Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 144th 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.
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Q1: The fruit supply chain
Many consumers can find it hard to get a steady supply of fresh high-quality fruits. There are also challenges in reducing the wastage of farm produce. How can both of these issues be tackled in a feasible manner?
Q2: Emotional learning
Many youth face challenges in life such as bullying and body-shaming. This can cause distress and even trauma. How can such issues be effectively addressed?
Q3: Medical imaging
When pathologists examine a sample of blood or urine through a microscope, they can only look at a limited area of the sample. How can larger sample areas be examined more effectively, and how else can tech help medical imaging here?
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Q4: Ordering food
Food delivery apps have made it easy for consumers to order a wide range of culinary dishes – but also raise challenges of too much choice. How can meal selection be simplified, while also adding new kinds of value to consumers?
Q5: Solar energy
Climate change is causing societies to explore new sources of energy, and tropical countries seem well-poised to harness alternatives like solar energy here. However, there are concerns about the high costs of such solutions. How can this be addressed?
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: The fruit supply chain
An estimated 30-40% of fruits and vegetables in India are wasted every year, and fruit vendor supply chains are fragmented and inefficient as well. Rohit Nagdewani founded Fresh From Farm as a food-agri startup in this space, providing an end-to-end solution for fruit retailers.
It handles procurement, handling, sorting, and distribution for fruits directly sourced from farms. Read more here about how it caters to 400-500 vendors daily with data-driven demand prediction and demand consolidation and how it has raised funding from Inflection Point Ventures.
A2: Emotional learning
Juhi Sharma launched Project Phoenix as part of her NGO Light Up (Emotions Matter Foundation) to offer emotional learning to youth in slums and underprivileged children’s homes. The 10-month-long programme helps tackle intergenerational trauma and develop relevant skills to navigate the world.
It offers therapy, safety sessions, and parent sensitisation skills. Read more here about how the programme seeks broad-based participation from the community, including parents, students, experts, and partners.
A3: Medical imaging
Founded by Tathagato Rai Dastidar, SigTuple helps automate the examination of medical images to create better outcomes for patients. It integrates AI and robotics to automate the microscopic analysis of visual data from blood and urine samples.
Using automated microscopy, a much larger area of such samples can be examined. Read more here about SigTuple’s automated digital microscope with a built-in AI platform, and how affordable imaging solutions can improve diagnostic capabilities for pathologists.
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A4: Ordering food
Swiggy’s Eatlists feature enables users to curate and share their favourite foods within the app. “Eatlists brings the best of both worlds: the ability to create and share your food identity with the world while discovering new favourite dishes through thousands of Eatlists curated by fellow food lovers and experts,” explains Rohit Kapoor, CEO of Food Marketplace Swiggy.
According to Swiggy, 58% of users struggle with indecision while selecting meals and almost 68% of users rely on recommendations from their peer group. Read more here about how such curated lists can be shared through WhatsApp and Instagram as well.
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A5: Solar energy
Launched by Radhika Choudary and Saurabh Marda in 2014, Freyr Energy is a Hyderabad-based solar startup. “We aim to provide seamless rooftop solar solutions to households and companies to meet their electricity needs and empower them with access to clean, affordable, and reliable solar energy,” Choudary explains.
“It comes across as a high investment to many households, however, it is a one-time investment which will achieve a breakeven in 3-4 years,” she adds. Read more here about her journey in this market, which could reach over 250 million households in India.
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).
