Bracing for the Future: Three-day Boot Camp at ShelterTech
Habitat for Humanity is a leading global non-profit organization that has been building and promoting affordable housing for low-income families in Asia-Pacific since 1983, driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live. One of their most recent initiatives has been the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, which facilitates the building and expansion of inclusive market systems that ensure affordable housing for those in need. In collaboration with the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), the Terwilliger Center launched the ShelterTech Accelerator, with the aim of streamlining and accelerating India’s most innovative solutions across various divisions of the housing value chain and effectively meet the needs of low-income market segments. The program focus on ten thematic areas comprising land, titling and construction permissions, construction technology and new materials, labor productivity and quality, project management, alternative housing solutions and others.
Over 77 start-ups answered to the call for applications which took place in October 2018, of which 14 were shortlisted to present their pitches in-person to an expert panel. At the end of the selection, four start-ups were chosen to be part of the first cohort of the accelerator program, and another two have been provided support through workshops and diagnostics sessions which were provided to the startups selected for cohort. This was because these startups seem to provide innovative solution to some of the underlying problem of the sector. The finalist organizations include both early stage and mature start-ups, representing the dynamism that exist in the industry and their potential in disrupting housing markets.
To kick-start their acceleration, the six start-ups joined a three-day boot camp at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad, from December 13–15. Under CIIE’s guidance, the boot camp instilled in participants the mind-set that what makes or breaks the journey of a start-up is dependent on how well they identify their customer’s needs; and understand the difference between manifesting their ideas, having an insight into the psyche of customers and tweaking the product to what they would need and want. The initial two days of the boot camp were dedicated to a workshop on creating a sustainable business model and value proposition, so that the start-ups can better understand how to market their products.
The workshop was a critical exercise on understanding the diverse aspects of running a business. Unlike traditional accelerator programs that focus intensively on value proposition problems instead of solutions, this experimental workshop worked thoroughly with participants to not only identify gaps in their business value proposition, but also in generating strategies to tackle such gaps. The two-day laboratory encouraged the participating start-ups to reflect objectively on every single aspect of their business model, question their relevance, and create a framework that would make it sustainable. The primary objective of the cohort’s acceleration phase was to aid the participants in refocusing their energies on various facets of their business model to ensure maximum growth. In fact, all the start-ups who participated in the accelerator revamped their business model entirely after the workshop.
Diagnostic Panels followed on December 15, to analyse and find current and potential issues and challenges faced by each start-up. The panels consisted of industry experts, including Ashwani Kumar, Co-Founder of Transerve Technologies, Akshat Khare, Founder & Director of Nessa Illumination Technologies, Shreyansh Shah, CEO and Director of Savvy Infrastructure. Their perceptiveness and forethought were much appreciated by the start-up founders, helping them to understand, and nip in the bud, issues that had the potential to mature into troubling challenges as their business grow. The ultimate objective of the boot camp was to evolve the steps that need to be taken in the coming months for the start-ups to progress and grow effectively. The three-day boot camp turned out to be beneficial for the startups, as it helped them recognize the unidentified issues, further finding solutions and prioritizing them.
The ShelterTech Accelerator will culminate in July 2019, where start-ups from the program’s first and second cohorts will pitch their innovations to key industry players and companies.
