Blog

Hello Reader,

Let’s start with some good news today. India has administered more than 200 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccination mark in 18 months. Health Ministry data reveals that 98 percent of the country’s adult population have received at least one dose while 90 percent are fully vaccinated. Good on us!

Meanwhile, Elon Musk continues to rule the news cycle. Business Insider reported that the Tesla CEO texted Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, and Ned Segal, CFO of Twitter, on June 28, saying that the company’s lawyers are trying to “cause trouble” by seeking information on how Musk had planned to finance the $44-billion acquisition of the social media giant. 

Last but not least, GST rates on some items are going to rise from today, i.e. things will be more expensive. The list includes household items, hospitals, hotels, banking services, and more. 

To paraphrase Garfield, it’s time to put your Monday face on.

Unacademy’s Relevel play

It’s the summer of layoffs in the Indian startup ecosystem, with 12,000 jobs lost this year, according to Crunchbase. Edtech startups are feeling the most heat, with Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal announcing pay cuts for founders and top management, along with other cost-cutting measures.

With many people now looking for jobs again, the edtech unicorn is relying on its talent assessment and skilling platform Relevel to firmly position itself in the talent hiring market. Last month, Gaurav announced that the company was set to cross $12 million in Annual Recurring Revenu.

Shashank Murali, CEO of Relevel by Unacademy, tells YourStory that the idea behind creating a separate platform for job hunting was to ensure transparency for candidates. The platform conducts free tests for candidates across 19 different categories, and creates profiles for those who pass the cutoff.

“The platform has delivered more than Rs 50 crore worth of jobs in annual CTC (cost-to-company) till mid-June 2022. Around 80 percent of the users who have received job offers are freshers, while the remaining 20 percent are working professionals, who have received a 94 percent salary increase on average,” Shashank says.

Relevel’s key metrics:

• Unacademy invested $20 million in October 2021 for scaling up.
• Has a user base of 28 lakh, with 3 lakh applicants registering for assessment tests every month.
• Provides a three-month course costing Rs 35,000 to those who fail to make the cutoff.

Kiwi wine from Arunachal Pradesh

Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh isn’t just home to the famous music festival of its namesake, but also has the right climatic conditions to grow fruits like kiwi.

Tage Rita realised that the fruits grown in the Valley can also be used for making wine. After spending close to six years on research and development, she launched Naara Aaba in 2016 to offer a range of wines made from kiwi fruit.

Today, she doesn’t just run a successful business, but also provides employment to school and college dropouts in the garden and winery, and trains them in different skills. 

“With our continued efforts to highlight the plight of farmers and their produce to the world, we have been able to draw the attention of the government and different agencies, which in turn benefits them hugely,” she says.

Road to entrepreneurship:

• Started Naara Aaba with a Rs 4 crore bank loan and her own savings.
• Received the Nari Shakti Puraskar on International Women’s Day for promoting women’s entrepreneurship.
• Conducts wine tasting sessions for domestic and international visitors to spread the word.

Turnaround of RIYA Perfumes

The 1999 Super Cyclone didn’t just devastate many lives in Odisha, but also hit businesses. The manufacturing facility of RIYA, a brand that manufactured talcum powder, was completely destroyed. But its founders—NK Daga and LK Soni—didn’t lose hope.

They shifted to Delhi, reinvented their business model, and started trading perfumes. Now, RIYA is an Rs 80 crore turnover brand.

“That storm was a nightmare, and after that, they (NK and LK) were very cautious. But we overcame adversity and launched various SKUs in the perfume category,” says Aditya Vikram Daga, second-generation entrepreneur and son of NK Daga.

The 26-year-old entrepreneur has restructured RIYA as Purpos Planet to diversify the brand’s reach to urban and metro cities, and aspires to seize 20 percent of the market share by 2025.

Smelling success:

• Focused initially on only trading perfumes, make Rs 5 crore turnover before manufacturing.
• Sells more than 120 SKUs through 1,800 distributors.
• Aims to touch Rs 240 crore turnover by 2025 through diversification.

Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!