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Telangana Government showcased 11 top Startups in sustainability space to the global pool of 40,000 registered delegates comprising entrepreneurs, startups and social entrepreneurs from 54 countries on Tuesday, day two of the TiE Sustainability Summit 2021.
The Principal Secretary of IT Mr Jayesh Ranjan while speaking at the inauguration the previous day said in the last 7 years since Telangana was formed, the state has demonstrated in umpteen domains how sustainability can be achieved. In continuation to that 11 startups were made to present their companies to the global audience.
Speaking on the occasion Ms Shanta Thoutam from the IT Department said, in 2014 when the Telangana state was formed it just had 200 and odd startups. Today there are more than 2000 startups. Telangana is the start-up state of India. It has T-Hub, which pioneers India’s leading innovation ecosystem. It synergises startups, corporations, governments, academia and investors to drive transformative change she informed.
The state has ‘WE-Hub’, India’s first state-led incubator exclusively for women. Though women entrepreneurs are on the rise, still women entrepreneurs in India and across the world continue to have difficulties in Access to capital & proper infrastructure; Appropriate industry connections.; Affordable childcare; Balancing professional & personal life; Business knowledge/basics;. Counselling & life coaching; Community to support Women Entrepreneurs; Transportation & safety. We Hub bridges this gap, she added.
She spoke about IMAGE CoE, which is providing resources such as mentoring, technology support and funding for Gaming, Animation, VFX, Computer etc
T-Works is another initiative added to strengthen the ecosystem Ms Shantha said. It is India’s largest prototyping centre in Hyderabad built to create and celebrate a culture of hobbyists, makers and innovators who explore and experiment without the fear of failure.
She introduced start-ups in the Sustainability space which include: Waste Ventures; Marut Drones, Ewoke Studio, Banyan Nation, Coral Innovators, Eto Motors, Sanshodhan, an e-waste Exchange Pvt. Ltd; D’Cal Hardwater Softner, Hala Mobility and Architude.
Roshan Miranda explained their junk to value journey. We collect waste from your doorstep and pay you. We work with 6000 plus waste pickers. I gave up my job in the USA and ventured into this as it keeps me happy, he said. and added it gave him double happiness. The reason why we started this was to divert the recyclable waste that was ending up in landfills. We wanted to make people realise that there is a lot of value in waste and with this thought, we started this venture.
Prem Kumar of Marut Drones explained his journey. A team of talented and experienced individuals building end to end solutions to enable and scale drone operations effectively he said. He explained how they used drones to tackle the mosquito menace. It has helped achieve a huge drop in the incidence of malaria and dengue cases. Though we got independence 75 years back we don’t have freedom from the menace of mosquitoes. We have identified it as the main pain point and built technological solutions around it, he said. And added that their Marut Drones’ HepiCopters are being used for door delivery of medicine from the sky as well as temperature-controlled vaccines.
Now it’s SeedCopter is spraying seeds from the sky in inaccessible places deep inside the forests and hilly terrains. It hopes to plant 50 lakh seed balls this monsoon.
Shruti Rawal of Ewoke studio is passionate about driving sustainability in the apparel and textiles industry, and conscious consumption.
Founder of Ewoke – A design label for sustainable fashion, she is an alumnus of the National Institute of fashion technology. She started Ewoke with a vision to empower women with the clothes they wear while making a positive impact on society and the environment. Shruti shared her journey. Being an eco-conscious person, I always thought about the fashion industry which used to contribute 10% of global carbon emissions.
I always thought of providing an alternative. That ultimately led to the birth of Ewoke. I started Ewoke with a clear mission to curb climate change. All our fabrics are biodegradable and recycled, with a minimal carbon footprint like hemp. We source our trims from wood and shell. The main reason behind this is to provide sustainable clothing which is the new trend, she added.
We put sustainability into practice way back in 2013 says Rashi Agrawal, Director at Banyan Nation. It is India’s first vertically integrated plastics recycling company that uses data intelligence to integrate a largely informal supply chain. She gave an example of how Unilever was making good progress towards a waste-free world. It significantly stepped up its use of recycled plastic. And how few brands have been using bottles made out of recycled plastics. Surf excel used 50% of its bottles made from recycled plastic.
Rashi left a good job in the USA to start this venture
Water Warrior Kalpana Ramesh explained her journey and how she has been impacting society. My dream is to see water tanker free homes. We should have self-sufficiency in water. Kalpana Ramesh took over the Prime Minister’s Twitter handle on the eve of women’s day in the past and gave a call to the public to become water warriors.
Sikander Reddy Thandra of Coral Innovation explained that they have built a mobile app-based platform making meter reading & billing simple and foolproof for Utilities and Consumers. Our services help utilities to eliminate the manual punching in meter reading and drastically reduce the time taken for the monthly billing cycle at a much lower cost than the presently incurred cost. Ours is an interesting self meter reading app. It also gives insights into energy consumption, he explained.
Rajeev YSR, Vice President of Eto Motors said the most polluted cities in the world are in India. We are India’s no. 1 EMaaS (Electric Mobility as a Service) company. We focus on the large-scale deployment of multi-brand electric fleets for cleaner cities. We develop and deploy a range of clean mobility services that are sustainable.
We are looking forward to revolutionizing the electric mobility story not only in 100 key cities of India but also on the international roads. We deploy electric vehicles all across the country and we own and operate the fleet with an aim to better the livelihoods of drivers. With Shared Mobility, we are already seeing a lot of people moving from vehicle ownership model to vehicle access model, he added. He thanked the Government of Telangana for creating an Ecosystem for Electronic Vehicles.
Dr S. Shalini Sharma of Sanshodhan said that they enable corporates in many cities and societies across Hyderabad to identify and directly transfer their e-waste to government-authorised, technically competent recyclers. India generates more than two million tonnes of e-waste annually. It also imports a significant amount from developed countries. You can get rid of old electronics sustainably in association with us, she said.
Uday of D’Cal Hard Water Softner explained how their invention (device) turns hard water soft for one-tenth the price. It is a hassle-free process as the installation doesn’t require any pipes, plumber or electricity. All a user has to do is drop the bottle-shaped device in the water tank. The product has received an overwhelming response and they are exporting to the USA also.
Srikanth of HALA Mobility explained that it is India’s first multi-modal ride-sharing platform. Using the app, one can book a vehicle of choice in 3 clicks.
Ms. Vijayadurga Koppisetti founder of Architude said her infra-tech startup leverages tech to provide green building solutions to safeguard the environment. Climate change demands that the building industry adopt greener and sustainable solutions, an architect Vijayadurga Koppisetti explained.
She said greener solutions are not only important to safeguard the environment but also the health and wellbeing of the occupant. Every year, four million deaths can be attributed to illness from household air pollution, she added.
All the 11 startups in the sustainable space expressed their happiness over the way the government of Telangana has been helping them by creating conducive ecosystems for them to flourish.