TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards - Parichay - Vikas Sharma

Parichay | 2008

Vikas Sharma | Jamshedpur | Handicraft - Social Venture
Nominated on Oct 11 2008 11:03AM | by

Parichay - Snapshot

Reviving local artforms and crafts for a profitable cause

Business Basics

Company Name	Parichay
Founded in	2008
Headquartered in	Jamshedpur
Company website/URL	www.parichay.co.in
Industry	Handicraft - Social Venture
Stage of the company	Have prototype
Source of idea	Discovered by chance
Awards & honors	* Nominated for the Manthan Awards South Asia 2008 * 1st Social Venture funded by XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust * Felicitated...> Read more..
Awards & honors	* Nominated for the Manthan Awards South Asia 2008 * 1st Social Venture funded by XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust * Felicitated by NABARD, 2008 * Appreciated by Press (print and visual media) for the contribution to society & field of art * Founder Vikas Sharma appreciated and awarded 4th Best Management Student award at 16th Business School Affaire and Dewang Mehta Foundation Awards for the initiative. < Back
Partnerships & Tie-ups	Current Partnerships: * NGOs: Kalamandir, SJVK, SEEDS * XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust Partnerships/Tie-ups in the pipe...> Read more..
Partnerships & Tie-ups	Current Partnerships: * NGOs: Kalamandir, SJVK, SEEDS * XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust Partnerships/Tie-ups in the pipeline * Design Schools: NIFT, NID, Pearl Academy * Interior Design Malls: Ishanya (Pune) * Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts * Retails Giants: Home D�cor < Back

Business description

Parichay is for-profit-social-venture reviving/promoting artforms/crafts that are nearly extinct due to lack of innovation and market-interface. We provide a more sustainable, non-migratory livelihood to our rural/tribal artisans. Parichay involves modern-professional designers to produce contemporary high utility products that address customer needs and...> Read more..

The USP is the Fusion Art where various art forms are fused together to make a perfect blend and give a high perceived value product. To implement our plans we have established our Design and Learning Center at Jamshedpur (housing six craft studios, Sales outlet and accommodation) which is first-of-its-king in Jharkhand.

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How does the business make money?

Our income source is the sale of Parichay Designed and partner NGOs/organizations products to:

* Interior Designers

* Corporate

* Modern retail stores

* Retail customers

* Industrial: Steel Industry, Army, Railways, Real estate companies

Specialist Sales Channel:

* Designers: Our established designers recommend products to their existing customers to get orders for customized products for snob value customers

* Interior Design Malls: to demonstrate/sell our products

* Personal Networking of partners and associates (B2B - Corporate sales)

Retail Channel:

* Online Sales at http://www.parichay.co.in

* Modern Retail Outlets (State and private)

Team information

Vikas Sharma: Co-founder & Partner, Engineer, Electronics & Teecommunication, NSIT, Delhi (2001-05), Cleared CFA Level 1, Work Ex of 2 Yrs in Telecom Infrastructure Business Development in South Asia, MBA in Marketing and Finance, XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Siddharth Shah: Co-founder & Partner, Engineer - Information and Communication Technology, DAIICT, Gujarat, Work ex - Gandhi Vidyapeeth, The Byrraju Foundation

Vivek Jain: Member, Engineer - Production, IIT Roorkee

Kaushal Chandak: Member, Engineer - Mechanical, IIT-B, Work ex - 3 yrs Consulting across sectors

Chintan Agarwal: Member, Engineer - Information and Communication Technology, DAIICT, Gujarat

Our Advisory board is about to be formalized with the following members:

Corporate Relations: Bushen Raina, CEO, Tata Tinplates

Rana Sinha: MD, Tata Telcon

Finance: Mr. Shashidhar, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Jharkhand State

Production and NGO Relations: Mr. Amitava Ghosh, Secretary, Kalamandir (leading NGO in handicraft initiatives)

Sales and Marketing: Mr. Ronald D'Costa (Ex HUL Sales & Marketing)

Press: Prof. Madhukar Shukla, Alumni Co-ordinator, XLRI

Govt. Linkages: Fr. Abraham, Director, XLRI

Designers: Atul Johri

Competition

Competitors	Potential & Indirect competitors: Synthetic product producers Current & Direct competitors: NGOs, Fabindia, Khadi Gram Udyog, The art circle, various non branded products in the modern retail stores Competitors in similar products: Ply-Boo Industries, Behrampur; Timpack Pvt. Ltd., Byrnihat; Kerala State Bamboo Corporation Ltd., Angamaly
How different is your product or service? It has...	Substitutes that differ in price or value
In what way is your product or service different?	1. Reviving/promoting extinct/near extinct art forms which is a unique service to the national heritage and field of art. 2. Fusion Art: Pa...> Read more..
In what way is your product or service different?	1. Reviving/promoting extinct/near extinct art forms which is a unique service to the national heritage and field of art. 2. Fusion Art: Parichay is working with professional/modern designers to produce prototypes which are a fusion of multiple art forms. The art forms are fused to make a perfect blend with each other and give a very high perceived value to the product. 3. The Design and Learning Center (DLC): To produce fusion art, we have established our DLC in Jamshedpur in about half an acre of area. It's the first-of-its-kind in Jharkhand with 6 art form studios (Dokra, Terracotta, Pyatkar, Bamboo Craft, Handloom and Grass mat) along with a Sales and Display store available at one place. The DLC would enable the designers to: * Train rural/tribal artisans * Work with different art forms at one place 4. Going the Eco-Friendly way: We are developing an eco friendly line of utility products to replace products made from plastic and non-biodegradable material. Working for profits with artisans as key partners, Parichay is a 'For-Profit-Social Venture'. < Back

By The Numbers

	2006	2007
No. of employees	Did not exist	6-15
No. of locations	Did not exist	2-5
No. of customers	Did not exist	0-1
Turnover	Did not exist	pre revenue
Profits	Did not exist	preprofit

Primary source of initial funding	Personal savings
Primary source of additional funding	Angel investors
Raised institutional capital?	No

Why is this startup hot?

* It was incubated and is being run by regular MBA students along with their studies at XLRI, which is challenge in itself.

* Working at the grass root level in the social sector to construct a sustainable and profitable model for uplifting the poor rural/tribal artisans.

* Integrating modern designers and enabling a movement of change in...> Read more..

* It was incubated and is being run by regular MBA students along with their studies at XLRI, which is challenge in itself.

* Working at the grass root level in the social sector to construct a sustainable and profitable model for uplifting the poor rural/tribal artisans.

* Integrating modern designers and enabling a movement of change in the villages and hence creating a revolution in the Indian handicraft sector

* Innovating production processes (ancient craft practices, still maintaining the sanctity of the craft forms) to reduce artisans effort and increase quality & efficiency

* Launching a completely unique and innovative range of products based on the ancient craft forms

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What keeps the team awake at night?

The drive to enable the rural artisans and craftsmen to:

* Sleep with peace and pride

* Obtain their due share of profits

* Work in the best infrastructure

* Live with their family in their villages

* Promote the Indian art and craft across the globe

Entrepreneur's Details
Name		Vikas Sharma
Age		26
Hometown		Delhi
Family background		First gen entrepreneur
More than 1 company?		No
Education		Masters
Graduated from		XLRI
Former employer		UTStarcom Inc.
Former designation		Business Developer
Area of responsibility		Product Business Development - South Asia Region
Favorite book/movie		How to change the world

Voting Closed

Experts Comments

View experts' panel

“The philosophy of the business model is laudable and the team members and institutional support are good.....” > Read more..

The philosophy of the business model is laudable and the team members and institutional support are good.There are a large number of NGOs trying to do similar ventures.

Hence, success will depend on establishing the brand image. It is better to focus on a limited number of product categories and build high recognition of innovative designs and features.

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“A noble idea drives this for-profit social venture.......” > Read more..

A noble idea drives this for-profit social venture. To take this ahead as a business, one hopes to see someone with retail experience in a key position on the team, either someone who has been a buyer, and understands exactly what the customers are looking for, or someone who has sold into the retail chain, preferably the same genre of products.

There are many challenges to overcome before making this business work, but a good starting point is to clearly identify the most appropriate sales channel, and develop relationships, and get a few orders.

Designs will of course originate from Parichay, and these designs will help fuel the imagination of the buyers. But without a clearly market-driven strategy, it will be difficult to move beyond the initial stages.

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