“This year, the focus was on assisting some of our portfolio companies in utilising data more effectively. For example, one project involved consolidating and organising a company's historical data, then analysing sales by zip code to provide reference metrics for expanding its store network. Another project focused on automating MIS generation for a different company, significantly reducing manual tasks by 90%. Both projects were highly appreciated by the teams, and their success has motivated me to undertake similar initiatives wherever value can be added across other portfolio companies.
I also set up the first of its kind fellowship programme at Lightbox, leading to the onboarding of four undergraduate students from IIT Bombay to collaborate with the investments team across space evaluation, content generation, competitor analysis and portfolio projects. We extended the fellowship period for three out of the four candidates. The success of the fellowship pilot this year will serve as the foundation for similar initiatives in the future, including involving students from universities across the country.”