Every crisis presents itself with a plethora of opportunities waiting to be untapped, and the pandemic of 2020 is no different. Existing businesses are shaken to the core — customer spending in India reduced by nearly 40% between March-June as compared to last year and investors are putting investments on hold. Management is left with a business plan that holds no value in a fast-changing macro environment, with 12% of startups shutting operations by July. Even so, amidst crises often emerges an offshoot of new opportunities — unsolved problems that require deep innovation. …
I’ve always been super inspired by entrepreneurs and the impact they create in the world. Coming from a business family, I was lucky to have exposure to this from a very early age. In fact, I remember being an 8-year-old accompanying my uncle to farm suppliers and packaging factories, fascinated by their supply chain system, and making frequent trips with my father as he went on setting up manufacturing units. I knew right away that I wanted to create a similar but bigger impact. To equip myself with skills and the network to pull it off, I moved to the US in 2010. …
It has been over a month since the entire country has come to a standstill. Both humans and businesses are fighting to survive another day. The last 30 days have tested our ability to be agile, creative, and positive in the face of adversities. Businesses are being forced to think out of the box or perish.
As a young & struggling manufacturing unit of semi-essential goods, we were faced with a similar choice on the night of 24th March — shut down operations to conserve cash but have limited hope of being able to restart the unit or continue producing without any demand in the market. …
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