INNOVATIONS BEYOND IMAGINATIONS
There were two shopkeepers. Both were selling icecreams. One of the shopkeeper was
getting nervous. Due to entry of MNCs, large companies and their fast marketing
campaigns, the business of selling icecreams was under threat. They were not able to
visualize their business. They were not sure about what to do and how. They were facing
tough task. Every day the sale was decreasing. They realized that it was becoming difficult
for them to sell. Due to increasing promotional campaigns from MNCs and large icecream
companies, they found it difficult to sell any more. They realized that their days were over.
Once they used to go from street to street and they were welcome. Children used to throng
around them and they were always among children. Now it was very difficult for them to
sell. One of the shopkeeper thought about cutting cost and recuding prices. He replaced
milk with lower quality substances and tried to achieve some profit by reducing cost. But
failed. Finally he decided to quit the business and take up job. He couldn’t get a respectable
job either. He was not skilled for any other business, so ultimately, he settled for a very low
menial labour, which didn’t give him either satisfaction or money. The vendor had another
approach, he thought of doing something new and innovative. He made experiments and
evolved new icecreams and approached people with a sense of appreciation. Soon he found
good response. Many rich people invited him to put his stall in their functions – he was the
cynogogue of attention as was offering something different. He was offering something,
which was not available anywhere else. He evolved a unique blend, with his own unique
mixture. He kept his blend a trade secret and soon people became fancy for him. He was
wondering about the possibilities. He thought that if he could have large money, he could
have also expanced his business to give a threat to MNCs. What he lacked was only a
brand name. However, in his small city, he was a brand now.
Innovate or perish. This is the mantra for the new generation. If you really want to survive
and grow, you have to innovate. Innovation comes when you work. Innovators are those
who toil. If you are worker at the ground level, you can experience the technology at work
at the ground level. You can understand what to do and what not to do. Innovation is
achieved by someone who is able to see two things first hand – technology at work and
product at work. In ancient times, we have great many innovators, because we had those
people who could see both these things. Now we have those people, who either know
technology or who visit to the markets and understand the consumers. We don’t have a
person who understand both. Let us break our boundaries and immerse ourselves in
understanding both. When we do try to work from our own hand using simple technology,
we are able to become the master of technology. When we are observing a consumer using
the product and trying to understand his environment, we are able to become the
mastermind innovator. We have to understand the user and the producer in order to
innovate. We have to understand the possibilities, and the potential, in order to innovate.
We have to remove all our assumptions and keep infinite options so that we may innovate.
Innovation is a lifestyle and not just an occurance. If you start innovations, you will
become what makes you truly miraculous. Let us immerse ourselves to the work. At
AFTERSCHO☺OL we put the learners to the task of innovations.
We ask people to break the ice and immerse to work and work at the down level to change
the rules of the game.