Innovative start-ups by MBA graduates from top B-Schools

Aneeket Barua | Shiksha.com

Once upon a time, there existed a word ‘Innovate’, most commonly known to the educated class as ‘Innovation’. The Wikipedia meaning of the word innovate is “make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.”

Because of this word, the world got mobile (innovated from telephone), laptop (innovated from computer/ desktop), and in fact, many business opportunities came into picture because of this. Some of them are Amazon, Apple, ibibo.com, Naukri.com, Flipkart.com, Snapdeal.com etc.

However, most management graduates are using their MBA or PGDM as a ticket to enter the corporate world with a high profile job and a fat salary package, forgetting that they too can be the next Steve Jobs or Jeffrey Preston or Sanjeev Bhickchandani or Sachin Bansal.

Still, there exist a handful of MBA graduates who believe in innovation, who decided to leave the comfort of a cabin, forget about the brand name and chase their ideas. Below are some innovative business start-ups by MBA graduates:

1. Taxisforsure

Just like most start-ups, this idea too came up over a problem – Where to book a cab? Taxiforsure is a one-of-its-kind online platform to rent taxis, founded by two IIM-Ahmedabad alumni, Radhakrishna and Raghunandan G, Taxiforsure.  

The service was launched in the year 2011, partnering with nearly 25 cab operators in Bangalore and nearly 15 in Delhi, including branded operators such as Mega Cabs and Cell Cabs. After claiming operational profitability in Bangalore, the company has done branding on about 550 cabs being run by small local operators.

Starting out in a small roof top bungalow in June 2011, the company has spread its operations in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi with successfully achieving over two lakh happy customers.

2. Velvette/ fabbag.com

Ever thought of getting a bag of your favourite cosmetics every month by just paying an amount as low as Rs 599 per month?  A bag full of surprises! Welcome to fabbag.com, a subscription based ecommerce website that sends its subscribers samples of beauty products every month, thus giving them a chance to try the best brands at a reasonable price (In case you like any product, you can purchase its standard size from the website).

Fabbag.com (initially started as velvette) was founded in June 2012 by two IIM Ahmedabad alumni, Kaushik Mukherjee and Vineeta Singh. The website became operational the very next month and started shipping products from September.

With brands like Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, Lancome, Sally Hansen, Burt’s Bees, Clinique, and Dior, fabbag subscribers are entitled to a bag with three or sometimes four branded items which comprises a skincare product, a beauty product and a fragrance/bath product. And If the subscriber wishes to opt for a longer subscription (half-yearly, yearly), this price is reduced even further.

With a fan base of over 1lakh on facebook and 2000+ on twitter, fabbag has made a mark in the ecommerce sector.

3. Credihealth.com

Now finding the best doctor and a good hospital in your city is easy. Thanks to Credihealth.com. With a purpose of providing reliable and transparent information on Indian healthcare providers, credihealth.com was started in January 2014 by Ravi Virmani, an MBA from XLRI.

Starting its operations in Delhi with 55 hospitals and diagnostic centres, including top names such as Max, Apollo, Fortis, Ganga Ram and nearly 500 doctors on the portal, the website has 50,000 unique visitors so far.

An added benefit to the patients is that, a patient registering through credihealth.com for hospital visit might get 10-15% off on their OPD charges.

With headquarters in Gurgaon, Credihealth plans to expand operations to Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh soon.

4. Samridhii

Ever thought of selling vegetables after receiving a management degree? Well, now you can give it a second thought because Kaushlendra Kumar, an IIM- Ahmedabad topper who is famously known as MBA sabziwala is not only making a livelihood for himself but has also touched the lives of nearly 6,000 farmer families in Bihar.

It all began in 2008, when Knids Green Pvt. Ltd. was founded and a unique way of selling vegetables in a customised ice cooled and branded push cart was introduced under the brand name of Samriddhii.

With a goal to create gainful and self- employment opportunities for families solely dependent on agricultural sector, Samridhii or should we say Knids Green, is surely one of the rarest and unique business ventures in India’s agriculture sector.

5. G-Auto

A series of heated discussions, overcharging and rude behaviour by the autowalas during his second year at IIM- A laid the idea of G-Auto. It’s a venture founded by Nirmal Kumar, an IIM- Ahmedabad graduate, under the Nirmal Foundation.  An auto service where auto drivers are organised under one name G-Auto to offer safe, reliable and most reasonable auto service to its commuters. It is one of the first organised auto rickshaw service in India that also provides 24X7 auto on call service.

Offering services like a monthly billing facility for daily pickup and drop for regular commuters and  Special Heritage rickshaws with special package for six hours,  eight hours, 10 hours, etc. for tourists, with trained G-Pilots (autowalas), G-Auto is definitely a revolution in the travel sector.