In a country where it almost always feels like summer, popsicles are a treat that people can’t get enough of — no matter what their age. The only thing that makes them less-than-perfect is the mess — sticky fingertips and little drops of ice candy all over the place. But not anymore! A young team from the city has come up with an award-winning product that takes the mess out eating a popsicle.
POP & LICK won the TiE Hyderabad team the second prize and USD 2,000 at the annual TiE Young Entrepreneurs Global Competition held in Washington DC recently. TiE Oregon won first place at the event with its product MelaKnow, and TiE Atlanta won third place with Bye-Bye Wifi.
TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) is an initiative of TiE Global dedicated to the integration of classroom sessions, mentoring and business planning, aimed at high school students (grades 9 to 12 or equivalent). The programme is designed to build students’ entrepreneurship and leadership skills.
The eight-member team representing the Hyderabad chapter won the TYE Hyderabad Business Plan Competition for 2017-18 with its innovative product POP & LICK — a popsicle holder that prevents dripping. Their simple solution not only eliminates the mess but is also fully edible in chocolate flavour — which makes it eco-friendly. Interestingly, the team was given a funding of Rs 1 lakh by TiE Hyderabad as a prototype funding using which they procured all the material required to create the holder.
Team POP & LICK comprises Aryana Rao and Sreeja Muppidi from Chirec International School, Sohini Kasu from Oakridge International School, Abheek Dendukuri from Sadhu Vaswani International School, Mukund T. Dittakavi from Bhavans School, Vaishnavi Simran Palreddy from Silver Oaks School and Jeshurun Nikhil Chauhan from Rockwell International School.
The final stage of the TiE Young Entrepreneurs Global Competition featured 20 teams from TiE chapters across the world. Talking about their experience, chief popsicle officer Mukund T. Dittakavi says, “The competition had various levels; we had to make a 15-minute presentation about our product for the judges, after which they questioned us for another 10 minutes, delving into the minutest details of not only the product itself but also our business plan to sell it.”
You can expect to hear more about the team and the product as they plan to start selling it soon. “We would like to introduce the product to the Hyderabad market and start making revenues by August itself,” says Mukund.
Meanwhile, chief business officer Vaishnavi Simran Palreddy will carry on building relations with channel partners, and CEO Aryana Rao will develop strategies to accelerate the company’s growth.
