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Name: Bhavprita Harshawardhan
Business: Monito
Location: Bangalore, India
Industry: Technology & Telecommunications
Reason for starting? As a professional, I have always sought new and challenging opportunities which also reflects in my professional journey from industry to consulting to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship was the challenge I wanted to take up for some time. Finally in 2014, I began my research on starting my own venture. Having worked in the retail industry as well as consulting, the most obvious path was to do something similar. But I wanted to do something different and most importantly I wanted to make difference in somebody’s life through my product or service.
Children and women’s issues have always been close to my heart, and during that time a horrific incident of sexual assault on a 6-year-old girl happened in a school in Bangalore. I could relate to the pain of that parent, as I am a mother of a 6-year-old. I decided to solve this problem with my own solution — Monito. The Monito is a child safety product designed to make children safe and to better connect them with their parents through the use of a GPS-enabled safety tracker.
Related: Read about another female entrepreneur increasing safety with technology here.
How do you define success? My definition of success is a life where you have the freedom to make your own choices. You have earned self-respect and the respect of others through your work and personal conduct. You are able to achieve an ongoing work life balance. You are satisfied with your achievements on a personal and professional front. You are able to help and inspire others. You are able to make a positive difference in somebody’s life through your product or service, encouraging words or example. Overall if you are healthy, happy, content and find meaning and purpose in what you do. I would call that a successful life.
Biggest success: I would count successfully developing and launching the Monito product as my biggest success. It was an uphill task with limited resources of money and manpower on hand. Monito is a cutting-edge technology component involving hardware as well as software solutions. Developing the software tracking platform was a complex project. I am very proud that we are able to reach our set goals on schedule and under budget. We developed and launched the Montio in an Indian market as per our plan.
What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? I would say developing the software tracking platform is the top challenge in my entrepreneurial journey. The tracking platform was a complex solution which required niche technical expertise. We were a lean startup team with limited funds to begin with. We did not have enough money to hire an in-house team or outsource to expensive technology partners. We had to find a technology partner who could develop the solution for us at an affordable price without compromising on solutions or scope of features. After some trial and error, we did find such partner and we were able to develop the solution and take it to market.
Related: Why We Care About Women in Tech
Who is your most important role model? Personally, my most important role model has been my mother. My mother is a woman of substance and strength. She has instilled in her children the seeds of ambition and hard work. My mother always believed that it is very important for women to be educated and financially independent. She taught me that as a woman it is important to have dignity and strength of character. She taught us to be independent in our thoughts and point of views. My mother is my role model.
[box_light]Website www.themonito.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/monitotaq[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange