Six women-led startups have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge coordinated by MyGov in a joint effort with UN Women. With a target to empower and include women-led startups to think of innovative solutions that can help in the battle against COVID19 or tackle issues that impact a large number of women, MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, under its EU financed WeEmpowerAsia program launched the COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge on April 13, 2020.
This was an interesting challenge facilitated on the Innovative platform of MyGov that called for applications from Women-led startups just as startups that have solutions to address issues faced by a larger number of women. The challenge was implemented in two phases – The ideation stage and the Proof of Concept (PoC) Stage. After a thorough screening, 25 startups were shortlisted for presentations to the Jury which included Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer (CTO) Microsoft India, Dr. R. Ramanan, MD Atal Innovation Mission, Nishtha Satyam, appointee nation agent, UN Women India, and Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov.
All 25 selected startups introduced their solutions for the Jury which assessed the solutions proposed by the startups on the parameters that included innovation, usability, relevance, significance, and effect of their thought on the general public and after thorough review 11 finalists were chosen for the next stage. All the 11 selected startups were provided prize money of Rs 75,000 each to further develop their ideas.
After giving time to the 11 startups to develop the solutions, the final presentations were again presented to the jury on Oct 27. The quality of the solutions presented was excellent and the jury had a tough time evaluating them. After intense discussions and deliberations, the jury selected the top three entries as winners, and in view of the high quality of solutions presented decided to recognize three additional entries as ‘Promising Solutions’, MyGov said in a press release. In addition to the previously declared award of Rs 5 lakh for the top three winners, UN Women has consented to reward Rs 2 lakh each to the three startups chosen for their promising solutions.
Top 3 Winners of Shri Shakti Challenge
Dr. P Gayatri Hela (Reseda Life Sciences Private Limited)
Dr P. Gayatri Hela is the founder of Bengaluru-based Reseda Lifesciences Private Limited that plans and creates home and agricultural-based products utilizing plant extracts rather than manufactured synthetic substances. According to Gayatri, germs and other microorganisms/infections become resistant to synthetic substances over time, while nature consistently has a method of retaliating against these life forms. For the Shri Shakti Challenge, Gayatri submitted her innovative product which is a non-alcoholic hand sanitizer that is significant for COVID-19 as well as for different contaminations. She got this idea in 2017 when she was battling the SARS pandemic with her one-year-old little girl.
Romita Ghosh (IHeal Healthtech Private Limited)
IHeal Healthtech Private Limited was incorporated on January 29, 2018. The company is a wholesaler of N95 masks, KN95 masks, and 3PLY Masks since 2018 in Delhi. The startup has been at the bleeding edge of the battle against COVID and has been giving PPE kits to hospitals. Romita has additionally assembled a Made in India UV sterilization box for safe reuse of PPEs and masks that can help diminish costs for hospitals and other service providers.
Dr. Anjana Ramkumar and Dr. Anushka Ashokan ( Thanmatra Innovations Pvt Ltd)
Kerala based startup, Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited was incorporated on July 3, 2018. Dr. Anjana Ramkumar and Dr. Anushka Ashokan the product manager and co-founder of Kerala-based Thanmatra Innovations Pvt Ltd and they have come up with the innovative solutions of an antimicrobial solution that could be sprayed into handkerchief or dupattas for making them safe to be utilized as face masks. This also made it easier to protect kids. Their development is basic and adaptable and can help convert any bit of fabric to an antiviral mask within minutes by a simple process of spraying and drying with their unique formulation.
Top 3 Startups Selected for Promising Solutions
Shivi Kapil (Empathy Design Labs)
Empathy Design Labs was founded by Shivi Kapil in Bangalore in 2017. Empathy Design Labs gives solutions for pregnant ladies, family planning, and the old. KRIYA, their flagship product, is a wearable IOT (Internet of Things) gadget set on an expecting mother’s belly to screen the pregnancy information and give data, alarms, and further suggestions on a mobile app.
Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar (Stream Minds)
Stream Minds was founded by a mother-daughter duo Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar. The idea of STREAM Minds is the first-of-its-kind welcome innovation to advance STREAM-Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Arts, and Mathematics education in India. The group at STREAM Minds includes a group of professionals from the field of Robotics and traditional education with a cumulative experience of around 20 years in India and Dubai.
Vasanthi Palanivel (Seragen BioTherapeutics Private Limited)
Vasanthi Palanivel, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Pvt Ltd. As a researcher and scientist, she considered the indications and effects of the infection and understood that the lungs were one of the most exceedingly awful contaminated organs in COVID and she has built up a plasma answer for treat respiratory trouble because of COVID-19.
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