ISLAMABAD (PRESS RELEASE)
AutoSahulat, a car-repair service spotting and comparing startup created by Telenor Pakistan as part of Telenor Group’s employee innovation program ‘Ignite’, has been chosen as one of the winning internal startups. AutoSahulat, along with six other winning product and service ideas from Telenor’s different global chapters, will now move on to a three-month incubator program to develop their ideas further.
“Telenor Group created Ignite to give its own budding intrapreneurs an opportunity to develop their ideas for a great digital product or service. They’ll learn about service design, user research, prototyping and getting their projects to market. In essence, building their ‘napkin ideas’ into pilot products,” says Erica Gibson, VP – Head of Product Management and User Research at Telenor Group. “I’m impressed with the level of ideas received and the engagement across all of our global markets.”
Ignite 2018’s main focus is on improving Telenor’s core connectivity product, in addition to communication services, storage and security, health and entertainment. Teams are encouraged to explore not only the topic of new products, but also the new business models and new ways to offer existing products to customers.
The teams who emerge successfully from the pitch move on to a three-month startup incubator at dtac Hangar in Bangkok, Grameenphone Accelerator in Dhaka or Startup Lab in Oslo to take their idea into a testable prototype or minimum viable product (MVP). Their day jobs will be kept open and they will receive their normal salary during this time. Successful pilots of the winning teams will then be given resources to develop their idea into a product that will positively impact the societies in which Telenor operates.
From nearly 200 applications, 18 teams from nine countries were shortlisted and pitched in Singapore for a place in the incubator on 18-19 January 2018. Ideas advancing to the next stage range from AI-driven connectivity monitoring, video streaming solutions and health insurance to home security, mental health- and self-care solutions and automotive services.
THE WINNING TEAMS
- Telenor AutoSahulat (of Telenor, Pakistan) – A platform that will register Vehicle Repair Service providers, and will let the Vehicle Owners Identify where the nearest repair shop is and compare service
- Eureka (of Digi, Malaysia) – Self-serve community app with AI which allows customers to view, report and receive updates on network and connectivity issues
- Healthy Life (of Telenor Group and Telenor Norway, Norway) – Health Insurance with activity tracking
- Horizon (of Grameenphone, Bangladesh) – Digital platform to combat mental health problems
- Homebird (of Grameenphone, Bangladesh) – Bringing security home to everyone
- SelfCare Assistant (of Telenor, Hungary) – Utilising digital voice assistants as a self-care platform
- Wowplay (of Telenor, Myanmar) – Digital video streaming built for rural data users
IGNITE IN NUMBERS
- Three Ignite-incubated products have been market-launched with seven more ongoing
- Intrapreneurs from nine markets in 2018 programme
- Nearly 200 applications in 2018 programme
- 18 teams, 2-3 employees per team in 2018 programme
- Seven teams selected for 2018 incubator stage
- 150-200 employees have been through Ignite in 2016-2018
- Three months paid leave from employee’s day-to-day jobs