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Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 149th edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.

What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?

Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.

Q1: Customer calls

Financial institutions store vast troves of customer call recordings. This huge amount of unstructured data can provide valuable opportunities for customer service representatives. How can this data be tapped at scale and in real-time”

Q2: Fans and lighting

Traditional blade fans pose safety hazards in low-ceiling environments. Round ceiling fans also do not blend well with the typically square or rectangular rooms in homes and offices. How can these design constraints be met, while also adding new functionalities?

Q3: Women’s health

Many young women in emerging economies and traditional societies feel uncomfortable in asking questions about health issues like menstrual cycles, and don’t understanding these concepts well either. What’s a creative way to develop a much-needed solution here?

Q4: Human-animal conflict

The expansion of human settlements is leading to a rise in wildlife attacks that also cause severe crop damage. What is an effective and sustainable way to tackle such issues?

Q5: Food delivery payments

Food delivery is on the rise, but some customers and food delivery companies still face payment challenges when exact change for cash-on-delivery purchases is not available. How can this issue be resolved?

Answers!

Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning – and happy creating!

A1: Customer calls

“A lot of calls come to call centres, but a lot of opportunity—to upsell or cross-sell—gets missed by the customer service agent,” observes Harshita Srivastava, Co-founder and CTPO, GreyLabs AI. The speech analytics startup uses GenAI to tune into customer conversations and draw smart insights.

Its large language models help financial services institutions understand customers’ needs and improve service based on interactions with them over calls and emails. Read more here about how it flags opportunities for the outbound team to reach out to customers for lead generation.

A2: Fans and lighting

Tanya and Karan Goyal launched Karban Envirotech to offer all-in-one climate alternatives to ceiling fans. Their rectangular devices integrate air circulation, air purification, and elegant lighting, and are now available on Amazon.

Eliminating the need for multiple devices saves space and money, and the bladeless design is safer as well. Read more here about how the success of this company’s innovative, multi-functional and aesthetically-pleasing offerings helped secure funding from Titan Capital, All In Capital, and Rainmatter.

A3: Women’s health

Reshma Arya and Anurag Hoon are co-founders at Manzil Mystics, an NGO that educates young girls about gender issues. Its band, WeBhor (We Rise Together) uses music to educate adolescent girls from marginalised and low-income communities about menstruation, sexual health, and rights.

“To challenge stereotypes, we must present tabooed topics in a way that prevents them from becoming even more stigmatized,” Hoon says. Read more here about how this NGO has worked with around 20,000 girls to break taboos about such core issues.

A4: Human-animal conflict

SR Ayan, Founder and Director, Katidhan, aims to reduce animal-human conflict via innovative solar powered devices. Launched in 2017, the startup has helped over 2,500 farmers with autonomous light deterrence solutions that can repel large animals like tigers, leopards, elephants, and wild boars.

Katidhan has also developed a bio-acoustic sound system to repel monkeys from agricultural lands. Read more here about how this startup generated Rs 1.1 crore in revenue last year, and has helped farmers across 13 states in India.

A5: Food delivery payments

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, inspired by BigBasket, launched a new credit initiative for Zomanto Money. In case the correct change is not available upon food delivery, customers can receive the balance for their COD orders in Zomato Money.

This balance in the account can be used for future delivery orders or dining out, further ensuring that consumers are bound to spend through the app. Read more here about how ecommerce and food delivery startups must keep coming up with new innovations to make customer experiences seamless, convenient and repeatable.

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).