Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 98th 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: The space frontier
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) blazed a new trail as its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft made a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon. This will lead to new scientific discoveries and collaborations in mineralogy. What are some other impacts of the mission?
Q2: Safety management
Many factories, manufacturing sites and mines have hazardous environments, which causes risk to worker safety and production flow. How can technology help create good safety management mechanisms?
Q3: Customer satisfaction
Businesses need to monitor and understand customer interactions in real-time and at scale in order to deliver better service and maximise profits. How can data and technology help here in generating new insights?
Q4: Farming opportunity
Farming as a profession can be full of hardship and uncertainty. Many are moving away from agriculture, and those still in the field struggle to make profits. What social entrepreneurship opportunities are possible here?
Q5: Business and security
Digital infrastructure and reliable mobile connectivity are key for businesses in the knowledge era. Analytics help better understand and respond to customer needs. What else should businesses be doing to ensure security in operations?
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 space frontier
Chandrayaan-3 will create opportunities for research, development, and manufacturing, thus creating jobs and promoting economic activity. The mission will inspire and captivate the imagination of youth, encouraging them to pursue STEM careers.
The technologies developed for space missions can have spin-off applications in other sectors, such as healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation. Read more about other impacts of the historic space mission here.
A2: Safety management
Sensors, data and analytics can help comb through relevant insights before any accident occurs. “Technology integration combines different layers of mechanisms to capture safety metrics, including incident reporting, audits, training documentation, and videos,” explains Swayam Prakash Agrawal, Founder and CEO of Aarika Innovation.
“To ensure real-time identification and prevention, safety management teams leverage the potential of data analytics to categorise predictable variables—injuries, illness, and casualties,” he adds. Read more here about how facilities can design and use dashboards to report deviations from safety metrics.
A3: Customer satisfaction
Precision in data insights helps detect operational patterns and strategic shifts for profit maximisation. “Data is constantly being leveraged by companies like Shopify and Sage, which are able to make smarter decisions rather than just relying on speculation,” observes Shekar Nair, Partner at Upekkha, a SaaS accelerator.
“Data-driven insights are at the core of Salesforce’s CRM as the analytics transforms sales processes, amplifying customer interactions for tailored experiences and informed decision-making,” he adds. Read more here for case studies on customer retention strategies, idea generation, and enhanced collaboration via data-driven insights.
A4: Farming opportunity
Aiming to change the way farming was perceived and practiced and to help farmers make agriculture profitable, Prabhat Kumar founded the NGO, SumArth. It has supported over 10,000 farmers through projects focused on onion, mushroom, and honey cultivation.
This is achieved via 360-degree support to farmers through training programmes, aid in crop planning, technological support, establishment of storage infrastructure, and market linkages. Read more here about its tangible impacts on livelihood, and plans to scale this across the country.
A5: Business and security
“We collect only essential user data, encrypting it to prevent misuse. Access to this data is also limited to internal stakeholders, and we’re very particular about this,” explains Mohit Gupta, VP Growth, Chingari.
“We ensure student data remains confidential while channeling all transactions and interactions through our platform,” adds Sarvesh Kumar, Head of User Growth at CueMath. Read more here about digital transformation and data security from the TechBlaze initiative by Airtel Business and YourStory.
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).
