Vocal for Local – Dutch Uncles

Pesto and Buckwheat Tea From Ladakh To The World

Vaishali Das — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 10:35:04 +0000

Kangla-Nyishar, a Leh-Based Women led organic farming startup set up in 2019 is the perfect example of ‘Vocal for Local’. It is a drive to advance the variety and uniqueness of authentic Ladakhi cuisine by working with conventional plans. Their endeavor is centered on praising the local produce that has sustained as well as flourished in the harsh challenging climatic conditions of Ladakh.

Kangla-Nyishar: The Journey of Endangered Food Culture

The startup makes artisanal food with locally sourced natural produce profiting small cultivators, producers and the local economy. The Womenpreneurs who founded this startup, Rigzin Angmo, Padma Angmo, Rigzin Yangdol and Padma Angmo, came up with this idea as a part of their Naropa Fellowship Programme assignment on setting up a business venture.

While exploring Ladakh, the founders came across various endangered food cultures and learned about ancient recipes. With deep and thorough research on some of these plants and food names, they were amused to know that some of these plants were considered as premium products outside India.

Their major product line includes three varieties of Pesto (walnut, apricot and sun-dried tomato) and Buckwheat tea. All the products are a brainchild of thorough research and are inspired by their ancestors. These traditional Ladakhi products are preservatives free. The raw materials are sourced directly from the farmers in Takmachik which is a certified eco-model village where farming is completely organic.

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Kangla-Nyishar, a drive to advance the variety and uniqueness of authentic Ladakhi cuisine by working with conventional plans.

Takeaways from Kangla-Nyishar Startup

The startup does not cater to a very large chunk of the population. They don’t export their products and largely cater to the Leh Market, which makes limited demand for the raw materials. Their products are licensed by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI). The startup inspires the need of protecting one’s heritage and culture.

The major takeaway of this startup is that they are leveraging the region’s natural resources, familial and community networks to create something new that embodies their cultural heritage with a tint of the outside world.

Although the startup is at its nascent stage, they do plan to take it further to various e-commerce websites with new varieties of tea and other products.

The Future of Organic Farming

Organic farming has seen a drastic overall development over the years. According to WHO, the global organic food market is $37 billion. When it comes to safe and environment-friendly practices, organic farming is the best practice.

It also helps in saving the indigenous cuisines and promotes a sustainable way of food consumption. It can be very well seen from this Leh-based startup, how organic farming is building a spirit of entrepreneurship in the remote areas as well.

Millennial are more inclined towards their ancestral history and are applying their foreign studies knowledge in uplifting their society and bringing the world closer to these premium, endangered and enriching products.

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Kolkata Startup Rare Planet Uplifting Artisans

Vaishali Das — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 10:29:37 +0000

Rare Planet, a Kolkata-based Handicrafts startup and a D2C brand, started from scratch by Ranodeep Shah in 2017, is the perfect example of a passion project for social impact and taking ahead the legacy of Indian Artisans.

Expansion of Product Line

The startup was initially launched with the simple selling of terracotta kulhads in online and offline modes. It has expanded its product line to include indigenous handicrafts, adornments, writing materials, earthenware, home décor, containers, and jewelry all made up with clay, copper, metal, wood, terracotta, ceramic, and marble.

The expansion of its product line is the revenue model of providing Made in India products internationally. The idea was more of creating a rewarding workspace and an easy lifestyle to the local artisans of India.

With the selling of indigenous products, Rare Planet is doing its bit for the upliftment of the society. The startup does its part as its commitment to society by bringing rural-based handicrafts and décor items to the central stage at international airports, shopping malls and bookstores. The products are designed and listed by the startup’s in-house team itself.

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With the selling of indigenous products, Rare Planet is doing its bit for the upliftment of the society.

Rare Planet Empowering Local Artisans

The products manufactured by the Rare Planet are reusable and durable. Although the market for Indian handicrafts and handlooms is huge across the globe and is very renowned internationally, the state of artisans and karigars still remain poor. These are the people who have suffered a lot sometimes because of middlemen issues, low rates for their artwork, products including lack of funds for product development.

Understanding the situation of the artisans and with the aim of providing sustainable income to the local artisans, Ranodeep Shah started Rare Planet, a platform promoting indigenous Indian handicrafts and selling them via eCommerce and direct offline retail.
Rare Planet has provided a safe way of income to more than 10,000 local artisans and karigars. It has eliminated the cut of middlemen by procuring items directly from craftsmen and has provided them with a higher profit margin than they were previously making.
Artisans have suffered the most during the pandemic. The seasonal sale has seen a decline, this is where Rare Planet comes into play. They have created more opportunities, apart from the seasonal idol making income, with their expanding product line giving them access to newer markets and thus more income.

Besides providing the artisans with more orders and a consistent work opportunity, the startup also facilitates them with loans and helps them to get heavy and costly machinery and tools required for their production purposes.

Future of Rare Planet

Rare Planet is centered on uplifting rural artisans that associates more than 25000 artisans’ families PAN India. It aims to work with more artisans building authentic handicrafts from Kutch, Jodhpur, Madhubani, Nadia, Saharanpur, Cuttack and Puri by 2022.
It is also looking forward to expanding its offline partnerships with airports in India for their retail outlets.

What’s in it for Handicraft Startups?

Indian handicrafts industry is estimated to be around $7 to $8 billion market. The future is bright for handicraft startups as during the pandemic online sales of these products have increased. These startups have also cut down the cost of having a proper office space as most of their workers are working from home and supplying directly to the retailers and hence earning more profit.

Startups like these ensure a steady income for artisans. As per the D2C brand, the products are made available for purchase across offline stores and online e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart and their own official websites. As per the Made in India Project, Handicraft Startups are taking up the market space pretty nicely.

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Public App, On the Path to Becoming the Mecca of Hyper-Local Classifieds

Harshini Srivastava — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 14:27:19 +0000

It goes without saying that social media has become an inherent part of our lives, be it entertainment, information or business. Plethora of social media networking apps have popped up in the market, with only a handful, mostly big tech, ruling the roost. Everyone wants to grab a piece of the ever-growing internet-user base pie, especially India which is the world’s second-largest internet market.

However, as the market gets crowded with entry of new players, existing companies need to come up with new propositions while the ones contemplating to enter this market must put something exciting on the table to differentiate themselves.

One start-up in the latter category just prefixed ‘social networking app’ with a simple word – Local, rather Hyperlocal, and changed the ball game, grabbing a good chunk of that pie for a starter.

This brings us to the inception of homegrown location-based social network app – Public App – which allows users to share videos/content of scenarios taking place around them besides providing them real-time local updates, including events, classifieds etc.

This two-year-old start-up, which was launched by news aggregator and curator Inshorts, has amassed over 50 million users with more than a million videos created on a platform on a monthly basis. Some of the famous personalities, big brands, and politicians are on the app’s active users.

The Ideation

The three IIT dropouts Azhar Iqubal, Deepit Purkayastha and Anunay Arunav already had a glorious feather in their hats with the success of their first venture, Inshorts, and wanted to up the game digital game further.

Even with their first venture, the founders paid attention to the growing demand for short and simple content as the majority, especially youth, lost interest in reading newspapers and anything that requires time.

Once the idea of ‘60 word-news update’ got hit, the founders got thinking over connecting local communities with the same, and maybe more. This led to the inception of Public App in 2019.

The social networking platform connects people with its communities and authorities in their local languages. The aim is to, again, move away from bulky content and make simple news and information accessible to everyone in real-time in minimum time.

Within seven months, the app was able to garner 10 million downloads and capture Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities.

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The social networking platform connects people with its communities and authorities in their local languages.

The Vicinity Connect

The social networking app is multifunctional in nature. It allows users to share content, both entertainment and informative, in the form of videos and posts on varied topics.

The app builds an affiliation between people as they discuss common topics, raise questions, share concerns. This works extremely well for local authorities, which are able to connect with the users, as users themselves, and spread important information besides collecting feedback. Sounds like a ‘digital chaupal’.

This also brings us to citizen journalism, which is promoted by the platform which lets users, self-proclaimed citizen journalists – record and upload short clippings of newsworthy moments happening in their neighborhood and build a loyal following.

Hence, the app becomes a medium to bring things to notice and get the action rolling. Majority of the videos on the app are connected to local news related to crime, politics, protests, sanitation work, among others.

This takes the app beyond entertainment. With communities coming together, the app has become a platform for updates on local happenings, events, job opportunities. This turned the app into a famous hub of hyper local classifieds.

The user interface of Public is kept very simple and people find it extremely convenient to use. It is able to attract high quality audiences because of the non-intrusive advertisements, which leads to a good engagement on the platform. Also, the younger generation gets more captivated with updates in visual form in comparison to written content, and this is one of the primary aspects that was definitely working in Public’s favour.

Vernacular content is the next big thing and some of the major players are already cashing on the wave. This is another big USP of the app, which is available in several major Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Odia, Marathi etc. The app removes the single language (English) barrier and hence has managed to tap on the hyperlocal network.

Pushing ‘Vocal for Local’

The main theme of the app is hyperlocal connection. This could apply to anyone in the area, any business, any information and so on. One such opportunity is bringing together shopkeepers and customers. It is not new to do business on/via social media platforms, the app however focuses on local. Shopkeepers who have small or large businesses build a rapport with the consumers and connect with them through the app. It even helps the shopkeepers to hire local talent, close deals, fulfil other requirements and take business forward through the platform.

The traction of the connection with locals is so much that even big brands are coming forward to tap that ever-growing local user base. Companies are looking for mediums to keep in regular touch with locals as a part of product survey, sale and marketing. Their association with the app serves the purpose and provides them with valuable insights and so on. In his company blog, Iqubal writes that the start-up builds customised ad solutions for such brands to better engage with the audiences while keeping the user experience intact. Currently, advertisement is the biggest source of revenue for the start-up.

The popularity and credibility of the brand is reflected in its associations with companies like Amazon, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), HDFC etc.

Building Credibility

With the right purpose and time, the app has been able to build credibility among users. Besides big brands, political leaders, journalists, police officers and government officials have signed up to connect with communities around them in the most efficient manner possible. This aspect is highlighted significantly during the lockdowns.

Officials were seen interacting with users regarding policies, restrictions while authorities remained in constant touch to extend help and provide info related to groceries stores, hospitals, quarantine arrangements in the surroundings.

This builds on the credibility of the app every day which in turn gives the users an assurance that the information they are getting from this platform is legitimate.

Innovate, Improve and Retain

Public currently has 50 million users with an average daily time spent of 20 to 30 minutes.

In March 2021, the start-up raised $41 million from A91 Partners, shooting its valuation to $250 million. This funding came mere six months after it secured $35 million led by Lee Fixel’s new investment firm Addition, along with SIG and Tanglin Venture Partners. The funds have been deployed towards scaling up of tech infrastructure, content offerings and employee base to speed up the growth and continue improving on retention and engagement, says Iqubal, who also mentions the need to focus on sustainable growth and target to obtain right users instead of mass users.

Public App stands in completion with other homegrown brands like MX Taka Tak, Moj (ShareChat), ZINGR, Josh (Dailyhunt) etc in the hyperlocal social media space, keeping the big tech like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook aside.

However, the aspect of connecting locals with authorities besides the amalgamation of entertainment, news, classifieds, information and everything that spells ‘community’ makes the app appealing in comparison. The other platforms are either focused on pure entertainment or trying to balance both in an unorganised way. In a way, the product offering of all stands different.

For instance, Sharechat also allows users to upload and share videos, images, and GIFs on the platform to create a social following and has a gamut of content categories such as humor, self-help, religion, among others. On the other hand, MX Taka Tak loses out on news, information and updates aspect and is solely focused on entertainment.

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The main theme of the app is hyperlocal connection. This could apply to anyone in the area, any business, any information and so on.

One Man’s Loss is Another Man’s Gain!

The ban of Chinese app Tik Tok in June 2020 changed the fate of a lot of Indian apps, one of them being Public. A monumental growth was observed in these apps as users shifted base following the ban. Public App saw a huge surge in users and crashed on the shifting waves.

The founder believes that the ban wasn’t the sole reason behind its success since they were confident that they would have had a successful run irrespective of the ban of TikTok. This confidence is backed up by the growing demand for vernacular content or media apps in the country. As per a report by Google India, 9 out of 10 new internet users in the country are consuming online content in Indian languages. Big brands to smaller businesses, everyone has begun incorporating vernacular aspects into their digital solutions to tap into regional communities, expand customer base and explore opportunities that arise from it. New user base would mean removal of barriers for product/service adoption which could be done by adopting local language strategy.

Iqubal believes that even if the ban of TikTok is lifted, it won’t cause any harm to the growth of the platform. The users seem to be satisfied with the services they are being provided with. The increase in the number of users will continue because of the sense of proximity it provides to them and the users who are willing to enjoy the services will be a part of the platform regardless of any factor, he writes in his blog.

International ‘Public’

The next big target is to connect people from certain communities of India and then eventually take over the global space.

Besides, since the platform is largely known for the quality of personalization that it possesses, the founders are working on customised advertisement solutions for brands for them to build stronger connections with the audience.

The app also plans to bring an in-built video creation tool which would make it easier for its users to create videos with the help of their mobile phones. The new live streaming feature will also be one of the highlights of this platform.

It is intriguing to witness that the platform has been constructed in a manner that certain sections of users turned out to be influencers by providing relevant information related to general knowledge, local news, etc. It would be interesting to see how the founders replicate the business model in other countries as what might work at a particular land, might fail in another. Having said that, vernacular and community is omnipresent and unexplored.

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How is Amazon Transforming the Face of Offline Kirana Stores in Pandemic?

Aakash Sharma — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 12:35:04 +0000

Perpule is a customisable e-commerce platform with which retailers use to connect to internet-based retail solutions. The start-up’s acquisition will allow Amazon to offer new products to small retailers across the country using its existing network and newly acquired tech solutions.

Founded in September 2016 by Saketh BSV, Yogesh Ghaturle and Abhinav Pathak, Perpule is a customised e-commerce platform that allows small retailers to enter the digital space. It used an indigenous cloud-based point of sale technology named Ultra POS, which small businesses can manage inventory, distribute orders and organise receipts from suppliers, among other everyday retail functionalities.

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Amazon's project for Indian retailers helps clients transform their local businesses into digital businesses by providing more functionality, faster delivery and other value-added services.

What is Amazon eyeing with Perpule’s acquisition?

Amazon launched its “Local Store” programme for India more than a year ago in January 2020. And this deal with Perpule will help it enter the offline retailers’ market to help them open up digital setups. The e-commerce giant will expand its local store programme from 50,000 offline retailers in March 2021 to 100,000 by the end of the year using the newly acquired technology.

Cloud-based sales systems are often used on mobile devices and are sometimes referred to as the point of sale (software) rather than just an element of SaaS. They are also called EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale), which reflects that the program works on electronic devices. Perpule’s cloud-based Ultra POS helps small businesses, retailers, and grocery stores automate retail functions like digital management and pricing. With this acquisition, Amazon could offer a new range of technological products to its partners as the retail sector’s digitalisation is underway.

Amazon’s increasing interest in Indian retail through Kirana and Local Stores

In January 2020, president, CEO and chairman of the board Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon would invest $1.1 billion in India to support small and medium companies (SMBs, SMEs and MSMEs) going digital all the way. Bezos said the company would allow retailers to export more than products worth $10 billion across the world by 2025. The e-commerce giant relies heavily on the ‘Amazon Local Store’ programme to help strengthen local retailers and sales in line with digital solutions.

Over the past six months, Amazon has launched a pilot programme with more than 5,000 local retailers and stores to make the benefits of online sales more accessible. The areas covered in the test programme include Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Surat, Indore Lucknow, Saharanpur, Faridabad, Kota, Varanasi, among others.

The layout includes sellers in various categories such as kitchen, home, furniture, clothing, automotive, beauty, electronics, sports, groceries, lawns and gardens, books, toys and jewellery. The project helps clients transform their local businesses into digital businesses by providing more functionality, faster delivery and other value-added services. Amazon has pledged Rs 10 crore to resellers and retailers who want to join the program to expand the reach of the test quickly.

The Way Ahead has a Significant Ground for SMBs, MSMEs and Small Retail Businesses

With the recent acquisition of Perpule, Amazon now has the opportunity to expand its presence to the vast network of Indian Kiranas. Following the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, all industries in the country have started to restructure and reorganise their activities, and the retail sector wants to accelerate its growth even more.

As the pandemic looms large, e-commerce companies are advised to deliver only essential items to consumers by de facto notices. Amazon has developed a personalised delivery app for consumers and local stores to provide accurate delivery updates. The lakhs of grocery and Kirana stores in thousands of cities and towns across India are the new target of Amazon. The giant is betting its billions on saving and growing the Indian retail and churning more enormous profits for itself.

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How Did Meesho Spur New Models of Innovation?

Aakash Sharma — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 02:35:03 +0000

Meesho is a Bangalore-based social commerce platform founded in December 2015 by graduates of IIT Delhi, Vidit Atre and Sanjeev Barnwal. It allows small businesses and individuals to open their online stores through WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Meesho, which actually means ‘Meri Shop‘ (my shop), equips possible entrepreneurs with a practical digital shop. The company offers distribution access to 20,000 manufacturers through its platform. Meesho was one of three Indian companies selected for the Y Combinator in 2016. It was also part of the first batch of the Google Launchpad – Solve for India programme. In June 2019, it became the first Indian start-up to be invested in by Facebook.

Meesho Innovation Spree – Turning People into Digital Shopkeepers

Meesho has over 2 million people who it has successfully transformed into digital shopkeepers. The app allows users to set up online stores with over 21,000 small and medium-sized vendors offering new product categories such as clothing, jewellery, home kitchens, etc. Users can market these products on the network through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meesho receives a 10% to 20% sales commission on transactions.

Many ‘providers’ that are part of the Indian domestic household have a knack for business. With Meesho, they are granted the financial freedom to conduct business with the Meesho app without leaving home. These entrepreneurs do not usually have the capital to buy raw materials and indulge in simple brick and mortar trading centres. So, Meesho merchants don’t have to carry inventory; suppliers drop-ship items after they’re ordered.

Resellers can send payment links directly through social media, including WhatsApp. A relatively new sector is opening up in India with the massive leap in the country’s 4G infrastructure over the years. There are currently 2 million resellers and 700 cities in India and Indonesia on Meesho’s channels.

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New start-ups can tap the opportunity in connecting local and small businesses with large audiences using WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.

Meesho’s Innovation and Fervent Funding Liftoff

Raising money for a business is not easy. And the time it took for Meesho to raise Series A funds and the resulting confusion was challenging. Meesho received its first institutional loan of $3 million from SAIF Partners in 2017. This was followed by a funding round of $10 million from Sequoia Capital. Slowly, Facebook and Naspers also got on board.

Many investors did not believe in Meesho’s business model and saw it as new. But one thing that worked for the social trading platform was the user pull it gained. Although the start-up was unable to raise funds, it continued to snowball. Investors who didn’t consider investing initially suddenly revamped their decision as they saw the numbers grow. The idea of selling WhatsApp around 2016 and 2017 was very new, and no one had tried it yet.

Innovating Community Commerce

While the venture capital industry initially did not quite figure out the workings of offline community commerce, it saw a great opportunity in Meesho’s innovative models. On top of that, Meesho users have shown great gratitude for changing their business and lives effectively in so many ways, further encouraging the base of innovation.

And with this right time, funding and innovation of the digital marketplace, Meesho spurred new models and platforms for businesses across the spectrum to run smoothly and reach broad audiences.

What can start-ups learn from Meesho?

Meesho’s business model can clearly be a standard for aspiring entrepreneurs aiming to start out in the community commerce segment. While many aspects of the industry have now come to the forefront, there aren’t many big players yet who have occupied the space.

New start-ups can tap the opportunity in connecting local and small businesses with large audiences using WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. These platforms have dedicated services that encourage small businesses to grow using their means. A start-up can assist the millions of shopkeepers, kirana stores, bakeries, departmental stores, floweries etc. across India in realising their potential of mass reach.

With the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan at its peak and the prime minister’s call to go “Vocal for Local”, it can be a great opportunity for new entrepreneurs to connect the MSMEs with their vast markets.

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