Innovative projects to make the world a better place.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Four burgeoning entrepreneurs from India have placed among the winners of the 18th Harvard Business School (HBS) New Venture Competition, which aims to recognize promising new start-up talent from around the world.
Amrita Saigal, Saurabh Mahajan, Pritar Kumar and Mira Mehta were each a member of four teams that walked away with significant cash prizes last Tuesday. The competition ended up giving out a total of $300,000 to its various winners, and two of these aforementioned desis saw their teams walk away with $50,000 each. Another budding entrepreneur, Pratik Agarwal, was a finalist.
Saigal, a senior in the HBS M.B.A. program, claimed the Grand Prize in the Social Enterprise Track of the competition. Saigal and her partner, Kristin Kagetsu, won $50,000 for their company Saathi, which “provides affordable and available sanitary pads locally produced from waste banana tree fiber to women in rural India,” according to the HBS website.
Saathi is currently operational in just two Indian villages, but is hoping to expand to five in the near future. It employs a total of 50 women already, and is looking for capital to grow its operations.
Mahajan is a member of the team behind Alfred, a new venture launched in conjunction with HBS M.B.A. students Jess Beck and Marcela Sapone. The company won the Dubilier Grand Prize in the competition’s Business Track, awarding them $50,000 in capital for their company.
Alfred, presumably named after the indispensable butler from Batman, is a subscription service that allows customers to have their own reliable personal helpers available for them whenever needed, for just $99 per month.
Kumar, also an M.B.A. student at HBS, is the sole founder behind Booya Fitness, an ingenious idea that essentially makes personal fitness available on-demand, in much the same way that people can order movies or sporting events on pay-per-view. The service “features workouts created by the best boutique gyms and instructors,” and netted Kumar a $25,000 prize.
Mehta, along with partner Nike Lawrence, were named runners-up in the Social Enterprise Track of the New Venture Competition, for their Tomato Jos company. According to HBS, Tomato Jos is “a vertically integrated tomato processing company that helps small farmers in Nigeria grow tomatoes that can then be made into tomato paste. Both students are pursuing their M.B.A.s at Harvard, as well, but did not win any cash prizes.
Agarwal was a finalist in the Business Track portion. He and his three other teammates (all of whom are M.B.A. students) have created easyBiodata, a service which “plans to disrupt the arranged marriage practice in India by giving the power of control and choice back to prospective spouses. The service allows people to do their own research on prospective husbands and wives, thereby empowering them with knowledge instead of their parents, who typically orchestrate these arrangements.