Nagpur: A Dubai-based travel firm finding scope in selling vacation packages for Gulf countries even during wartime, an engineer from Andhra Pradesh’s fishing hamlet with a GPS-embedded life jacket that can track drowned persons in seas, youngsters with ideas of having phone charger dispensers at public places or recycling of caffeine in left-over coffee cups were among the startups that pitched their ideas at the Viksit Bharat Startup Conclave that began at Nagpur University campus on Friday.At least 50 startups, including those by school students, took part on the first day of the event organised by Vidarbha Economic Development Council, startup mentoring firm Lemon Ideas and the Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU).Around 20 of the 50 startups are at a stage of seeking investments. The total amount of investment sought was about Rs 6 crore to Rs 8 crore, said Deepak Menaria, director of Lemon Ideas.“Tourism is one of the areas of business of our group. We offer holidaying in Dubai and plan to spread to other GCC countries and even North Africa in the coming days,” said Alen Alexander of Join Habibi from Dubai. “It’s quite surprising we are getting calls for vacation packages for desert safari even during the war,” he said.Taeja Dadi from Pudimadaka fishing village near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has got a patent for life jackets that have tracking systems. “Drowning deaths take a major toll on the fisherfolk. Many from my own village have lost their lives in the seas and often their bodies would not be found too. The jacket with a tracking system can locate them and the nearest rescue team can be contacted,” Dadi said. Dadi’s startup Alert 24 is looking for Rs 2 crore investment. Apart from fisherfolk, oil rig workers and seafarers can use this, he said.A startup from Africa has come up with detergent sheets made out of eco-friendly material. This can replace the traditional detergent powders, said Menaria. Another from Bhopal is offering affordable apparel for women, said Menaria.VED’s president Rina Sinha said boosting startups can help build youths as job givers and also meet the Viksit Bharat goal of 2047.
