Showcases journey of disruptive innovators who are taking bold bets to change the world
February 17, 2022, Mumbai: Marico Innovation Foundation(MIF), India’s most coveted platform for Indian innovators, organised the first of its kind meetto share the inspiring journey of disruptive Indian Innovators. The event focused on the strides that innovations have made under their flagship “Scale-Up program”.With access to seasoned mentors and industry leaders, innovators who have been a part of the program have not only seen positive impact on their business in the form of healthy revenue growth, geographic and strategic expansion but also by ensuring operational efficiencies while optimizing their business for profitability. Since the program’s inception, MIF has helped several organisations scale – for instance, after MIF’s intervention S4S Technologies achieved an increase in manufacturing capacity by 10x and Atomberg Technologies forayed into an entirely new revenue stream through their ecommerce presence that now makes up almost 60% of their sales. These are just a few of many examples of the success that innovators within the Scale-Up program have been able to achieve while solving for bottlenecks in their growth.
The session on insights within the “Scale-Up program” was inaugurated by Mr. Harsh Mariwala, Founder & Chairman of Marico Ltd. wherein he shared his vision for Marico Innovation Foundation and his passion for innovation. He also shared what drove him to create the catalytic ScaleUpprogram that departed learnings from business leaders and industry veterans to innovators easily and practically in order to guide their journey towards growth.
Ms. Priya Kapadia, Head of Marico Innovation Foundation who was also present at the virtual meet went on to share the details of the journey MIF has undertaken with a view of making a difference to innovations through this program over the last 6 years and the way forward for the foundation.
Journey over the last 5 years:
*Soonicorns: Organizations that have achieved annual revenues of INR 100+ CR and/or have scaled 10x+ with MIF.
The session covered how scalability is the biggest challenge for innovators today and how MIF’s ScaleUp program has helped carve a roadmap for entrepreneurs to transform their business and reach staggering heights. This was shared through an insightful fireside chat among 3 innovators who have been a part of MIF’s “Scale-Up Program”
The co-founders of the following disruptive organizations were part of this session:
The entrepreneurs talked about how being a part of the “Scale-Up program” accelerated their growth journey through the instrumental support and mentorship and practical guidance provided through the program. The entrepreneurs also threw light upon the various hurdles they faced during their odysseys of innovation and how they overcame every challenge.
Spokespeople Perspectives:
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Harsh Mariwala, Founder, Marico Innovation Foundation& Chairman, Marico, said, “With the pace of growth that we are seeing in our country and the sheer volume of ideas, I think it’s important now more than ever for innovators to have access to an ecosystem that not only nurtures the bright ideas but one that enables the idea’s journey towards creating meaningful impact.
Mr Mariwala further adds “Because of the dynamic nature of business today and ever-changing market realities, innovation is and will remain the lifeblood of any business. It is this belief which is at the root of Marico Innovation Foundation and the reason for the efforts we continuously undertake to ensure that innovators get all the help and support they need to succeed.”
Ms. Priya Kapadia, Head, Marico Innovation Foundation added, “The idea behind coming together today was to not only share the success that innovators at MIF have had under the Scale-Up program, but to also create an environment of open and free dialogue between entrepreneurs that can shed light on their challenges and how the right support is pivotal to their growth.”
Ms. Kapadia went on to elaborate upon the objective of the Scale-Up Program, “Our goal for the Scale-Up Program is to be the support system of innovators and enable them through their journey.”
Mr. Sibabrata Das, Co-Founder, Atomberg Technologies added, “Our journey with Marico Innovation Foundation has been a profound one. It was their intervention that enabled us to find the right gap in the market and even launch our digital/ecommerce presence. It was their ability to provide access to industry veterans that became our strategic guiding force and our time with functional experts that helped us refine our operations to maximise profits.”
Mr. Shantanu Pathak, Co-Founder, CareMothe rsaid, “Marico Innovation Foundation has always believed in working together as a team. They have guided us through every major challenge that we have encountered in our journey, be it enhancing quality, improving processes in the factoryor eliminating redundant practices. They have given us the critical access to functional and industry experts and mentors to provide valuable insights and direction to our young venture ensuring we stand out from the crowd with our offerings and add value to our customers lives”
Mr. Kaushik K, Co-Founder, Kheyti went on to add, “We are delighted to be a part of Marico Innovation Foundation’s scale-up program. They have not only helped us overcome the business challenges through well experienced set of mentors but also worked with us as a part of our team to ensure growth and scalability of our organization.”
About Marico Innovation Foundation:
With an aim to nurture and propel innovations, Mr. Harsh Mariwala founded the Marico Innovation Foundation (MIF) in 2003 as a not-for-profit arm of the parent company Marico Limited. The Scale-Up Program (started in 2016) is a 360-degree sector agnostic, no-equity, rapid acceleration program, that provides personalized and customized deep-rooted mentorship (non-cohort based) to help innovative organizations scale their social, economic and/or environmental impact.
