logistic companies), one of the winners of Nurture Idea Hunt, said: “The Nurture Idea Hunt helped me build my confidence. It will boost my business, particularly for an early-stage start-up like my company. I will receive invaluable mentorship from a company like Maruti.”