Day 2 : A few journeys defined and started upon

Here I am, back again.

Day 2 isn't really day 2, but it's day 2 for me in terms of some achievements done.

So then, here are some things that have happened over the past so many hours for me and for us, as a team.

We have shortlisted the 100 cities that will cover India, in terms of population density, business clusters and people available online.

A small flashback :

When we ran this exercise at the onset of lockdown, we got only one response :
What is the Govt doing for us / should do for us.

For me, pretty shocking. And well, expected to. The first punching bag in such cases is always the govt. Lockdown should have been done earlier, later. Tax Holidays should be given. Loan should be waived off, blah blah blah.

This attempt now, is to change the way data is being collected. We are moving away from basic forms and straight questions to observing engagement online on social space.

Some of the aspirations we have collected from public space include the following:

1. Finance / Loan - ease of, and at lower costs.
2. More Sales
3. Greater Outreach to sell - setting up more sales teams at zero costs, and 100% commission.
4. Outreach to More distributors
5. Hiring Worries
6. Pending Dues Recovery Processes
7. Clearing Govt Dues
8. Import / Export rules to change
9. Skill Requirements
10. Margins Reduction
11. Process Automation
12. Collaborations / Partnerships
13. Greater Credit Periods
14. Easier compliance norms
15. Investing in transport
16. Legal Support
17. Low cost delivery mechanisms
18. Investment in Digital

And the like.

We have a LOT of people now coming forward to help us grow our outreach to various people in various industries - fascinatingly, a lot of connects are in the manufacturing space.

I'll be uploading our list of cities soon enough... Maybe tomorrow.

Till then

Cheerios
Sanjeev Sarma

Day 1 : The Project is defined - the work starts

The TPV - Businesses in the wake of Covid social media project looks to understand how businesses plan to take work, life and the universe ahead during and post Covid stages.

It has been a month nearly, since lockdown, and it is time now that people have gotten settled down to various ways and processes of working, and are dreaming up the future.

This then, from now, at the later phase of the lockdown, and around the time that businesses are looking to get out and get going, is the perfect time to understand how they have been challenged and how they will be responding.

A team of 10 awesomely enthusiastic interns has been activated to cover a 100 cities in India. More may join in somewhere down the line.

The first meeting of the team was done, to understand, how to choose cities, and how to make sure that we covered the following key points

1) A, B and C class cities to be considered
2) Preference to A and B first
3) C class cities that have good biz density can be considered above a B
4) Should cover all states and UTs of India
5) Should have fairly decent social traction on FB, in terms of pages / groups etc related to city.

The team has been evaluating cities in India that can add value to this project, in terms of contributing to it. The list should be be out soon, maybe EoD today.

Looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I have also shared aspirations of project to various biz networking groups I am a part of, and have asked them to grow / enhance the list. That will be shared soon, too.

Start is good, and enthusiasm is high. Social media teasers seem to be getting good traction, in terms of people wanting to participate in this exercise and be observed.

More later, then

Cheers
Sanjeev Sarma