BENGALURU: Bengaluru is synonymous with being the startup hub of India. And now, entrepreneurs from namma Ooru are coming together to help the country’s Covid-19 efforts. A recently formed initiative, Startups vs Covid-19, has entrepreneurs from different parts of the country and is the brainchild of four members of the startup community, including Bengaluru’s Vivek H R, co-founder and CEO of Bounce, and Mekin Maheshwari, a former early leader at Flipkart.
With over 700 members on their Telegram group today, this initiative aims to help ongoing efforts at handling the pandemic with skillsets and resources they have acquired in their entrepreneurial journey. Says Maheshwari, “These are times we haven’t seen before. It’s where we need expertise but also should act swiftly and learn through data available to us. These are things good startups do anyway so we felt we could play a role in aiding efforts.
” The group, which was initially called Founders vs Covid-19, expanded from four members to over 50 in just five hours. “Soon, the group expanded to include other parties like doctors, researchers, creators, etc. So, we changed the name to Startups vs Covid-19 to make it more inclusive,” says Udhay Shankar, a volunteer of the group. Currently, the group has four main bucket of activities they are focusing on: Reducing Covid transmissions, which included advocacy to push for lockdowns and now includes distributing accurate information in multiple languages; scaling the manufacture and infrastructure for testing; planning for stage 3 of the pandemic, and supplies for healthcare professionals.
So, how has this diverse ecosystem come together to pool in resources? According to Aditya Kothari, a city-based entrepreneur, besides the main Telegram group, other sub-groups too have been formed that work with content, test kits, sourcing safety supplies, etc. “Every day at 7 pm, we have a 30-minute video call. Here, 50 of us get together to discuss a quick update or ask for help, if needed, from other members,” explains Kothari, who has been involved with getting creatives on board that startup founders can use to share on their social media platforms.
The role also involves him reaching out to doctors and experts, with the request of making short videos with credible information that can be circulated on WhatsApp. “This is mainly for parents who will only listen to an expert’s word or those residing in tier II cities. We’ve been rolling out these videos in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Haryanvi and Hindi,” he explains. Shedding light on the core idea, Vivek explains how the country is currently fighting a war, where the enemy is unseen. “We wanted to do whatever possible to help because we all need to act together now,” he says. Agrees Maheshwari, who adds that the initiative has fuelled him with a sense of purpose. “Just the amount of energy and what people are willing to do, and able to do, in short time spans, has been inspiring.”