#VoicesOfCommunity featuring founder, CEO, Covetlo, Nisha Prakash, talks about solving the problem of plenty and sorting the mess when you’re spoilt for choices. A next gen product search, discovery and sharing platform, to ease your shopping woes.
“My MBA degree earned so many years ago has proved to be useful today. I have good basic grounding in running a business. I went back to study again after 14 years of working in HR. I enrolled full time to take a Graduate Program in Interactive Media, with Major in Animation in Melbourne in 2011. That has helped me immensely with my new venture. I grew up in a small industrial town, where access to stylish, elegant and fashionable things were limited. I was always attracted to the unusual, eclectic and quirky things, discovered in the quaint shops tucked away here and there, however at the same time beautiful dresses and lovely knickknacks shown in the glossy magazines would also top my wish list. But the problem was finding those things in real time. Searching through a marketplace, both online and physical can be frustrating and time consuming. As e-commerce has evolved and online shopping has become more and more popular, I realized that at the same time sorting through the increasing number of shopping sites has become more and more tedious. When I would visit major e-commerce sites, I would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of products available, of which only a small portion would appeal to me. So the question was, how do I find these products? I recognized that the Internet has the power to aggregate all of these stores and products in one place and make it possible to easily find incredible things from anywhere. That’s exactly what Covetlo is. It aims to connect millions of users to hundreds of disconnected stores and thousands of undiscovered products online. Best part is that it’s social too, you can shop with your friends, virtually. Covetlo is a Big Data Analytics company first and foremost, striving to create a personalized and differentiated shopping experience for users."
"Almost everyone in my family and friend’s circle thinks that I am nuts to be doing this now and they’ve all given up on me. That is absolutely exhilarating. It gives you so much freedom to do things that one would otherwise not attempt. Finding the right people to start your company with and create the product is always the biggest challenge of all. Not everyone is cut for entrepreneurship or working in a start up, which is very different from the regular workplace. It’s very hands on compared to an established company. Fund-raising to grow is another challenge in current scenario. There is no shortcut to doing this. You have to allow yourself to jump forward with a lot of missing information and a lot of unknowns, but you may find that it’s the best way to learn and move forward. You are allowed to mistakes, though ensuring that you don’t repeat them is crucial. I read, dance, play Ludo and Chess with my children. Yes, you heard it right. I am the current Ludo World Champion. No one can beat me there. And I love to travel.”