Packing a Punch: It’s never too late to turn your passions into reality and these three women have proven it. While one quit a secure job to help writers find and connect with their audience, the other two decided to fix the gaping hole in the development and growth during early childhood.
Growth Mappers
Sumedha Khoche and Shireen Sultana trace their friendship back almost two decades when as room-mates they shared many dreams at IIM Indore.
It was only years later when they became parents that they realised their common passion and the need for early childhood learning and development.
Battling age and gender bias, they decided to turn entrepreneurs with the launch of KinderPass, a personal child development app.
“There exists this popular perception that anything started by mothers is somehow less serious, a border-line hobby or passion project that allows them to ‘spend time constructively’ while the kids are at school,” they say.
This is the attitude that the duo with no prior tech experience had to fight.
Started in December 2019, the app already has 30,000 users in 2,000 cities.
In fact, with work-from-home being the new normal now, the app registered about a 70 percent growth in usage.
They are already visualising the next step.
“There is a strong desire among new parents to be equipped with the best possible information and knowledge especially dealing with modern day parenting challenges.
"The same need extends to their children. However, the majority of the apps and devices are one-way streets with no one at the other end checking or correcting. We will soon be adding other elements that support at-home learning including curated early learning products as well as live online sessions that boost school readiness,” Singapore-based Sumedha says.
KinderPass has a five-pronged approach—Personalised; Actionable; Designed for busy parents; Rooted in science; and Stress on home learning.
The platform understands that every child is different and so are their learning curve, behaviour and needs.
KinderPass attempts to not only tell the parents how to give their child the best start, but what difference it will make. “We are definitely not the one-size-fits-all platform.
Being young parents ourselves, we know that the ultimate acid test for the app is to fit into the schedules of busy parents.
"Further, all activities are rooted in neuroscience and developmental psychology and have been created in close consultation with leading experts,” says Shireen, who is from Hyderabad.
Closing in on 40 and firm believers of ‘never follow the herd’, the duo are exploring ways in which technology can enable multi-sensory learning in young children.
Firm believers of ‘never follow the herd’, the duo are now exploring ways in which technology can enable multi-sensory learning in young children
Pulse Reader
For seven years Lipika Bhushan successfully headed the marketing team at HarperCollins India. But the entrepreneur in her craved her own identity.
In 2013, after she gave birth to her first baby, she decided to take the plunge. And MarketMyBook was born.
“I did not want to leave my child in the hands of maids; also I wanted to be associated with immensely creative people. Entrepreneurship allows me a lot more time to spend with my kids, while I also learn and acquire new marketing skills, polish my leadership qualities and upgrade my knowledge,” smiles the 40-year-old Delhi resident.
A professionally qualified Bharatnatyam dancer, Lipika believes that a lot of good books are not able to get the attention due to budgetary and print-run constraints.
In addition, there is a lot of pressure on executive time with the sheer number of new titles every publishing house needs to bring out to meet its targets.
This is the gap that MarketMyBook—which acts as a faceless assistant—bridges, thereby providing help to both publishers and writers.
Maybe the fact that she too has a creative bent of mind—she writes poetry in Urdu and Hindi—allows her to empathise with the need of a writer wanting to be read and noticed.
Continuing to explore new horizons in book marketing, the current times—she says—has taught her the importance of agility.
Ensuring wider publicity and visibility even in the absence of physical movement was a challenge but the lockdown helped her explore greater digital strengths.
Again the entrepreneur in her reared her head as she launched the YouTube channel—Between the Lines.
“We invite writers, poets and artists to share tips on their craft as well as allow readers to take a peek into their lives. It is our aim to provide a platform for writers to connect with readers,” she says.
With the goodwill she earned while at HarperCollins India, getting the first few projects was easy. But the challenge of publishers instilling faith in an outsider was always there and Lipika changed the challenge into her biggest strength.
“I was not a part of the usual framework and could think out of the box. Also, my initial training in branding made me rely heavily on consumer response and competitor study for decision-making. Having a finger on the pulse of the changing readership base and their reading preferences and studying how other industries are moving towards capturing their future consumers right away, allows us to think differently,” says Lipika, adding that her team stays ahead by being focused on what it needs to achieve for its partners.
Ensuring wider publicity and visibility even in the absence of physical movement in the present times was a challenge but she managed to explore greater digital strengths.