Ajaita Shah wins global start-up pitch

Jaipur-based woman entrepreneur Ajaita Shah has been named as the grand champion of Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) competition at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit here .

Her start-up, Frontier Markets, is a last-mile provider of energy products with a focus on solar technology. It is engaged in helping rural households gain access to clear solar technology products, among others.

Shah, who was engaged in micro-finance earlier, has won the competition in which hundreds of competitors from 65 countries participated. Of these, 24 entered the semi-finals and four made it to the final round.

As the grand champion, Shah will receive $50,000 in Amazon Web Services credits, a Dell laptop computer, admission to the 2018 Circular Summit from Alice, an exclusive virtual mentioning session with an Amazon Executive, and $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, among others.

She will also be designated the Cognizant “Genesis Award” Winner and receive $2,000 in cash.

Responding to queries from BusinessLine, Shah said her company has helped hundreds of rural women earn ₹65,000 to ₹1 lakh by way of distributing/selling solar products. Established in 2011, Frontier Markets has invested $1.5 million till date and is planing to raise another $2 million for expansion. “We have lined up expansion to six States, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Orissa,” she said.