Originally Published On Inc42 Magazine.
Sometimes you take the journey, and sometimes the journey takes you, I hope in this case the latter is true. Embarking on a journey of a lifetime which will take me all across India for an initiative called #digitaldrive.
Amritsar to Kanyakumari – covering 22 cities in a period of over 30 days.
This is to figure out the Internet of Inside India. Resonates?
22 cities and towns across India under 30 days
4 Member Crew; 1 Innova, of course including me
Prathibha Sastry, Startup Evangelist & Strategic Advisor- Nowfloats
Swapna Kucherlapati, Marketing Lead, NowFloats
Animesh Khan, Consultant, Market Expansion. Ex-Zinnov Consulting
Rohit Raju, Videographer, Elate Visuals
5000+ KMs drive across India, from Amritsar to Kanyakumari including multiple
Tier 2, Tier 3 cities
Driving through lush green paddy fields, coastal regions and the deserts across India
Follow this post for a live blog of my complete tour and to know when we are coming to your city, and come say Hi to me. Use the hashtag #DigitalDesh to follow all the action from the tour.
Follow the live journey below:
Last Update: 2015/06/02 12:20 (Sort by:↓↑)
02/06 12:20
Wrap up- Nowfloats #Digital Desh
Nowfloats initiative #DigitalDesh travels
Amritsar to Kanyakumari
7000Kms +
20 Plus cities
While the data is getting analysed, I would like to speak about my observations…
I could write about the challenges faced, the excellent team that I got to lead or the cities that we travelled to, but as a closing post l thought of talking about what is close to my heart #entrepreneurship..
Having been in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India and because of my profile, I have had the opportunity to interact with the best of the minds in the technology space, the entrepreneurs that have built the best of the products..but what I saw during my travels has left me stumped..
Entrepreneurship at its best in tier 2-3 cities..
Yes this is what I saw, right from Amritsar to Kanyakumari, these people were doing multiple things, they would have a shop, then be in real estate or forex trading to owning jewelry business as a second business. The zeal & passion that they showed for the business, why should I settle for doing one thing when I can do multiple things and grow..
Many of the towns that we visited had some traditional business going on for generations, but the new generation gave it a modern twist, be it the baker son’s who now runs a bistro for the younger crowd, or the kundan jewelers showroom from a diamond manufacturing family..
One thing that did strike me was none of them wanted to leave the cities/town that they belonged to, yes they will be expanding to the nearby places but I would like to stay put here, grow & create my own niche, my own brand and identity here..
The younger generation is being encouraged to follow their own dreams, they are the influencers in their parents lives & businesses in terms of use of tech.
We need to take it to them.. we need to go there to teach the same/spread awareness…
They do need help in terms of guiding them in what kinds of tools to use, to help their business grow, I think they are ripe to gain more knowledge, to using tech, the next best product.. yes some of them use Whatsapp, facebook, have websites, do cashless transactions, but hungry for more tools or the right use of existing technologies..
Yes, the best that I saw..
Will sign of with a very cliched line– not the end but the beginning….
Adding a video where we spoke about what we were trying to do and what else needs to be done…#DigitalDesh
Partners in crime
Co-travellers- Animesh Khan, Arpan Ramtek, Swapna & Rohit
Partners in the journey Nowfloats initiative #DigitalDesh
Omidyar Networks, Mobikwik, Ispirt, Microsoft Ventures, Blume Ventures, Inc42, Verisign, Ginger Hotels, Cinnamon Stays, Printo, Zinnov & Microsoft.
27/05 08:11
And we are closer to the finish line..
We reached Trivendrum late last night.. and yes we are closer to reaching Kanyakumari where the journey culminates..
Let me recount the cities..
Amritsar, Luhdiana, Kartarpur, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Goa, Karwar, Mangalore, Calicut, Kochi, Allepey, Trivendrum
and the next stop is Kanyakumari..
The kind of markets that we got to visit, right from fisheries to spice markets. In fact in Karwar, Sanjeev at the fisheries office said they don’t use tech and don’t have the need for it, but the moment I said his eyes lit up and said yes they send WhatsApp pics of fish and then get orders, to the chef who uses facebook extensively to reach his target market.
Home stay owners to health practitioners, to people who run Khadi bandar, it has been such a diverse experience.
23/05 23:40
Posting few pics
22/05 09:23
People that we meet
The main thing that you have to remember on this journey is, just be nice to everyone and always smile….
I think as a #DigitalDesh team we have encountered all kinds of people as part of this journey, business owners that wanted to speak to us and some that did not..
People have welcomed us into their shops, offered chai/coffee/juice and biscuits. We as a team have been mindful when ever there was a customer present…so that the owner could deal with the same..
But one thing that stuck me, sometimes the owner would not be around, so the people who worked there would meet us & immedietly either organise for us to talk to their owner or call them into the premises. The go getters, who understood the fact the fact that we were there to understand few things and to educate them too..But the other category was of people, who would just dismiss us by saying we are just employees, we will not talk, not sure where the owner is.. some even dismissed up even without learning what we are there..
Also was interesting to note some owners who spoke about how famous they are and word of mouth is enough for them to survive..
All kinds of people..
20/05 11:05
Kolhapur it is today…
I will go where the road takes me, …
And currently it is lots of National Higways and State Highways of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and now Maharatra..
Yesterday we were in Pune, I think we kind of knew that it would be very far ahead in terms of digital awareness, again because of the vibrant startup scene..
Seems like a pattern is emerging.. saw that in Japipur where people were so open and knew so much that was happening in terms of tech & tools and also the willingness to adapt to them.. saw a similar thing in Ahmedabad and yesterday in Pune…
Lets see what Kolhapur has in store for us…
19/05 09:05
Women Entrepreneurs & more
I had the opportunity of meeting two women entrepreneurs along the way, one in Ajmer who ran a high end beauty parlour & the other yesterday who runs a retail outlet, interestingly both of them were working along with their husbands.
Archana spoke about #customer service and explained how she does it, it was going way beyond what was expected of her because of which she has gained customer loyalty and increase in the business. All the more required is the use of tech like, email campaigns and the WhatsApp campaign that she runs personally.
Also the fact that the shop was maintained well, even in the case of the other person, when enquired if it is because of the fact that they are women, they both agreed smiling..
18/05 10:10
Journey so far #DigitalDesh
What an enriching experience this has been,
We are now in a halfway mark, 11 of the chosen 22 cities done more to go.
What began in Amritsar, has now brought us to Nasik
Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat to now in Maharastra…
Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and now in Nasik..
Must admire the spirit of my co-travellers for pushing their boundaries..
How pleased we all are to be able to do this..
Teaching SMB’s about #websites
Teaching them about #paymentwallets
Teaching them about com websites..
very enterprising people
getting to know their challenges too
They feel #websites are to be done only by trusted source,
Although aware of #paymentwallet, not sure of how to use them
Separate division just to handle tech
just dispelling few myths, that they held against tech
to few people saying teach me more..
Ahmedabad by far was the most evolved of all, maybe because of the huge startup culture.. I think by growing the startup culture in each of these cities I think these people will also become more aware..
We had few people not talk to us, but I guess that is the part & parcel of what we signed up for..
I know I have been thanking the sponsors, let me actually now talk about the people behind the brand names, Rashmi Naik & Anuradha of Omidyar, Karthik, Arpit, Sanjay of Blume, Avinash & Sharad of Ispirt, Manish of Printo, Mitika of Verising, Manish of Cinnamon stays, Saurabh & Ajit of Mobikiwik, Manohar, Ravi, Meetul and Abhi, Anjali of Microsoft & Ventures, Shraddha of Ginger and of course Vaibhav, Pooja and Utkarsh of inc42
#halfwaymark #Digitaldesh
stay tuned
16/05 11:40
And now we land in Baroda
Here we go exploring.. watch out for us…
16/05 11:39
Ahmedabad, SMB and the startup scene
I guess the vibrant startup ecosystem had something to do the with the flourishing SMB scene. Couple of owners that we spoke to are thinking about apps, rather than websites.. they seem to be far ahead than the cities/towns that we have been to so far..
15/05 12:26
Team out on the road #digitaldesh
and here we go again, will write more later.. Duty calls
15/05 07:30
Another Day – life during #DigitalDesg
Another day, another city, new faces, new customs..
Reach the next city, pick out the places that you would like to go to, or ask the locals about the markets that we should not miss, plug in all our charges, mobiles , go to sleep, wake up early, blog, pack so that we can check out just before we leave, go have breakfast, meet the team members, discuss our strategy for the day and then check out, head out into the city, meet SMB’s take a break in a cool place for lunch if possible and then head out into the markets again and leave for the next city, which we arrive late and then repeat all over again..
14/05 21:13
Ahmedabad here I come #DigitalDesh
Enjoying this drive so far, the only thing that is bothering me is that I am yet to women running the show.. hope that changes as I continue..
Come meet the team at CG road CCD ..tomorrow noon am in #Gujurat..
14/05 17:06
Watching cricket online
we happened to stop at a Jain Dahi Bati hotel and got to know that they use apps to read news and to watch cricket especially when the power is off.
14/05 14:04
Lake city mall
Was very happy to meet the owner of Vikings bowling alley, who understands that promotion is required to grow.. Uses Windows phone for Windows products and asked me to explain how to use #wallet
14/05 12:29
Interviews
Team busy meeting the owner of Ardency inn who uses travel related forums for his business.
14/05 08:40
#digitaldesh in Udaipur
And the team is in Udaipur and looking forward to exploring the city..
On the way here saw couple of peacocks..
Jodhpur was such a revelation in terms of technology.. They are keen on using #payment wallets and if taught are willing to use it. Just need to make them aware. They feel tech is the way to grow..
12/05 12:25
Out into the Ajmer Markets
And we are currnetly in the markets near railway station.. what is lurking around?
12/05 06:44
And so it began- #DigitalDesh in Ajmer
Even as this journey began #DigitalDesh, I knew this was going to be a journey not just into cities of India but my own self, keeping the group together, to making sure all the logistics are taken care, to ensuring the interviews are done, sponsors are happy, to making sure they are paying on time :).. yes this is about pushing my boundaries too not just physically but mentally.. anyway I will write about all of that some other day but today I want to talk about how it all began..
Jas and I keep discussing ideas and we began talking about this particular initiative around last August/September, no I don’t think I should consider that the beginning, it began with Microsoft Ventures, who by the way are one of the sponsors for this initiative..
Thanks to Mukund Mohan, around three years ago, I got to be part of Microsoft Ventures, even when it was not called that..I got to meet the best of the minds in the country during batch one of the Accelerator program.. including NowFloats..Hmm, actually even that is not the beginning. After the first batch was done most of them had gone back to their own lives, one evening the founding team Jasminder Singh Gulati, Nitin Jain, Neeraj Sabharwal & Ronak Samantray from NowFloats were in town and the founders invited me to join them for a drink at Beiere Club (the local watering hole near Ventures Office), the evening was spent discussing life, happiness, meditation, beliefs and our own ways of looking at life. That was the beginning…yes that was it..
So now coming back to how #DigitalDesh began, Jas and I keep talking about ideas, most of our discussions are around ideas, we implement some, some we just park it for another day.. yeah well, once we started discussing this idea, it began taking its own shape..but since I was working with Ventures (Heading the Operations) at that point of time, taking time off for a month was just not something I could do.. we would just keep talking about it and one of these days .. I quit Ventures at the end of last year and imm went to another firm.. but the idea was always there one of these days, this was one of those ideas that keeps gnawing at you until you do something about them..
When I decided to move on from my last job and deciding on my next move, this idea was it, nothing sounded as exciting and as challenging as this, I also knew that if I did not do it now I would never do it.. and what began this April 2015, is now what DigitalDesh all about, the idea was there, it was about crystallising it, getting the team ready, to reaching out to the sponsors and just beginning.
Zinnov, Printo to Omidyar Networks were on almost immediately, reached out to Ginger on Linkedin and they were on board within couple of hours, and they was no way that I making a stop in Delhi and missing out an opportunity to stay at Hotel Z by Cinnamon Stays , where incidentally I am the first customer/guest J. Jas & I decided to speak to our Alma Mater so to speak and reached out to Ravi Narayan and here is Ventures along with me again :). I think they just love me or atleast I am hoping that is the case and are along with me on this journey.. This journey would definitely have not been possible without the support of MobiKwik, Elate Visuals Verisign, Boring Brands,Ispirit,Blume Ventures Inc42- imm came on board and are generously allowing me to blog everyday..
And so it began…
11/05 15:22
Jaipur rocks #DigitalDesh
Began the day by seeing a peacock crossing the road, for a change it was not a cat or cows…although I dont mind either..
Spent the day talking to a travel marketing firm who uses both traditional & online medium for promotion and also couple of jewelry stores..
got more to do… look out for us in the hawalmahl in the second half…
Met very freindly people who kept pointing us int he right direction..
11/05 09:59
#DigitalDesh in Pink City
Sorry could not blog yesterday, was on the road most of the time.. but no worries am here
Enjoying our stay in Ginger Pink City, nice facilities and self check in an now all set to explore the city.. come meet us at CCD in GopalBari.. more later
09/05 19:21
MobiKwik, Press Meet and more
It was quite a packed day in Chandigarh with back to back press meets and more SMB interviews. We ran most of the day’s operations out of CCD in Sector 8B and were happy that we could go cashless and pay the bills with our MobiKwik wallet.
We are on our way to Delhi now, so come and say Hi if you’re around. Catch all the live action on Twitter at @digitaldesh and @prathibhasastry
09/05 15:14
How do we take a break?
Been such an hectic day in Chandigarh, by the way its a very well planned city… although for someone from Bangalore like me, all this sector thingy sounds confusing ..isn’t it amazing though that how a well planned city can confuse you so much and cause you to go in circles which is exactly what I did this morning..
09/05 12:24
Digital Desh in Chandigarh
It’s a busy morning here in Chandigarh. Big shout-out to Ginger Hotels for their amazing hospitality and the insane breakfast. Needed that boost!
We will be at CCD in Sector 8B talking to media and some entrepreneurs who reached out to us on Twitter, before we head into the city and interview more SMBs! Join us for a coffee if you’re around.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @digitaldesh and @prathibhasastry! More later.
09/05 08:28
Word
#whatsapp, cash, haan website banana zaroori hai, enough business, delivery.. some of the words that I kept hearing along the way…
09/05 07:07
And the Day begins in Chandigarh #DigitalDesh
We are at the following location from 11 in the morning.. please come and say hello to us.. let us know about your company…
Venue.. CCD Inner Market, Sector 8B, Chandigarh..
08/05 21:42
Checking into Ginger at Chandigarh
Had a hectic day in Ludhiana, had to deal with issues related to internet hence the delay in the blogging along the way.. just reached Chandigarh and checked into Ginger hotel who are part of #digitaldesh drive. Were welcomed very warmly by Nitin Sodhi here..
08/05 20:23
MobiKwik comes to the rescue!
Here’s an interesting story: It was almost noon when one of our crew members, Swapna received the third call of the day from her parents reminding that all the phone and utility bills would be due on the 10th of the month.
Swapna quickly made our videographer, Rohith shoot this how-to video and sent it to her mom so that she can start paying the bills without taking the trouble to go to eSeva etc. I thought I’d quickly show you how MobiKwik came to the rescue. Enjoy the hyper lapse!
08/05 19:25
Digital Desh in Ludhiana
It has been a very interesting day in Ludhiana so far. We started shooting the documentary in the busy streets near the clock tower and headed over to the market nearby to interview several small business owners.
We were once again greeted with such heartwarming hospitality that we instantly felt at home. It was interesting to see a lot of wholesale textile and shoe stores, and manufacturers use different social apps in different ways.
More on that, later. Follow @digitaldesh and @prathibhasastry on Twitter to see all the action live!
08/05 09:12
Digitaldesh in Ludhiana today by Prathibha Sastry
Hey everyone…
We are near the clock tower area, if you are in the city do come and say hi to us…and also let us know what to eat in your city
07/05 18:44
Digital Desh wraps in Amritsar!
Amritsar has been absolutely wonderful. We were amazed at the hospitality extended to us by Navneet Singh, NowFloats partner based out of Amritsar and the small business owners we interviewed. They were genuinely excited about their work and it showed in our conversations. It was the start we wanted and definitely needed.
Digital Desh is now heading to Ludhiana. Know someone who lives there? Put us in touch.
On a funny note, I got super excited on seeing these really cute Indian barbies (Do.Not.Judge.Me)! Didn’t know they existed.
For more action, follow us on Twitter @digitaldesh and @prathibhasastry. Over & Out!
07/05 15:29
Windy’s, Apsara Toys Store, Chawlas and more
Its funny how you lose sense of time when you’re having fun working. The last two hours were spent speaking to a local shoe-store owner who could sing like a rockstar, a toy store owner who has been running the shop since 1969 and a papad warian who showed us the most fanciest pickles and papars ever! We tried to speak to a dentist but he had patients over, so we let him stick to what he does best – spreading smiles!
Having lunch at Chawlas now. More later.
Since 2012, NowFloats has been helping small businesses all over the country get discovered and grow online. This year, we are embarking on a journey called Digital Desh Drive as a part of our mission to get every local business online by 2020. Digital Desh Drive is all set to kick start in Amritsar on the 6th of May, cover 20-25 important cities across the sub-continent and end in Kanyakumari on the 27th of May 2015.
The drive aims to study the behavioural patterns of entrepreneurs across different regions and also help them build a strong digital footprint online. Led by me, the four of us will interview these small business owners with a mindset to gather insights and stories about their setups and also help them to connect digitally on a larger platform with their end consumers.
This journey has been made possible with the help of some really awesome partners – Microsoft Ventures, Inc42, Blume Ventures, Boring Brands, Ginger Hotels, ISpirt, Zinnov, Printo, Omidyar, Mobikwik and NF Founders.
Got questions you would like us to ask these small business owners? Tweet to me @prathibhasastry!