Five months ago, Huda Nooreen, Tanisha Mantry and Neha G weren’t sure what an ‘elevator pitch’ was. But today,the three students from Telangana, all aged between 18 and 20, call themselves ‘We Alphas’. They pepper their speech with startup jargon such as pitch deck, target market, incubation, bootstrapping, etc. The girls had topped WE ALPHA, an eight-week entrepreneurial mentorship programme, launched for the first time by the Hyderabad-based state-run WE HUB (short for Women Entrepreneurs Hub) platform.
They, along with project partners, have created prototypes of devices and procedures that could have a significant low-cost impact on health and sustainability. Nooren’s smart mask, which she has named Swachh Vaayu, is a mask with a miniature exhaust fan for patients with respiratory problems.
Neha’s big idea is a detachable heart rate monitoring device. Mantry has conceived Kusuma,
a concept to convert floral waste into natural dyes. “Trading eight weeks of Saturday evening cafe outings for the entrepreneur programme prepared us for the big, bad business world,” the innovators chime in together.
The programme, which ended last month, shortlisted 12 teams of two-three members each, from over 100 colleges. The chosen business ideas will be going for funding in 2023, as soon as the students graduate. The candidates were trained in entrepreneurship, critical and design thinking and creating a business plan. Nooren and her partners Jashnavi Ramancha and Sana Tabbassum, all 19-year-old first-year engineering students, believe in Swachh Vayu. “We inserted a miniature one-inch long exhaust fan in the mask, between the layers. The mask is 10 gm heavier than a surgical one and uses a rechargeable battery. It has three speeds,” says Nooren, adding that the exhaust, which filters out fine dust, will ensure polluting particulate matter doesn’t enter the nose. There is a plan to introduce a fragrance in the exhaust fan of the prototype which costs `1,300.
Neha and her teammates Ankita Jakhotia, both 19, are sure their device is the future of cardiac care. Unlike current machines on the market that must be attached to the skin, Smar-Tee can be worn over clothes, feels non-intrusive and can still do the job. Jakhotia’s uncle died last year from myocardial infarction; monitoring his heartbeat could have saved his life. “If only he had a simple wearable device, he could have been saved. This thought inspired the product,” reveals Neha.
A resource person from WE HUB gave them technical help and aided their design thinking. While the design details are under wraps,all they can say is the prototype costs `6,000. Health and sustainability go hand in hand.The 20-year-old creators of Project Kusuma, Tanisha Mantry and classmate Gayatri Panchagnula, are B.Sc Biotechnology students. “I love flowers and it pains me to see how wedding halls and temples dump them in garbage bins.
Flower sellers say 30 percent of their daily sales goes to waste. It made me think of reusing and recycling flowers for sustainable fashion,” she says. The project converts flowers into natural dyes that can be used for bags, upholstery and cushion covers. The girls went around the city, picking up about 50 kg of wilted flowers last summer from florists. They created six colours using different flowers in specific quantities. The cushion covers printed with eco-printing tie-dye and emulsion methods cost `60 per piece.
The girls can’t wait to finish their current courses and take the entrepreneurship plunge in 2023, soon after their exams are over. Of course with a little help from WE HUB. Impatience has its rewards.