When I met the self-made future of India

It took just 12 minutes for the cynic in me to get convinced about the future of India.

On Jan. 17, I was judging a B-plan competition at SIMB, Bangalore along with Akshay Gurnani, Amaresh Ojha, Sameer Panjwani, Devleena Neogi, Agam Goyal and Alok John

The first four presentations were on expected lines. Numbers, animations, jargons, business formals, gentle nods to all unsolicited suggestions by the judges, not bad, but nothing great. I was fiddling with my phone as the fifth candidate prepared to take the stage. My attention was snatched from the screen by a folder that was politely placed on the table by a volunteer who looked rather young to be in a business school. I thought the wonderful coordinators have yet again arranged for some on-the-job snacks (they had done it twice already). Never one to say no to tea, I flipped the folder open promptly. It had two newspaper clippings pinned, one in English and the other in Tamil. “Please go through it as I begin my presentation,” the 'volunteer' announced. So he wasn’t a volunteer. He was the fifth. The English clipping was about a young boy who in his school had invented an affordable hearing aid. The article mentioned he is a winner of many competitions and self-funds his 'research' by the prize money. He is the son of a driver and a homemaker.

I can’t read Tamil but the picture spoke the same story. A young boy from a humble background who had invented something and had been awarded 40,000 rupees for that.

The stage was now set. Sivaprakash Subramaniyam stepped on it with a neatly gift-wrapped box. It was his invention and it flashed a hand-written brand-name on it. Unisonous, he calls it.

He then used his 12 allotted minutes to perfection. He told the panel he is a second-year student at Kongu Arts and Science College in Erode, Tamil Nadu. As a school student he developed interest in acoustics because his best friend used to supply sound equipment to marriage halls and temples. The two would sit together and dismantle the systems to understand how they worked. A Tamil movie in which the actress, who is deaf, is able to understand what the actor says by holding his hand (I don’t remember the name of the movie) made him wonder and look up if such a thing can really be done. That got him interested in bone conduction, which is the study of the conduction of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull. He used the internet to learn all about it and designed a working hearing aid at the cost of just Rs 250. The cheapest models in the market are priced upwards of Rs 6,000. He then improved the model and has come up with a more ‘sophisticated’ version for which he has filed a provisional patent application. This kit cost him Rs 1200 to prepare, which is a tiny fraction of what the established models cost.

“Is that what you have in the box?” I had to ask. He said he didn’t bring the advanced model for IP reasons but he can show how the technology works with his older, gift-wrapped version. Agam volunteered on our behalf to check if his machine did communicate vibrations as sound-bites. He heard something. It works, Agam told us. We saw something. I noticed the tagline of Unisonous: life is worth listening.

In the Q&A round, Sivaprakash told he is learning Artificial Intelligence from the free courseware on NPTEL. He was acutely aware of the size of the market and said he and his co-founder have divided regions between themselves for sales. Who is your co-founder, one of us had to ask. He said his co-founder is a Class IX student who he met during a competition at IIT Madras. Both had similar interests and both came without a team. So now they are a team.

Here is what I liked about him and his product:

• He is clear about his proposition – his is not the first model to use bone conduction. It’s the cheapest by far.
• In spite of learning English late in his life, he was able to clearly communicate with the audience. We did not need to look up bone conduction to know what exactly is it.
• He made a good show of his efforts. The folder, the box, the neat slides, the branding, all done alone (or perhaps with the help of his Class IX co-founder). He came there to win.
• Not once did he attempt to fetch any brownie point due to his background. How many times have we heard people from Tier II & III towns begin their presentation with ‘I come from a small town called…’? Not him. (In a chat with him after the event I got to know he needs about 10k to finish his patent process.)
• He has the confidence that comes from inventing something that is valuable to society. Maybe it is his age - he did give an impression that he will make this happen, no matter what.
• He knows he should make himself visible. So he participates in b-plan contests and seminars. (I just checked, he mentions this in his LinkedIn bio: "MAIN MOTTO TO PARTICIPATE IN ALL KINDS OF COMPETITION AND TO LEARN AN LOTS OF EXPERIANCE AND IN MY FIRSTYEAR I HAVE PARTICIPATED NEARLY 45 SYMPOSIUMS AND WON IN 30 SYMPOSIUMS THIS EXPERIANCE TEACHES ME AN LOT")
• He isn’t an MBA graduate or student. The inventor isn’t even an engineer. The credit for his invention and conviction goes to the internet and the free content you find there. Want AI for your start-up? Learn it online, free. The government of India provides it to you at no cost on NPTEL.

The biggest takeaway for all potential start-up founders from his story, in my opinion, is this: if you have an idea, convert it into a product, improve it when you must, never complain, always learn. And win competitions before you win the market.

Did I mention he came first? The first prize was more than 10k. He can now get his patent done. But he must get more. And I do hope this serial winner of competitions gets to work in peace on his product. He mentioned his pilot project has been successful. (He has gifted a kit to a little girl in his neighborhood and she is now able to hear better).

In a country where pretentious entrepreneurs with fake stories get millions to hire Bollywood stars to sell below-mediocre non-products to gullible buyers, I hope genuine stories like this don’t remain undiscovered and unfunded.

For this is, truly, made in Digital India.

PS: He said he needs mentors from the healthcare sector to take his product forward. So, if you happen to be one or know one, please do the needful.