This weekly quiz from YourStory tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 35th 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 330 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
Q1: Electric vehicles
Momentum is building up for the electric vehicle industry, powered by demands for moving away from fossil fuels as well as affordable and simpler technologies. One challenge, however, is ensuring easy access to charging stations. How can this be tackled?
Q2: Sustainable practices
The corporate and industrial sector has a lot to be held accountable for in terms of climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction. Governments can play a key role here in incentivising and enforcing better practices. Which other community has a major influence here?
Q3: Leadership
Leadership is about having the power to mobilise around a strategy. It’s also about having the influence over suppliers, distributors, and other partners in the ecosystem. But what is another important thing leaders should be doing with their power?
Q4: Opportunity in adversity
Sectors like education and entertainment actually boomed during the pandemic, with forced restrictions driving unprecedented numbers of people online. But some ‘physical goods’ players did well even though venues like malls were shut. How did they manage this?
Q5: Spotting and riding trends
Pandemic restrictions changed the way people lived, worked, and played. Work from home (WFH) spurred the market for home workstations and high-end consumer media appliances. It also impacted the apparel sector – in what way?
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: Electric vehicles
“Battery-swapping is an alternative solution to developing EV charging infrastructure, especially for commercial applications,” explains Vinutaa S, Assistant Vice President and Sector Head, Icra.
This sector is currently in nascent stages in India. “It is advantageous for it being a quick way of recharging a vehicle and is cost and time efficient,” she adds. Read more about EV trends in India here.
A2: Sustainable practices
“The environment has found a new guardian in the younger generation,” observes Manav Subodh, MD of 1M1B. Youth leaders like Greta Thunberg are paving the way for youth to step up and take charge of the environmental agenda.
“We need to think about how we can mobilise our youth populace at scale and engage them to build tangible and real solutions to ensure they inherit a greener, stronger planet,” Manav adds. Read more about the youth opportunity here.
A3: Leadership
“Being powerful is having the ability to empower others. The more you empower others, the more powerful you actually are,” affirms Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India.
She is a strong believer in helping people realise and achieve their full potential. This also calls for empathy to better connect with employees. “We need to increase the empathy quotient and it’s important to align personal and organisational aspirations,” she adds. Read more about the leadership mandate here.
A4: Opportunity in adversity
“Those in the direct selling sector adapted to the new normal more easily,” recalls Gautam Bali, Managing Director of Vestige Marketing. The direct selling industry witnessed a marked jump in new entrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The direct selling industry has proved that it cannot just stand but help overcome any kind of economic crisis in the country,” adds Sujit Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Netsurf Network. Read more about the power of D2C dynamics here.
A5: Spotting and riding trends
“As the pandemic raged on, we understood that buying comfortable clothing has been the most common change in people’s fashion habits over the last year-and-a-half,” observes Khushboo Sethi, Founder of clothing brand Jisora.
“People want their pieces to be versatile as they might feel like wearing them at home, dressing them up or down as they wish,” she adds. The founders spotted this opportunity during the pandemic, and launched at the end of 2020. Read more about their creativity and growth here.
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).
