Covid-19 pandemic couldn't stop startups by SIBM Pune alumni

During 2020, many startups were virtually launched from SIBM Pune. This was primarily due to the MBA (Innovation & Entrepreneurship) program, which has its objective to enable startups by providing them with the ecosystem that can enable them to be successful.

"The MBA (I&E) program has Prof Yogesh Brahmankar as its startup evangelist. Prof Arjun Panchal is the program in-charge who is supported by the faculty members including Prof Sandeep Bhattacharya, Prof Dr Madhura Bedarkar, Prof Dr Ravi Kumar and others," says Dr Ramakrishnan Raman - Director SIBM Pune and Dean Faculty of Management Symbiosis International (Deemed University).

"The program also gets immense support from a galore of visiting faculty members and entrepreneurs. The 'Innovation Council' ably led by MBA (I&E) students, takes extra efforts in adding value to all students. All this makes SIBM Pune's MBA (I&E) program very unique," Dr Raman adds.

A few startups, which have launched their operations, have been highly successful. Some of them include A R EXPORTS, Adeza Retail, Digital Grahak, Flaneur, Fosterooh Enterprises, Jaivik Farms, Kalakari, Passionfruit, Seed Nation, Slango, WoodBulk Furnitures and World of Tea.

A R EXPORTS is a merchant exporting company that deals with manufacturing and trading of fashion jewels. It was co-founded by Akash Negandhi from SIBM, Pune & Raj Negandhi in a limited liability partnership. A R Exports products are made from metals like brass & copper and cater to whole-sellers in international markets. They have their customers in Middle East, Central Africa & also in a few European countries.

Adeza Retail (w) is an omnichannel retail store. Founded in 2020, by Devansh Consul and Anu Saraogi- both pursuing MBA (I&E) from SIBM Pune, Adeza Retail is focusing on bringing innovation in the last mile delivery of retail products.

Adeza Retail has a 30 minutes delivery model, in which one can order from the Adeza Retail website and the product would get delivered at the door step with-in 30 mins. The customer also has an option to pick the products from the neighborhood store. They have their first retail store at Nainital and have their plans to take their stores across India.

Founded by Parth Arora and Aditi Goel, Digital Grahak (www.digitalgrahak.in), is an internet marketing startup with a vision to bring Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups on the digital platforms and enable them to get more "Grahak" (Customers).

Digital Grahak provides tailor-made affordable marketing solutions and promises to increase ROI (Return on Investment) by converting leads using online reach. They have 15+ clients from diverse industries such as E-Retail, B2B Manufacturing, Education etc.

Harsha Hemn and Priya Thakur founded Flaneur . Flaneur is a high-end loungewear brand that brings elegant and fun loungewear for women. The brand embraces every size, age sensibility and price point, style and comfort. The nightwear by flaneur has unique quirky aesthetic designs with an attractive price. Flaneur's clothes are hand-crafted and heart-crafted too. The founders claim that there are stories behind each craft and there is a person behind each story.

Fosterooh found by Durgesh Naregalkar & Shirish Naregalkar is a socio-economical enterprise which provides affordable healthcare products and services for senior citizens. Their product range consists of affordable products like all-in-one essential health case, acupressure kit, post-surgery kits and customized kits which are priced 40 percent to 50 percent less than retail market and e-commerce stores.

Jaivik Farms a start-up by Shubham Dubey is an all-natural food products company. It has a mission to produce food products that are pure, of high quality and are non-adulterated. They believe in helping their customers achieve the highest form of wealth which is 'Their Health'. The Jaivik A2 Desi Ghee that they produce is made using traditional bilona method (from curd ) which is hormone-free and also steroid-free, as the milk that is used is from A2 desi cows.

Kalakari founded by Rashi P Thakkar offers various types of jewellery ranging from western jewellery to traditional jewellery and already has more than 500 happy retail customers & 50 + B2B clients. Kalakari focuses on artificial jewellery specialised into oxidised, german silver & pure silver polish jewellery. Kalakari has its customers spread all over India and also has customers in UK & USA.

Jhalak Agarwal a student of SIBM Pune pursuing MBA (I&E) founded his venture named Passionfruit. It offers unique and trendy unisex accessories for both men and women. It is a one stop store for all fashion and accessory needs. The start-up already has 100+ customers. The personalised daisy necklace, hand-embroidered minion earring and the super trendy snake chain are hot selling products of Passionfruit.

Seed Nation is a healthy snack marketplace founded with the objective of providing good quality, smart, and reliable range of healthy snacks. Seed Nation's mission is to provide customers with a range of healthy snacking options to revolutionise the snacking industry.

Founded in 2020, by Yatin Batra, Shrushti Hathi, the MBA (I&E) students of SIBM Pune, offer its consumers the freedom to snack without any guilt. They presently have fifteen products and also have a unique subscription box on their online portal, that allows customers to subscribe for a monthly box of these snacks. Each snack is a combination of wholesome, high-quality ingredients and flavours to deliver a delicious and healthy snacking experience for the customers.

Slango is an Ed-Tech start-up that provides language training to young business professionals who are raring to enter the job market. It helps to polish language skills for executives who have to travel far and wide for their work. Slango aspires to help make conversations easy. Nimarta Kaur pursuing MBA(I&E) from SIBM Pune created this start-up.

Founded in 2020 in Pune by five classmates Adhiraaj Solanki, Mudit Sharma, Rajdeep Nath, Rohan Bora and Tanzeel Hussain pursuing MBA (I&E), WoodBulk characterizes itself as providers of modern-looking, space-efficient & multipurpose pieces of furniture and accessories in their adjacency. WoodBulk works on the following ethos: preliminary design by hand, generation & optimization of computer-aided design and analyses of structural, material and ergonomic integrity.

World of tea is a new entrant in the tea industry with a vision to provide exotic tea to all age groups. World of tea was founded by Aditya Idate who is also an MBA(I&E) student of SIBM Pune. It offers flavoured tea like Rose, Saffron, Blueberry and Fruit tea along with Sanjiv Ayurvedic tea with 12 different spices and ayurvedic ingredients. Aditya Idate claims that the Sanjiv Ayurvedic tea helps in boosting immunity.

This story is provided by SRV Media. will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (/SRV Media)

( With inputs from ANI )