Asian Business School (ABS) hosted a most youthful and inspiring webinar session with Ms Nikita & Nishita Baliarsingh – the 23-year-old co-founders of the revolutionary start-up, “Nexus Power”, which manufactures biodegradable batteries to power electric vehicles – on Wednesday, 21st April 2021 at 3:00 PM for PGDM/MBA students & aspirants as part of its “LEAD Lecture Series 2021: Season 6”. As the session progressed, it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for students and young entrepreneurs to listen to the twin sisters hailed as “The Change Makers” who have set the perfect example of translating a great innovation into a stupendous entrepreneurial success!
Ms Nikita & Nishita Baliarsingh are 23-year-old twin sisters from Odisha who are making their presence felt in the automobile industry by introducing a revolutionary new technology that has the potential to radically expand the electric vehicle market in India. The 23-year-old twins were inspired to enable the growth and adoption of electric vehicles in the Indian market — all while protecting the environment. But to action this, the sisters were required to create a battery that was durable, easy to charge, and produced sustainably. As we all know, the automobile sector is one area that is compounding ecological damage in India, given its aggravating effect on air pollution and fuel consumption. As India remains among the most polluted countries in the world, the need-of-the-hour is to find more sustainable alternatives to fuel consumption and harmful emissions. And the twins, Ms Nikita and Ms Nishita Baliarsingh—who recently featured on “Forbes 30 Under 30”, have set their hearts on doing just that.
This webinar was a core initiative of Asian Business School (ABS) – which is a constituent group college of Asian Education Group (AEG) and is ranked as one of the best B-schools in Delhi NCR – for all PGDM/MBA students & aspirants. Since this webinar was a closed session, students were required to register for the same. The webinar was followed by a lively Q&A session with the young inspiring guests.
The webinar session commenced with a brief introduction of the guests and the playing of a crisp video on their brand’s (“Nexus Power”) evolution and the journey that gripped the attention of all participants. Thanking the ABS team for inviting them for this talk, the two sisters Ms Nikita & Nishita Baliarsingh began narrating their “incredible journey” that has now made them famous.
Speaking first, Ms Nishita Baliarsingh described how despite no prior academic experience in science, both sisters enrolled in certification courses for nanotechnology, battery thermal management, and hybrid electric vehicle designing, to learn about the technology they wanted to create. In 2019, they set up a manufacturing company called ‘Nexus Power’, driven by the aim to use protein extracts from crop residue to make sustainable, biodegradable batteries that can be turned into manure once the lifecycle is complete. Their efforts reaped the fruit in the middle of the 2020 lockdown when the company successfully produced a prototype of the battery.
Ms Nikita Baliarsingh then explained how the new patented technology will help reduce the pollution caused by burning crop residue. According to them, it will causally eradicate seven billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the next century. And, it will also help farmers improve their livelihoods, who can secure an additional income of Rs 25,000 for every 100 batteries.
Talking of the challenges and the need to stay rooted in one’s mission and conviction, the two sisters shared many lessons on building up an idea into a business proposal and how to go about it in terms of finances, teamwork, and emotional stability.
The webinar was then opened for a Q&A session with students. Expectedly, there were a series of questions related to their life, their inspirations, their challenges and their achievements to which the young speakers provided the most convincing answers.
Before they concluded their highly motivating session, both Ms Nikita and Ms Nishita Baliarsingh had some inspiring words of wisdom for all participating students. To quote Ms Nishita Baliarsingh first, she said, “Stick to what you like doing, believe in what you do and believe in yourself. Be honest to yourself and also be realistic. Dream Big … and achieve them!” Ms Nikita Baliarsingh added, “Remember, there is never a eureka moment to crack an idea. Be very observant and open to ideas. You have to constantly challenge yourself and successfully sail through them.”
Thereafter, as a token of gratitude, both Ms Nikita and Ms Nishita Baliarsingh were presented with a glittering “Memento” on behalf of the Asian Education Group, which was much appreciated by the young guests.