Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the country's largest car maker, has declared the winner of its highly competitive WagonR Think Big Challenge season 3. With an innovative 'Voice Biometrics Platform', Varun Chandra of Guwahati claimed the winning title. The Bollywood actor, R. Madhvan and Vice-President (Marketing) of MSIL, Manohar Bhatt presented the award to the victor.
Chandra bagged a cash prize worth Rs. 10 lacs, a new Maruti Suzuki WagonR and a chance to get his idea funded by the venture capitalist. Beside, the 'Voice Biometrics' platform by Chandra will be also provided by a Rs. 50 lacs worth of incubation for a year. During the incubation period, the winner will get monetary support and infrastructural funding from the auto major, which will assist in determining the possibility of the business to survive in the long run.
The title of Chandra was decided by a panel of judges, comprising Executive Director, Seed Fund Advisors, Shailesh Vickram Singh; Director and Co-Founder, Movico Technologies Private Limited, Arvind Jha and Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, AG Knowledgetech, Abhik Ghosh. Notably, Arvind Jha is also the Director of LAVA International Private Limited.
Apparently, the Maruti Suzuki Think Big Challenge is counted among the highly competitive contests of the country. In its third season, the contest invited response matching its reputation with 36,318 registrations received from all over the country. Out of the total number of registrations received, 2,385 business ideas were considered as genuine.
At the felicitation ceremony, Bhatt said, “The 3rd season of WagonR Think Big Challenge has brought in more objectivity and greater focus towards the participants from specific target groups. Our previous two seasons were huge successes and this year too, we are overjoyed at the tremendous response shown by the eager participants. To encourage entrepreneurship among college students we specifically added a new category-'The Young Turks' this year. WagonR Think Big Challenge is an ultimate test of a business idea,
passion, leadership and smartness that provide a platform to "Smart" young Indians who can show the way and become an inspiration to others much like the brand WagonR's core value.”
In the Young Turks category, the car maker received more than 5,000 registrations from various colleges across India and out of the total tally, 160 business ideas were unique. The winner of this category was categorised as Maneesh Kumar Meena, who was entitled to valuable mentoring from the industry experts, a laptop and cash prize worth Rs. 1 lac. 'Craft Mandi' was the business idea propagated by Meena, which features an online as well as physical store that sources handicrafts from local craftsmen and selling them in export markets. He got to contest directly in the Zonal round of the mainline category and was awarded cash prize worth Rs. 10 lacs, a WagonR and an opportunity to get his venture funding.
