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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YS, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous post here). Share these 35 gems and insights from the week of August 30 – September 5 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses  here.

Design must endeavour to draw us into the moment in order to connect with us. To reach through to someone’s emotions, one must connect with all the senses. – Siddharth Sirohi, Baro Design

Real-life problems are more holistic and require concepts from multiple subjects. – Badri Narayanan, EquityLevers

Rapid advances in gene-editing technology and DNA sequencing mean that we now are indeed in the age of genomics. – Neeraj Gupta, GENES2ME

Companies need to upskill their employees more so that their teams are ready for the next set of [logistics] reforms and even understanding other dynamics such as warehousing and ecommerce. – Vineet Agarwal, ASSOCHAM

The combined efforts by retailers, governing bodies and the startups working on innovative ideas will not just revive the grocery retail segment, but take it to the next level. – Ajay Nain, Gully Network Retail

India’s unicorns are now worth $168 billion, more than the GDP of Telangana at current prices. – Hurun India Future Unicorn List 2021 report

India is the third-largest ecosystem for startups today, and is showing immense potential for the expansion of the start-up industry over the next five years. – Rohit Mohan Pugalia, This or That

India is home to over 75 million SMBs, which account for over 30 percent of India’s GDP, employ over 130 million, and form the backbone of the economy. – Shraeyansh Thakur, Sequoia Capital India

India has 290 million households, and if you remove the BPL households of close to 90 million and the top one percent, there are still over 150 million households that own gold. – Nitin Misra, indiagold

There are an estimated 16.2 lakh hand amputees in India, and globally, there are about 50 lakh hand amputees, with only 4 percent having access to prosthetics. – Osden Mascarenhas, Robo Bionics

As a country, we need to integrate responsibility in the sheer DNA of manufacturing. – Kiran Dham, Globus Infocom

Cutting-edge materials and technology in sporting goods have always been priced out of reach for several Indians. – Aayush Tapuriah, Elevar

India is an evolved market now and will accept a far superior and honest product in spite of it being a bit steep on the price scale. – Karan Mehta, Ashok Oil & Food Products

Kerala has a lot of potential in the areas of food processing, textiles, and agro industry. However, we need immediate steps to increase women entrepreneurship. – Deepak Aswani, FICCI

EV is at the cusp of the early-adopter phase in India – and we all know that the real opportunity will be in electric two-wheelers. – Sanjay Swamy, Prime Ventures

In the world’s largest two-wheeler market (India), the consumer’s preference is changing – buying online, stretching their budget for quality and upgrading faster. – Vikram Vaidyanathan, Matrix India

People in rural areas have to travel to cities to buy a simple mobile phone. Though there are small retailers in those areas, including Tier III and IV cities, people like to have a complete touch, feel, and try out experience. – KS Bhatia, Figgital

In many rural areas, education is seen as a waste of time as it doesn’t enable a person to acquire job opportunities as fast as a vocational skill would. – Anushka Prakash, Project Prakash

Education is the most powerful weapon and can help break free from the cycle of poverty. – Neha Mujawdiya, TutorCabin

In school, we are never taught how to go through a bad phase of life or deal with failure. The society looks down on people suffering from depression and other mental health problems. – Aishwarya Jain, I’m Happiness

No matter how much Indians talk about organic foods, diets, etc., everyone has a cheat day wherein they want chocolate, ice cream or something buttery and spicy. – Vikesh Shah, 99 Pancakes

There is an upward demand for chemical-free food crops not only in India, but also in international markets, which will eventually become the norm. – Subrata Dutta, Organic India

No food is a problem unless it is overdone. – Deepa Kannan, PFNR

Forests are essential to maintain a clean and habitable environment for human life, and emerging technologies have potential to support the afforestation efforts. – KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT and Industries

Green Hydrogen is zero-carbon energy. It is the best and cleanest source of energy, which can play a fundamental role in the world’s decarbonisation plans. – Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries

Aluminium beverage cans are the perfect example of a circular packaging solution as they can be recycled infinitely without any loss of quality. – Amit Lahoti, Ball Beverage Packaging

We have to look at how we can reduce both droughts and floods using nature-friendly measures. – Klement Tockner, Goethe University

Diversity at the workplace broadens everyone’s outlook and creates a healthy and friendly work environment. It fosters greater mutual respect which is essential for successful collaboration and innovation. – Anasua Bhowmik, AMD

There’s always an unconscious bias when women take the wheel of change — questionings and inhibitions. – Ananya Maloo, Nuutjob

We have seen a change over time where women don’t keep the veil in the house but draw it once they are out of their homes. – Rajbala Kataria, ICDS

Since maternity is a niche category, it’s not easy for a new brand to make its first sale instantly. – Mitali Jaggi Sood, MISASO

A single woman always has to suffer double the hardships. – Sunita Devi, ASHA worker

The fact remains that we live in a society that believes in the fact that long working hours mean greater productivity. In other words, overwork is treated as a badge of honour. – Sumeet Doshi, UKG

Just don’t listen to the naysayers. It is important to take feedback and advice, but if you believe an idea is good and needs to be worked on, just go for it. – Pallavi Utagi, SuperBottoms

Learn from your failures. It’s okay to fail when building your startup, just keep failing forward, learning and growing. – Liana Nzabampema, Segal Family Foundation

Stories resonate best when they are placed in the context of the lives of your target audience. – Vandana Sandhir, Genesis BCW

People, purpose, passion, and product define today’s brands and govern customer preference. – Nitin Agarwal, GlobalBees

YS 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).