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hospitals have shown interest in the device.
     
    The 3Nethra pediatric machine, designed for children in the age group of 3-8 years, is also in the pipeline. This is the age group during which the imaging system of the eye develops. Many eye ailments, like squint, develop during this age, but become observable only at a much later stage, when it is usually too late. It is easily treatable in the initial stages. Thus, this device would help in the timely detection of eye ailments peculiar to this age group.”
     
    An innovator once is an innovator for a lifetime. Shyam is a visionary with an inspiring passion for innovation and social good. We hope his work goes on to serve the masses across the globe.
     
    For the Innovator in You
     
    “The progress in 3Cs – communication, computation and collaboration – has made it much easier for people to acquire and share knowledge. With the emergence of new and fairer business models, there is renewed vigor around the world to innovate for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. It is an underserved market that innovators should focus on, to earn good financial returns as well as great satisfaction.
    In India, companies in the service industry multiply their wealth very fast, but this does not happen for a product-based company. Market acceptance for a product may take time, so one should be patient. Also, financial resources must be managed such that you do not have to be in a rush to make money.”
     
     

 
    Mansukhbhai recounting his MittiCool story to foreign audience via an interpreter
     

MittiCool Refrigerator
     
    Mansukhbhai Prajapati may be the most popular Indian innovator that you have never heard of. He is the poster boy of grassroots level innovators in India, and has been featured in almost every newspaper in India, in the Harvard Business Review and even on Discovery Channel and BBC.
    Mansukhbhai comes from a traditional clay potters’ family. He was born in Nichimandal village, in Morbi district of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region. Morbi is known for its glazed ceramic tiles and has several kilns.
     
    In 1979, Nichimandal was destroyed by floods and Mansukhbhai’s father was forced to migrate to Rajkot, where he found work as a construction laborer for daily wages. Mansukhbhai was left behind with his grandparents in Wakaner, 70 km from Morbi.
     
    At the age of seven, his marriage was fixed with a girl from a relatively well-off family. He continued to study, but failed his class X exams. His father then arranged for him to work in a brick kiln, but Mansukhbhai hated it because of the dust. Soon, he convinced his father to let him buy a pushcart to sell tea on the highway, just outside Wakaner, but the endeavor didn’t last too long.
     
    “I enjoyed being a tea-vendor, but I lived in the fear that my in-laws would see me and call off the marriage. I used to hide behind my push-cart whenever my in-laws passed by the highway. Though the business was doing fine, I didn’t want to lose my bride-to-be for it.”
     
    One day, the owner of a factory that made red roof tiles came to his stall. As he was having tea, he asked Mansukhbhai if he knew any young boy of his age who may be looking for employment. Sixteen-year-old Mansukh almost screamed in excitement that he was available. Even before the factory owner could tell him what the job entailed or how much he would be paid, he had accepted it.
     
    The job at the factory required staying 24×7 within the factory premises. Day-to-day activities involved looking after the security and counting the roof tiles before they were loaded on the truck. Sometimes, Mansukhbhai had to substitute for any laborer who would call in sick.
     
    “I was paid10 a day, along with meals and had the factory floor for a bed. For the next six years, I did every odd job at the factory, from repairing the machinery to making the clay and sweeping the floor.”
     
    In 1988, at the age of 22, he married the woman he was betrothed to.