Business Daily India’s frugal start-ups
Apr 15, 2025
Anil Gupta, a professor and head of the Honeybee Network, discusses grassroots innovation in rural India. He shares inspiring stories of ordinary individuals creating extraordinary solutions, like a clay fridge enabling food preservation without electricity. The conversation highlights how these frugal innovations spark job creation and support underserved communities. Gupta emphasizes the need for collaboration between entrepreneurs, local businesses, and the scientific community to foster sustainable growth and nurture creativity among rural innovators.
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The Clay Fridge Inventor
- Mansuk Prajapati, a potter's son, turned a newspaper headline about broken clay pots during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake into inspiration.
- He invented the Mittikool, a clay fridge that requires no electricity, providing affordable cooling for the poor.
Frugal Innovation Defined
- Professor Anil Gupta defines frugal solutions as meeting affordability, accessibility, and availability.
- Grassroots innovators, often with limited resources, develop these solutions, often sharing them openly.
Frugal Innovation & Job Creation
- Leverage frugal innovations to create numerous jobs cost-effectively.
- Entrepreneurial and innovation cultures strengthen each other, particularly in southern and western India.