My Story: Santosh Kaveri

Santosh Kaveri (Samiti BBA College, Belgaum)

"The way I see it, all problems give me an opportunity to enter into business and provide products which are helpful for Indians."

I faced many challenges growing up.  I come from a rural background in the village of Shedbal, which is very remote.  When I was younger, I used to walk 10 kilometers every day just to attend school.  When I got older and was in high school, members of my family started facing different health and economic issues.  In order to feed  my family, I had to start working on the farm.  I used to work on the farm every morning before class starting at 5 AM and I would continue working immediately after returning from classes every day. It was a very tough time for me, but thankfully I was managed to get through it and get myself to college.

During my first year in college, I joined LEAD.  While in LEAD, I came to know about the need for technology, as well as the important for innovating it to make it inclusive and affordable for everyone.  Before joining LEAD, I had always been interested in becoming an entrepreneur and I utilized LEAD as a platform to execute my ideas for improving the lives of farmers.

Carrot Cleaning Machine

When I was thinking about my first LEAD project, I reflected on the struggles that my own family faced and I identified a problem in carrot cleaning.  Before farmers can sell their carrots at the local markets, the carrots must be cleaned to make them appealing to customers.  However, carrot cleaning is a lengthy and demanding process; cleaning one quintal of carrots requires usually the labor of 12 people.

I thought about the problem and searched determinedly for a solution to this problem.  My epiphany came at last one day after observing a washing machine.  I realized I could apply the same concept to devise a machine that could quickly, and efficiently, clean carrots.

Being a business student and having no prior experience with engineering, I struggled to develop a technology that could clean carrots. After developing 11 unsuccessful machines, I finally devised the Carrot Cleaning Machine.  My Carrot Cleaning Machine can clean a quintal of carrots in just 15 minutes and requires the labor of only two people.  The Carrot Cleaning Machine uses no electricity, and very little water.  This machine is now helping hundreds of farmers throughout 10 villages.  

Carrot Cleaning Machine

Eco Hot Water Coil

In India, gas is costly, and no one seems to be concerned about that.  We use a lot of gas every day without even realizing.  We use it to make tea, cook food, heat water for baths, and more. I tried to find a way to still be able to do all of this, but use less gas while doing it.  My Eco Hot Water Coil can perform two functions at once, thereby helping people conserve gas.  The Eco Hot Water Coil is a stovetop device that simultaneously boils water for cooking and collects hot water for bathing. This device has been fixed in several hostels, and the hostels have reported that the Eco-Water Coil is helping them save more than Rs. 1000 per month.   I plan to soon introduce this technology to individual homes for domestic use. 

Eco Hot Water Coil

Brake System for Bullock Cart

Farmers around the country rely on bullock carts to transport large quantities of goods over long distances.  However, many problems have been caused by the fact that most of these farmers are using bullock carts without a proper braking system.  Instead, the bullock carts are usually stopped manually, which is putting strain on the laborers, the oxen and the bullock cart. I innovated a bullock cart brake system that is simple, effective, and affordable. Farmers using this brake system for their bullock carts are receiving many benefits.  Bullock cart accidents are being reduced, and farmers can now carry more weight on their carts.  In addition, less manual labor is required to manage the cart.  Moreover, no pollution is being created from the cart as the brake system requires no fuel source.  

Brake System for Bullock Cart

I  was presented the "Best LEADer" by Ratan Tata during Yuva Summit 2013 for the entrepreneurial and innovative nature of his Carrot Cleaning Machine, and I won the "Best LEADer" award again during Yuva Summit 2014 .  Because of LEAD, I have developed myself.  I now feel that I have something inside worth showing to others.   I know that the confidence I have gained from my successful initiatives will continue to drive me to work on bigger, bolder ideas in the future.

Dharwad LEADers Help Employ 8 Disabled People

LEADer Renuka Chandrashekhar from SDMCET, Dharwad, wanted to do something to give back to society.  As part of LEAD, she and some other students had visited Samarthanam Trust, an NGO that helps physically disabled people achieve their goals.  After visiting the NGO with other LEAD students for Teachers Day, Renuka felt inspired by the work of the NGO and wanted to help them more. After communicating with Samathanam Trust, Renuka learned that many of the disabled people get rejected from placement programs because they do not have the required soft skills.  So, Renuka gathered two other LEADers to provide soft skills training in English as well as Hindi.  For one month, the LEADers conducted training courses covering the topics of writing, reading and speaking two hours every day for one month. Furthermore, Renuka contacted First Source Solutions, a Bangalore based call center company that works for Vodafone and Airtel.  The LEADers shortlisted 15 of the students they had been training, and 8 of those students were successfully placed with First Source Solutions.

Sirsi LEADer Helps Rural Women Earn Rs. 6000 Monthly

LEADer Chetana from MES College of Commerce, Sirsi  found that there are lot of rural women who can creatively make the best out of waste material by creating things  such as bags out of old clothes and photo frames and hanging mirrors from arecanut  leaves. However, they lack the knowledge to effectively market their products.  Chetana created opportunity for these women. Because of her initiative,  these women from Hulgol are earning Rs. 6000 to 9000 monthly and only investing Rs.200 monthly. Chetana also connected with the Deshpande Foundation's Navodyami Program to create further opportunities. It's nice to see LEADers connecting the dots and creating sustainable solutions for problems in their communities.

LEADer Helps 15 Women Gain Employment

Kiran from MSW Department, Davangere University, recognized women as important players in breaking the cycle of poverty.  More importantly, he wanted to empower women by making them independent.  Kiran coordinated with Sri Lakshmi Ranganath Swamy Mahila Mattu Graminabhirudhi Samsthe and provided free vocational training for 25 women. While convincing the women to participate in the training was a difficult task, this project allowed Kiran to practice and improve upon his communication, time management, and persuasion skills, which ultimately enabled him to persuade the women.

The vocational training organized by Kiran helped 15 women gain employment.

Project: Akshar Gyana

Chidanand (A.S.S. College, Gadag)

Literacy remains one of the most serious issues facing the world today.   Chidanand recognized his own potential to solve the literacy problem on a local level, and implemented a project for the illiterate women in his village.  He taught them how to read and write useful words, and how to sign their own signatures.  Through his initiative, these women can better manage their daily lives and exercise more independence.

Project: Teaching Illiterate People

Somshekar Nekar (SKSVMACET)

Many people in Laxmeshwar, especially women, do not know how to read, write, or even sign their own names. While these tasks may appear to be simple and basic, they form a crucial part of managing daily life.  Knowing this, Somshekar felt that it was important to help these women.  He held evening classes for 20 women every day.  Now, these 20 women know how to read, write, and sign their own names.  Additionally, these women now know how open savings bank accounts.  Because of Somshekar's initiative towards empowerment, these women will now lead brighter futures.

Project: Teaching Origami to Homemakers to Make Them Financially Independent

Kaveri (SGBIT)

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding and dates back to the 17th century.  The objective of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished, artistic sculpture through folding, without cutting the paper or using glue. Origami folds can be used in a variety of ways to make intricate designs.  

1st year LEADer Kaveri from SGBIT rides her bicycle to commute to college every day.  During her journey, she would regularly pass by poor housewives, who would spend most of the day inside the home.  Although Kaveri had already completed a previous project with LEAD helping school children, she thought to initiate another project with LEAD to financially empower the women she rode past on her bicycle every day.  After meeting and interacting with these women, Kaveri noticed that the women were very creative and talented.  She taught the women basic Origami, a skill that could help the women earn additional with limited resources.

Kaveri has future plans to become an entrepreneur through marketing and scaling this art form using local sources.

Project: Best out of Waste

'Best' LEADer Winner 2010: Geeta Hegde

Project: Best out of Waste

Government First Grade College, Sirsi

The Idea: After vehicles use tires, is there another use of them? Yes, there is. These LEADers found an innovative idea to make use of these old tires. Tires can produce strong and durable ropes with a small investment and can generate self-employment for many villagers. One used tire can produce a maximum of 3000 ropes. A single tire usually costs Rs. 150, but can produce a maximum of Rs. 3000 as ropes.

The Activity: The LEAD team trained poor people how to extract ropes, so that they could do this as their livelihood activity. Before, many of these people didn’t have any means of living. Now, with this new method, they can find a way to make a living.

The Impact: Now, tires are no longer being wasted in this area. The poor people have a livelihood and are extracting ropes for a living. This project was such a success, that the team is getting multiple calls to come train people to do this type of work. The team hopes that this project can be a model for the rest of the state. 

Project: Paper Recycling

Team Leader: Akshay.C.Nigadi

Team Members: Shreya.R  Saroja.B Shashank. Anup  Prateek.N

Implementation: DCSE, Hubli

Date: December 2010

College: BVBCET

Akshay and his team had a big task ahead of them. As of 30 December 2010, he had set out to complete 700 notepads that would be used in the Development Dialogue at DCSE on 27th January 2011. As a part of the project Akshay and his team collected unused examination papers from BVB CET. Akshay said that the project was challenging and he felt full of doubts about its completion at the time.

After procuring papers from his department, the task was cut out. The result of which would be a whopping 700 notepads from waste paper with the name of their project ‘Retro Recyclers’. Although the initial idea was to make a mere 100 notepads, Akshay decided to push the boundaries and make 700. He says that the key essence to the success of such a project is time management. Collection of newspapers is quick although the trimming and binding of the books take time.

Akshay says a leader learns out of experience and he could not have asked for a better opportunity to test his entrepreneurial skills. He is fully satisfied with the project. When people who had used the notepad were asked, they said: “the books are an innovative idea. Generally one side of the paper goes unused and by using waste paper, Akshay and team have made a point of preserving paper and thinking differently." The beneficiary DCSE congratulated him on his on this achievement.

Related articles

• Recreating History (dcselead.blogspot.com)
• Summer LEADership Programme 2011 (dcselead.blogspot.com)
• Candle march to promote gender equality on International Women's Day (dcselead.blogspot.com)
• Speaking English No More A Dream (dcselead.blogspot.com)
• Fund Raising Campaign (dcselead.blogspot.com)

Project: "Laxmisingankere"

The LEADer says "I, 'Anusha Jagannath', the leader of the project "service to mankind is service to god" have successfully completed the project. My team had 5 members (3rd sem engg. at SDMCET). i.e myself, Bharati, Bibisumayya, Seema and Bhagyalaxmi. We did slum awareness programme. It lasted for 1 week. The first 3 days went on fundraising, clothbanking and surveying of the slum. 

"Laxmisingankere" at Dharwad. We collected Rs.1471/- in two days for the collection of items to be distributed for the slum dwellers. The items were given to 35 "below poverty line" families on the last day. They included dettol soaps, ear buds, towel and pens, pencils for the kids.

We also gave them awareness about the importance of hygiene and sanitation, time to time vaccination for children, drinking boiled water, avoiding self medication, precautionary measures to handle gas cylinders and stove. We collected Rs.250/- from the Despande Foundation.

The biggest challenge we faced was to convince those people who were not ready to accept new measures and were not even ready to share their difficulties with us. But anyway we managed to finally convince them and helped them to lead a healthier life."

Project: Cloth Bank

LEADer: Amruta K.R
Place of Implementation: Seva Bharati Trust, Hubli

Collection of Clothes:

Distributing Clothes to Seva Bharati Trust:

Project: Poverty Eradication Through Sustainable Income Generation Activities for SC Families

LEADer: Ashwini Saguni

Project Implementation Place: Hosayallapur,Dharward

Project Period: 20-6-2008 to 20-2-2009

Project: Shakthi - SHG

LEADer: Manjunath Nimbal

Project Implementation Place: RajivGandhi Nagar

Project Period: 12/1/2008 to 20/6/2009

Project: RAINBOW - 'Artificial Jewellery & Lace-Making'

LEADer: Doreen Niranjan

Project Implement Place: Unkal Cross, Hubli

Project: RAINBOW - 'Handlooms and Handicraft'

LEADer: Nusrath Savanur

Project Implementation Place: Unkal Cross, Hubli

Project Period: 10/5/2008 to 03/01/2009

Project: Skill Development - Embroidery

LEADer: Jyothi Manappanavar

Project Implementation Place: Baracotri Community, Dharward

Project Period: 15/10/2008 to 2/11/2008

Project: A Helping Hand for the Poor and Needy

LEADer: Sonam Vantamuri

Project Implementation Place: Hubli

Project Period: 24-10-2008 to 24-11-2008