Startups in Odisha fight coronavirus pandemic with innovations and change in focus

BHUBANESWAR: The impact of coronavirus has been felt by almost all sectors how can startups of Odisha be spared of it. The startups of Odisha, most of whom belong to an early stage ecosystem have been hit hard by the pandemic but are also trying to fight it back with innovations and initiatives.
Though the startups in Odisha also faced the problem of layoffs, salary cut and temporary closure while some have been facing the challenges of lack of funds during the lockdown period, a lot of them have bounced back successfully. Majority of the startups have been coping with the new normal and are changing their strategies, products and services for the post-covid market situations.
“Impact of corona on startups is obvious. Startups have accepted the challenge and shifted their focus. Many have started producing covid related products and accessories to cope with the current situation. Since Odisha belong to early stage ecosystem the loss or damage is not much. Early startups can lie low and revive again,” said Prasanta Biswal, Evangelist.
The startups got affected depending on the sectors they belonged to like many from the tourism, hospitality and transport sector got affected while many in the online teaching, e-commece or online shopping sectors could managed to survive and also recorded some growth during the pandemic.
“As a sustainable and profitable company, we turned, EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) positive from end last financial year and continued strongly in Q1 FY-21 as well. With swift implementation of key transformational measures to safeguard the health of our employees and consumers, we tackled the COVID19 challenge efficiently,” said Bibhu Nanda, chief operating officer (COO) of Milk Mantra, a dairy company of the state. He further added that our daily home delivery subscription app clocked a 384% year over year sales growth and by bolstering our ethical sourcing capacity we positively impacted thousands of farmers.
Some startups have got revenue boost during the pandemic and also provided jobs to many at the time of crisis.
“We have registered a growth of 400% during the last four months of corona outbreak. During lockdown people prefer ordering food and groceries over phone so we shifted from website to WhatsApp and phone. We also increased our staff from 28 to 58 to manage increasing load. We also provide covid protections like sambalpuri masks and sanitizers,” said Anand Mishra, founder of Grozip, an online grocery delivery shop.
The entrepreneurs urged the state government to announce a revival package for startups, but in vein. In a letter to the state government the entrepreneurs requested to facilitate soft loan and a credit guarantee mechanism backed by the government with a special relief interest rate for at least three years along with other financial reliefs.
“Not all startups are lucky enough to face the covid-19 pandemic. We faced problem as there was restriction on vehicular movement during the lockdown. Many of our staff went to their homes due to lack of work and we have to suspend service for some time,” said Rabindra Sahu, founder of Bikeride, a bike cab service provider in the city.
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