<div><em>Growth Enabler, a mentoring centre for startups, helps a rural youth to develop his idea of creating</em><em> a phone-based voting app. <strong>K Chandra Mohan </strong>reports</em></div><div> </div><div>This is the story of Lavanya Kumar, an engineering graduate from Mogili village, in Andhra Pradesh and his dreams of developing a voting app and how Growth Enabler, a mentoring centre for startups, helped him achieve his dream. </div><div> </div><div>Starting life in a village, Kumar had to work in sericulture farms and save up for his University education. With sheer tenacity he finished his software engineering, at NIT-Suratkal, and landed a job in Hyderabad. However, he had plans of becoming an entrepreneur and came to Bangalore with an idea. His idea was simple, why shouldn’t the power of smartphones be used to allow citizens to vote from the comfort of their homes. There are 200 million senior citizens and more than 60 million Indians work abroad.</div><div> </div><div>“I have been thinking of the concept of ‘One India One Vote’ since my college days and I have created a platform where voters can cast their vote from smartphones,” says Lavanya Kumar. He adds that he has created an SMS based system for lower end phones as well. His cloud-based platform captures information of every registered voter and securely allows a citizen to cast the vote with a click of a button. His algorithm verifies the user and does not allow them to re-vote, thereby protecting the system from graft. If this product takes off then rigging can be curbed and costs of re-polling can be avoided. In a national election or re-polling, the nation spends more than Rs 400 crore.</div><div> </div><div>Growth Enabler, a mentoring centre for start-ups, took note of his idea and latched on to it. The team began mentoring the Kumar and gave him six months to make the product ready and will also eventually help him to present the plan to the Prime Minister’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, where one can vote with an SMS too. </div><div> </div><div>The usage of smartphones is rapidly growing in India. It is the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. According to Gartner, the rise in smartphone users in India since 2015 is 260 per cent and is expected to reach 200 million users by 2018. However, there are 400 million rural youth who cannot connect to India’s fast growing technology and some of them have ideas that can use technology to solve rural problems. </div><div> </div><div>The Unitus Seed Fund has earmarked $24 million for rural funding and to invest in companies that can make a social impact. While this fund focuses on some business plans and potential companies, there is an entire mentoring part that is missing. This is where Growth Enabler, a mentoring centre for startups, takes over.</div><div> </div><div>“This product, once ready, is a great product for angel investors and other large investors to back,” says Rajeev Baduni, founder of Growth Enabler.</div><div> </div><div>The story of Growth Enabler dates back to the year 2013, when three highly passionate and committed individuals decided to wave good-bye to their flourishing corporate careers and began life as entrepreneurs.</div><div> </div><div>“Our journey has been a real mix of many events, emotions, experiences and moments – most of which have been revealing lessons of how we can become great human beings’ says Aftab Malhotra, one of the founders of Growth Enabler.</div><div> </div><div>Rajeev Banduni, Lars Lin Villebaek and Aftab Malhotra were on a mission to make a difference to the world of entrepreneurship. They realised early on that to grow and scale a business requires not only experience and a winning mind-set, but many other ‘never talked about’ assets. These assets have a ‘multiplier effect’ on a startup’s ability to grow, and often make the difference between success and failure. These assets are accessible only to a select few; Growth Enabler calls them ‘the other 5 per cent’ or the city based businesses. These are people with connections, great academic background and plenty of access to money.</div><div> </div><div>So, what about the other 95 per cent of the assets? This is what Growth Enabler wants to tap.</div><div>Growth Enabler’s first goal is to ensure that they reach as many people as possible and therefore decided to create a business model and an online platform that is democratic and scalable. The intention is to provide access to the following:</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Any person wanting to start a business and has an idea (Growth Enabler calls them Wantrepreneurs)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Those who have recently started a business (Startups)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Those who have already established business and eager to grow (SMB’s)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>To support startups by connecting them to elite investors. </div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Growth Enabler will also provide free mentoring and help these“wantrepreneurs” to find out the right funding. </div><div> </div>
