HYDERABAD: Zarina MV from Hyderabad is among the 10 winners who won Rs 10 lakh for her business idea at the recently held Britannia Marie Gold My Startup contest. The contest was for aspiring homemakers to fuel their entrepreneurial dreams, become financially independent and transform themselves into job creators. Zarina plans to use the winning amount to start her own line of linen baby clothing as she feels that the market still does not have a pure linen and designer line for babies.
“I want to hire women from economically backward communities and help them earn a livelihood,” she said during the finals. Conducted by Britannia Marie Gold, a 60-plus-year-old biscuit brand in India, the initiative prov i d e s 1 0 , 0 0 0 homemakers access to India’s a customised online skill development programme, in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The online course imparts these homemakers with the necessary entrepreneurial skills, boosting their confidence as they take their first step towards a self-reliant future. Britannia is confident that many of the homemakers who undergo the skill development training will move on to become entrepreneurs.
Among the other winners with innovative ideas are Shahnaz Tabussum from Patna in Bihar who plansto start a Reflexology self treatment and training centre; Shikha Dey of Durgapur, West Bengal, who wants to start a Bioflock Fish Farm; Archana P from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu who wants to open a science museum for kids and Deepali Bansal from Ambala, Haryana plans to produce a vegetable and fruit sanitiser.
Launched in February 2020, the 2nd edition witnessed, within a span of three months over 1.5 million applications from across the country and an overwhelming participation form 32 states and Union Territories. The means of entries was opened to include telephone call, web and WhatsApp. Over 25% of the entries came in via WhatsApp.
Other winning ideas
Among the other top ten winning ideas from other states are a bioflock fish farm by Shikha, a science museum for kids by Archana and vegetable and fruit sanitiser by Deepali