Meet Vamsi Udayagiri who is performing his bit to bridge the rural divide for enterprises and shoppers. His most current venture is Hesa, a Telangana-based rural startup that is connecting Bharat with India phygitally. “It is redefining rural commerce by providing last mile physical and digital connect to rural areas,” says Vamsi, founder and CEO, Hesa. “Our primary objective is to enable brands to reach the last mile customers in remote Bharat phygitally.”
Hesa’s integrated B2B marketplace connects each the ends and enables obtaining and promoting with an practically ‘doorstep access’. Hesa’s phygital method (a physical network of village level entrepreneurs referred to as Hesaathis, assisted by a digital commerce platform at each and every village) enables enterprises to attain, showcase, convince and transact with their rural target audience, says Vamsi.
Hesa’s aim is to be the connector and provide finish-to-finish access to brands, an chance to rural shoppers, build microentrepreneurs and therefore allow many livelihoods at scale. Commencing operations in April 2020, Hesa closed the year with Rs 30.12 crore as gross income. It has witnessed 25% typical month-to-month development and 65% retention price. “In the process, Hesa has been able to decode the unit economics model for rural ecosystem,” he says.
Businesses in rural India thrive on trust and relationships, he says. Hesa’s deep understanding of the rural client and the presence of a tech-savvy, regional village level entrepreneur, the Hesaathi tends to make Hesa the go-to rural connector. Hesa is presently operating in 11 districts, with presence in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra and more than 7000 Hesaathis, of which more than 30% are ladies. Vamsi says that Hesa has catered to more than six lakh clients with 40 brands on Hesa’s platform in a brief span of one year.
In March 2021, Hesa emerged as one of the two winners amongst the 200-plus startups across the nation in the “Road to Elevate Competition” by IIT Madras’ Entrepreneurship Cell. In Feb 2021, Hesa was recognised as one of the best 5 startups amongst 1000-plus startups in India and 5 other nations at the Innopreneurs Startup Contest.
Hesa gives each and every business enterprise a space to ride its network and attain the remotest corners to offer you its solutions and/or services. In a Hesa powered village, rural clients can purchase or sell a variety of solutions, avail banking and other economic facilities and also spend utility bills from the comfort of their village. All that is necessary is a go to to the regional village level entrepreneur (Hesaathi), who logs in to the Hesa digital platform and transacts on their behalf.
In the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Hesa has been acting as a bridge among the brands attempting to attain the rural marketplace and the clients in requirements of the services and solutions. It has not too long ago launched a #savinglivelihood initiative which will allow employment possibilities to these who have lost their jobs/employment amidst the crisis. It has currently onboarded 300 persons although the imitative in a extremely brief span of time.
Hesa has been delivering an crucial ration kit worth about Rs 400 for Covid patients. It has been promoting about 1000 kits each and every day. Since the Central and state governments have come up with Covid insurance coverage, Hesaathis have been promoting about 4,000 such policies each and every month.
“Farmers in small villages have not been able to sell their produce due to lockdown restrictions. Hesa has helped in reselling produce such as onion, ginger, potatoes, paddy worth Rs 7-8 lakh,” says Vamsi, adding, “We are actively helping rural customers in vaccination registration and have helped 3,000 people.”