​The startup, Indic Inspirations has signed up with ISRO as their first official merchandiser to narrate India’s Space stories

​Indic Inspirations – A culture startup was born out of the need to represent India’s glorious heritage. It aspires to narrate stories of India’s culture, history, traditions, and scientific achievements through its Indic Inspired objects through collectibles, souvenirs, and gifts.

Founded by Sunil Jalihal and Padmaja Jalihal, Indic Inspirations endeavors to empower India’s artisans, heirloom makers, and local communities. Their work with 65+ crafts, and 400+ artisans around the country through Heart for Art Charitable Trust over the last 7 years gave the founders the understanding and the opportunity to create products that convey traditions yet built for modern utilities and sensitivitie

Creating collectibles, souvenirs, and gifts by interests, and a series of collections make these art objects unique. “India has over 3000 crafts, 10M+ artisans, and a meagre 2% of the world handicrafts market of $42B. Creating a new set of products that represent various facets of India was a crying need to help increase India’s soft power as well as increase artisanal incomes and help them get back their pride,” Sunil says. 

To promote artisans all across India, Indic Inspiration is improving their environment and ecosystem by giving them additional opportunities to increase their livelihood. “We work with artisans and give them designs and suggestions on new products. We help them prototype and manufacture the products and buy them at fair prices quoted by the artisans. We help improve their environment and ecosystem. Some parts of our profits are reserved for Artisan Welfare & Training and we are trying to find ways to create stock option pools for our artisans to share any wealth creation that happens,” Sunil adds.

Proud Merchandisers of ISRO

On a search to narrate stories of India’s Institutions of Eminence, Indic Inspirations is now the proud merchandiser of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Sunil shares, “We approached them to let us tell their stories through collectibles, memorabilia, and souvenirs. And we are proud to have signed up as ISRO’s First Registered Merchandiser as ISRO created a Merchandising program as a part of their Capacity Building Program Office.”

First Experience Centre in Pune

The startup has recently opened its first Experience Centre in Pune. The Indic Inspirations Experience Center is a Lounge Store + Space for Workshops and Talks. “India’s first ​art and culture ​“Phygital Store” – Scan & Pick, e-shopping to give a seamless experience between online and offline store purchases. Here, visitors can soak in the stories of India and its traditions, culture, heritage, and achievements through the videos, story cards, and Indic objects that represent them,” informs Sunil.

The Experience Centre aims to give artisans a platform to showcase their work in person. It provides complete authenticity and transparency that goes behind preparing the masterpieces and recognizing the true worth of these souvenirs by giving them the honour and shelf space they deserve.

Startup Goals

Indic Inspirations is building a brand that stands for innovation, creativity, and quality of Indian ‘Nostalgia & Pride’ products. A company that is known for excellent design, manufacturing, and deep distribution. The founders aim to build this brand for the audience that’s looking for interest-based and nostalgia products. The Indian diaspora around the world, visitors to India, and domestic tourists are their target market.

The startup in its first year of inception has also raised a seed round funding of INR 2 crores and is looking forward to a pre-series A funding round. Indic Inspiration’s angel investors include executives from Google-USA, Goldman Sachs-Singapore, Venture Finance Development Corporation, a Family Venture Fund, a Senior IT executive, and seasoned Architecture-Design and Automobile industry entrepreneurs from India.

Some of their unique offerings are:

1. STEM | Shunya Collection – Objects that tell the stories of 0, India’s biggest gift to mankind

2. VYOM | ISRO Collection – Objects that tell the story of India’s Space Program; Souvenirs of ISRO’s rockets, yaans, ground stations, landers, rovers, antennas, etc.

3. HOLISTIC LIVING | Yoga Tools – Meditation & Yoga Mats made from various natural fibres like Darbha Grass, Cotton, Water Hyacinth, Banana Fiber, etc.

4. STEM | 5 Elements – Objects that tell the story of Yoga & Ayurveda through idols of Patanjali, Charaka, Sculpted Brain Models, RX Cufflinks, and many more

5. VEDIC INDIA | Yantras & Mantras – Objects about Sacred Geometry, Yantras & Mantras

6. INDIA | The Republic – Objects are drawn from India’s Flag & Constitution, 75 Indic Inspirations in the 75th Year of Independence

7. 40+ more Collections for various interests of Geography, History, Science & Technology, Nature, Mountains, Culinary Tools, Textile Tools, etc.

The Indic Inspirations products range from anywhere between INR 250 and INR 15,000+.

www.indicinspiration

​About the Founders

Sunil Jalihal, Founder & CEO

Sunil is a technocrat, serial and social entrepreneur and has been a part of public, private, and social organizations. He has been a part of the IT sector for many years – working with CMC, Wipro, Siemens, and Hewlett Packard in technical and management positions before co-founding tech startups. He pioneered technology product startups eCapital Solutions, eVector & Mobimedia in the telecom and mobile software space starting in 1999 attracting venture funds from JP Morgan Chase, Intel Capital, and the Reuters Greenhouse Fund. He led startup teams that created products in the Mobile Value Added Services Platform, Mobile Ticketing, mWallet, and mHealth space.

Sunil has been involved in a number of social projects – pioneering in India, a framework with the Lake Development Authority of Karnataka for Residents Associations to Adopt & Maintain Lakes. He has authored a coffee table heritage book – Romancing the Chilli (2013, published by Rupa Publications) – highlighting India’s agricultural, cultural and culinary heritage around the Chilli. The book went on to win 3 awards at the World Gourmand Awards at the Louvre in Paris. Sunil wrote about and created the concept of Military Tourism in India (2008) and was called upon to lead the creation of Veer Yatra – Military Tourism (2016) by Maharashtra Ex-Serviceman Corporation (MESCO, a Govt. of Maharashtra Company) where he created the concept with 20+ military tourism packages. He has been part of the visiting faculty for an MBA course at Symbiosis International University – teaching Entrepreneurship & Case Studies in Technology Management.

He is a Founder Trustee of Heart for Art, a Public Charitable Trust that works on reviving the Art + Craft traditions of India and creates sustainable livelihoods for India’s artisans. He has been Advisor, Ecosystem partnerships at Yulu Bikes, a hi-tech, micro-mobility startup – helping Yulu expand its services into various Smart Cities in India.Padmaja Jalihal, Director

Padmaja Jalihal, Director

Padmaja is the founder of Heart for Art Trust. She spent many years in the financial services industry in Mumbai and Bengaluru. An MBA in Finance, she earlier worked with CRB Capital Markets and was part of the team at Sivan Securities that launched the initial Café Coffee Day outlets in Bengaluru. She has been involved in a number of social initiatives in Bengaluru and Pune in the areas of organic food, eco-friendly products, and waste management.

Padmaja loves the arts + crafts and has been a collector of artifacts from around India and the world

Beej, India’s first premium sustainable accessories brand was launched in January 2020 by Arundhati Kumar, a corporate professional for 18+ years.  “Leading the HR consulting practice in a consulting firm, I loved my job and that’s the only thing I knew how to do really,  there was this constant nagging thought that I would like to do something more that gives me the chance to create and build value. So I decided to take a pause till I could figure what I want to do”, says the dreamer Arundhati.

Foolishly Brave, that’s how I like to refer to myself, and this is my story.

During my consulting and coaching days, I learnt there are two kinds of people, one who see the world as is and one who see the world as it can be. I am the latter. My biggest strength and perhaps greatest weakness too, is that I am a dreamer. Not such a bad thing, when you are in a creative business.

A Conscious Consumer

For the past few years, I have been increasingly conscious as well as concerned about the ongoing climate crisis. I started to make small lifestyle shifts, we moved away from single-use plastics at home, I started using drip irrigation to water my balcony plants, became more conscious of my shopping habits and so on. Fashion has always been an area of interest, so I decided to merge the two. I started researching and reading up on sustainability as a whole as well as environmentally friendly alternatives to leather which became the genesis of Beej.  

Beej – Making sustainability a mainstream fashion

Beej was born out of a single belief, that style and sustainability can and must co-exist. As a brand it’s our vision to make sustainability a mainstream fashion choice. Most of our materials are plant-based leather alternatives sourced from various parts of the globe. Currently we are working with Cork, Pinatex made from pineapple leaves, and Desserto which is a leather alternative made from cactus pulp and sourced from Mexico. We chose our materials for their low environmental impact and well as their versatility to be designed into gorgeous accessories.

At Beej the design approach is simple – it’s about keeping it true to the brand philosophy, of being conscious and mindful about everything we do. So far our designs have been trend agnostic because that’s the kind of shopping habit I’d like the buyers to have. Buy what you like, because it’s functional as well as aesthetic and use it for a long time, because that’s the best way to be sustainable.

Our designs are low on elements that don’t lend themselves to sustainability, for example we use very little hardware, no metal charms etc.. It’s more about the silhouettes, the workmanship and the material, because to us that is the hero.

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For us it’s about assessing and reducing impact at every step –  There can be no product with zero impact but what you can do is minimize impact at each stage – and that’s what we try and do across all processes from sourcing, to design, and finally packaging.

“We are proud to say that we are the first Indian start-up to design accessories where every element is sustainable, including our packaging which is  zero plastic and zero-waste”, adds the enthusiastic founder.

Every part of our product is sustainable in some form and we show it to our consumers through a transparent supply chain, so our consumers know exactly what’s gone into their products. Our lining fabrics are made from consumer recycled yarn and the zippers used are recycled PET. We pay a lot of importance to certifications and suppliers as that helps us maintain a sustainable supply chain. Our products are made to order and that helps us minimize waste

The journey so far

I started Beej at a time when my personal life was also at crossroads and many friends and well-wishers advised me against it, but that’s the thing, it’s never a good time to start. Once I decided to start, things slowly just fell into place. Very early on in our journey, Beej got incubated by an incubation centre supported by Niti Aayog that gave us access to a whole start-up eco system. We also became part of an UNDP program that selects women run start-ups to make them investor ready.

COVID has just made it so much harder. Businesses are struggling and for young independent bootstrapped brands like us, who are operating within niche segments, it’s been a nightmare. Business is not easy, but then starting up never is. I remember one evening when I was having a break down, I called up my ex-boss who is also my mentor and he said something so wise, “Businesses are built by perseverance and resilience, never by luck or brilliance. It’s a back breaking and nerve testing endeavour. The romance of business is when someone writes the biography years later” and that’s so true.

Goal and Vision

website www.studiobeej.com and our Instagram handle studiobeej 

ipanelKlean  – An automatic and waterless Solar Panel cleaning system

Suchin Jain, an IIT, Delhi and IIM, Ahmedabad alumni, and an ex-navy officer, took a dive into the sea of startups in the year 2014. Having spent his life in the Naval services, he did find entrepreneurship a lot different but that didn’t deter him from taking the plunge.  his passion of developing technological innovations.

The bootstrapped startup, Inoviea based in Noida, UP, started initially as a consulting company.  However, Suchin’s passion for innovation and his engineering mind continuously worked on innovating new technologies that could solve some nagging problems. In the year 2015, Suchin decided to focus on developing niche and indigenous solutions in solar and since then he claims to have grown 100 percent year-on-year for the last five years and is maintaining a turnover of Rs 1-1.2 crore every year. 

India’s first E-boat developed by Inoviea

Soon, Inoviea developed the first E-boat of the Country which was launched by honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 01 May 2016.  It was a diesel powered boat being converted to a solar charged Electric-boat within a span of just eight days, to reduce water pollution on Assi Ghat in river Ganga at Varanasi.  He also developed a  Touchless Intelligent Disinfection Gate to fight Covid-19. The startup also won $500 from a Facebook competition, and was also incubated at Nexus, a collaboration between the American Embassy, New Delhi, and ACIR to support entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology in America and India.  

ipanelKlean, an automatic and waterless solar panel cleaning system

Inoviea’s latest innovation is ipanelKlean, an automatic and waterless solar panel cleaning system. “This state-of-the-art patented engineering solution doubles the benefits of investment in rooftop solar power plants. It increases power generation anywhere from 30% to 100% and reduction in payback period by upto 40%”. The automatic cleaning solution helps save one billion litres of water per GW (gigawatt) annually. This solution can also save 1,700 tonnes of CO2 per GW every day”, says Suchin.

Today, most solar power plants are performing way below their installed capacities due to many reasons such as dust deposition, degradation of solar panels, their structures and rooftop structures.  Due to constant use of water for cleaning, use of brush causes aberrations on panel surfaces that decreases their yield year on year. Moreover, it’s difficult to clean solar panels which are installed on high-rise roofs. It also poses life-risks to cleaning manpower due to possibilities of electrocution from high-voltage DC and falling from roof-tops.

 “We are using a combined system of slippery coating and compressed air to keep the solar panels clean from dust. The entire process is done without water or human interventions automatically, and that too multiple times in a day. The solution can be installed in both existing and new solar panels. The coating over the panels does not allow dust to stick to the panels, and the air compressors installed across the solar panel helps in blowing away the dust”, he adds.

Accolades and Awards

The technology has won numerous accolades and awards. Named among top 5 technologies making India green during World IP (Full form of IP) day event. Green listed with Gomassive.in and Amplus solar. Selected by Capitaland Sustainability X Challenge, Singapore among top 10 technologies among 270 participants from 30 countries. Selected by Ministry of Science & technology and Ministry of Electronics for BIG-17 grant and international patent grant. Shortlisted by a leading government solar panel manufacturer as Technology partner. The startup is presently incubated at Nexus, the startup hub of US govt at American Embassy New Delhi.

Future Plans

The company is currently looking to raise its Seed round of funding, aimed at setting up its own manufacturing unit to ramp up its production and capture the entire Indian market. Apart from this, the company is also looking to foster joint ventures abroad by licensing the technology.

As a Naval Architect, Suchin was primarily a warship designer, who undertook structural design analysis of indigenous aircraft carrier ‘Vikrant’, been part of modernization of INS Vikramaditya, undertaken design, construction and repair of numerous other naval warships and submarine projects during 26 years’ of his career in Indian Navy that positioned him in Technical leadership role. 

“Transition from a whole life defense guy to an entrepreneur was not easy. Economic scenario, market changes, global slowdown and later corona shown me roller-coaster of the startup world that led me to focus on collaborative work culture and eventually convert my office into a vibrant Co-working space focused on innovation. My startup journey has been helping me find my mojo” adds Jain.

23:23 Designs & Sourcing is a young social enterprise, established in 2018, by a husband & wife duo to help the people and the planet. It is a creative and sustainable collection of traditional and contemporary crafts and all that which has evolved through the generations. The use of up-cycled, handmade and vintage materials is the foundation of their designs. They partner with a careful selection of organizations and directly with artisans to ensure that all artisans are fairly paid and treated.

A bootstrapped enterprise, the duo have managed to create a niche for themselves among the various stakeholders due to their hard work, ethical & transparent practices and professionalism.  Within a span of just two years, the journey of the brand towards its mission of bringing a change by connecting people to products & the planet for a greater good has had considerable milestones. 

THE MISSION: “PEOPLE | PLANET | PARTNERSHIPS”

The mission of the company is to provide a means of livelihood to the marginalized section of society and protect the environment.  To accomplish the same, they skill them in creating sustainable lifestyle products and help sell their products   Creating a beautiful partnership between the people and the planet to survive and thrive is the mantra they swear by.

23:23 Designs works in the social development sector with other NGOs, SHGs (Self-help groups),  trusts & societies, clusters & social enterprises and supports market linkages, product development & diversification, project management, skill development & capacity building, retail management, business development, education & training.

The year 2021 saw the launch of their online marketplace, a one-stop shop for everything sustainable, handcrafted and made ethically. The platform extensively promotes social enterprises, young startups and women-led organizations.

“Working as aggregators and facilitating market linkages, 23:23 Designs currently supports and Impacts 4000+ beneficiaries Pan India. We broadly cover products like recycled paper, sustainable stationery, handloom textiles, natural grass basketry, organic food, skincare and much more. And the crafts we are bringing to the fore are, terracotta & ceramics, woodwork, handknitting, hand crochet & macrame, upcycled & sustainable solutions, etc” says Himanshu Pal, Co-founder 23:23 Designs.

“We are also working with renowned International & national Brands such as Anthropologie, TOAST, Nicobar, Iconic Fashions, Reliance Swadesh, and promoting Traditional Indian Craft on the World Map. For our customers, aesthetics with sustainable solutions is the core value of our products”, adds Himanshu.

THE VISION

A world where every citizen can live a safe, secure, and fulfilling life, in harmony with nature.

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STORYTELLING

The brand believes the people, skills and heritage behind each product are just as beautiful as the product itself. These stories deserve to be told and revisited. With every product, we bring together a little bit of history that was lost somewhere in time. Each of our products beholds a story waiting to be told and we endeavour to be as transparent as possible in the storytelling part.

AND THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME 23:23

There are many social enterprises in India now, doing good and making an impact, we are one amongst them….But people do remember us, not just for the good we are doing but also for our Unique name….and as mentioned before, we are storytellers too…and this story is our favourite one….

23:23(Twenty Three: Twenty Three), is based on the concept of Synchronicity.

Synchronicity is a concept, which holds that events are “meaningful coincidences, they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related. The Founders of 23:23 Designs saw double digits in timepieces, vehicles number plates, and many more “Meaningful Coincidences”. Synchronicity led us to, getting conscious of little occurrences as signs of being on the right path for a greater good.  The universe winks and nods at you from time to time, to let you know that you are treading on the path of doing good. Once you start noticing these little cosmic cairns, once you understand that you’re on a path at all, you’ll begin to see them everywhere. We believe that our unconscious yearning to give back to the community and planet led us to a conscious effort of starting 23:23 Designs & Sourcing.

Visit the website for more designs: https://2323designs.in