On a warm
afternoon in Pilani a few weeks back, the Mobile
Medics team erupted in shouts as they were
declared winners of Conquest 2005, the annual
national business plan competition held by the
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at BITS
Pilani. The Mobile Medics team consisted of second
and third year students including Sriram Gutta,
Kavikrut, Srikanth P, Amit Mirchandani and M
Rajashekhar who edged out strong competition from
other business plans from around the country that
included innovative ideas including Corporate Event
organizers, Herbal medicines, RFID technologies,
Tsunami relief and educational establishments.
Mobile Medics was a
clear winner with a unique and commercially viable
value proposition. The students visited Jhunjhunu
district and spoke to many villagers, panchayat and
doctors. Reminiscent of some of the thoughts in “The
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” written by CK
Prahalad, the students proved that there is the
potential for profitable ventures in the realm of
providing healthcare to the relatively affluent
villagers in India.
Opportunity
Sriram Gutta, CEO of
Mobile Medics says “when I read that 41% of the so
called doctors in rural areas don’t even have
medical degrees, I knew there was clearly an
opportunity.” Anupendra Sharma, mentor of Mobile
Medics and a BITS Pilani alum added “The Mobile
Medics team clearly represents one of the most
distinguishing features of the Center for
Entrepreneurial Leadership. Many ideas coming out
of CEL are focused on leveraging innovation to
benefit the lives of India’s rural population.”
Innovation
The business plan
contemplates delivering high quality, mobile medical
care to villagers who can afford an expenditure of
Rs 365 per year. The innovative thinking in the plan
includes the use of grassroots marketing, mobile
doctors and inexpensive hand-held communication and
processing technologies to provide medical care, and
enables quick setup operations. The students are
seeking Rs 50 lakhs in equity and debt to launch a
pilot that would cover Jhunjhunu district with a
project payback period of three years.
Conquest at the Center for Entrepreneurial
Leadership
Conquest,
in only its second year, is becoming one of India’s top entrepreneurship
competitions. Unlike most
business plan competitions, Conquest gives finalists the
opportunity to refine their business plans by working with mentors
located around the world who are seasoned entrepreneurs and managers.
The mentors for this year’s competition included BITS Pilani alums
located in New York, San Francisco, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These
mentors have raised Venture Capital financing, founded and sold
companies, and hold educational qualifications from MIT, Cornell,
Kellogg and Stanford. With
backgrounds in IT, Semiconductors, Wall Street and Pharmaceuticals,
students receive outstanding mentorship and feedback and are then able
to refine their business plans appropriately.
The grueling
two-days include presentations to judges, venture capitalists, buzzer
rounds and problem solving. Victory was not determined by any single
event or presentation. Conquest is a test of teamwork,
preparation and the ability to think on one’s feet. Judges included
Anita Sakuru, Founder of Ken People, an IT Consulting firm and Jai Gupta
of Shaadi Online, an event management company. Vivek Pandita, a venture
capitalist from Boston was also present.
The Center
for Entrepreneurial Leadership is one of India’s top five
entrepreneurship centers. It
was started in 2003 and is one of the five founding schools for the
National Entrepreneurship Network created by the Wadhwani Foundation.
