Shilpa Shows Women And Technology Go Hand In Hand

Parents are always worried about their children’s safety. More so when child abuse cases have gained prominence, partly due to wide reportage of these inci ,dents. 


Shilpa Bhatnagar, CEO, Evoxyz is building a child security solution to keep parents informed about their children's well being at all times. 


The solution will be available to parent/guardians in the form of a smartphone application. A wearable device with the children will enable flow of this information to Evoxyz servers. All the magic will happen at the Evoxyz server to ensure an experience to parents and guardians so that they are informed beforehand to take any preventive measures. 


ON HER VISION

Shilpa says, “I am trying to create a safer world for our children using technology. Child Safety is a key National Issue in our country. Some of the key facts are that:-

• Children go missing while commuting to and fro from their schools and homes. Information reaches parents, schools and other stakeholders much later.

• Children subjected to abuse in indoor premises when alone. They do not have any facility to contact for help when in need.
   

• Discipline issues related to potential offenders in early years go unnoticed. Zero or very less information flows to the right people(parent/guardian or school security) which aggravates the problem

Shilpa goes on to add that being a mother helped her to grasp the urgency of the situation even more.

“Being a mother of an 8-year-old child I always felt the urge to use my strength, technology, to ensure that I could contribute to the cause of child safety. Year 2014 was the tipping point for me, just after the Nirbhaya case and so many child abuse incidents being reported from schools and institutes, I felt the urge to do my bit and this gave birth to Evoschool, the first version of our child safety solution which is deployed in schools.



HOW Evoschool WORKS


“We built a micro location tracking system deployed within indoor premises to report child whereabouts at all times to schools security or to parents. We were extremely passionate about our cause and got a revenue paying customer within 2 months of our inception. Once we did a press release for this solution, queries started pouring in from parents and anxious mothers that they would like to have solution which is applicable everywhere."



"We started building the same and came out with another solution known as Evotag which works on Bluetooth over a limited range. Evotag got a lot of popularity and we wanted to take the next leap where child whereabouts and well being could be reported anytime / anywhere and this gave birth to our next product line which will be launched in March 2017.”



WHAT MOTIVATES HER?



“The very fact that I am doing something which has a direct impact on so many lives motivates and inspires me to work every day. My childhood ambition was always to be an Engineering Entrepreneur. I always wanted to build a business around Engineering and support my dad to  ensure that he has done the right thing by investing in me, irrespective of the societal pressures.”

SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT


“I am yet to come across a person who would not have appreciated or inspired me to take such a decision. All of them feel that I have done the right and a brave thing to quit a cushy job and build a business which has such a great social impact.”


“Women and technology are not seen in the same light yet as women are seen with fashion or art. This is the only small stereotype I have felt as a disadvantage and I am trying to do my bit to change it.”

The biggest challenge faced by Shilpa is to convince the customers about the relevance of the technology.

“Everyday in the life of an entrepreneur is a challenge. However, the key hurdle I face in my journey is explaining the value of technology in a solution to our potential customers. Customers generally don’t understand the value of a thing they cannot touch and feel. This is a typical software sales problem and it’s even bigger in India as people are still in early adoption phase of technology. We overcome them by showing them live demos, lots of videos and explaining how others benefited from our product.”

WHAT IS CHANGING FOR WOMEN PROFESSIONALS

“The very fact that we are having workshops like Tipping point 1.0 means a lot is changing for women professionals in India. We are being given equal opportunity sometime may be more than what men get.”