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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 146th 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: MSME market

MSMEs are a key pillar of the economy. Yet, many MSMEs find challenges in getting the right market visibility and customer connections. How can such gaps be filled?

Q2: Cultural preservation and livelihood

In many emerging economies, the trends towards migration, urbanisation and consumer culture are posing challenges to traditional handicrafts in rural communities. How can such traditions be preserved in a sustainable manner?

Q3: Water management

Water management and conservation are becoming an increasing concern in the face of climate change. However, many water treatment plants suffer from talent shortages and lack of expertise. How can such issues be tackled?

Q4: Learning disorders

Many societies suffer from a lack of awareness about learning disorders, and there are shortages of experienced clinical psychologists as well. How can technology help here, and where is the entrepreneurial opportunity?

Q5: Logistics

In many emerging economies, the logistics sector is plagued with challenges such as increasing transportation costs, inadequate infrastructure, inefficient supply chains, and lack of skilled labour. How can digital technology help here?

Answers!

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

A1: MSME market

Founded by Amit Bansal in 2019, Solv is a B2B ecommerce platform that helps MSMEs solve two of their key challenges: market access and price. It has combined the elements of technology and human interaction to create an online platform of trust to ensure there is business collaboration among verified members.

With an inventory-less business model, it aims to be a neutral non-competing facilitator between MSME producers and retail buyers. Read more here about its presence in over 500 cities where it helps 400,000 retailers and MSME producers across six categories: grocery, apparel, home furnishing, footwear, and small electronics.

A2: Cultural preservation and livelihood

Founded by Asha Patil and Seema Kishore, Banjara Kasuti aims to give women from the nomadic Lambani or Banjara community a platform to preserve and practice their traditional craft. It also helps them make a livelihood from their products.

It promotes the unique embroidery, mirror work and bead crafts of these communities by training and employing rural women to incorporate their traditional handwork into contemporary fashion. Read more here about how over 100 women of the Lambani community benefit from fixed monthly wages and access to banking services, education and healthcare.

A3: Water management

Mansi Jain founded Digital Paani to transform water management via an IoT-enabled platform that optimises wastewater treatment plants and promotes water reuse. Sensors in key parts of the plant help detect problems and restore operations to their full potential.

Task automation also helps reduce operational costs over time. Read more here about how the company works with 50 facilities across 12 states, with clients such as Tata, Reliance Leela Hotels, and the Delhi Jal Board.

A4: Learning disorders

Teena Paul started Giftolexia in 2017 with a range of tech-enabled screening tools to help early identification of dyslexia and other learning difficulties in children. She collaborated with Cyclops Medtech to use eye-tracking devices that capture gaze data while students read text.

The screening age can now be reduced to eight years from the current average of 12 years, and the screening time to five minutes per child from 30 minutes taken for a pen-and-paper screening test. Read more here about how the startup has already screened over 4,500 government school students and partnered with NASSCOM to reach 30 schools.

A5: Logistics

Founded in 2016 by JD Yadav, BookMyCargo is an on-demand cargo delivery platform that offers immediate or scheduled door-to-door delivery services. It was first launched in Thailand and adopted in India in 2020.

Its services include warehousing, express parcel transportation, freight forwarding, cross-border transportation, and part truck load. Read more here about how it leverages technologies like blockchain, AI and IoT, and has clocked revenue of $1.9 million in FY24.

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).