Michelin seeking solutions beyond tyres in business incubator scheme

Michelin is working with Indian Angel Network (IAN), a New Delhi-based organisation that brings together entrepreneurs and start-up/early stage ventures, in a joint initiative to assist entrepreneurs in creating innovative mobility solutions for a more efficient delivery of produce from farm to market. The initiative, named Farm to Market Logistics (F2ML), is an incubator managed by IAN and supported by Michelin. It seeks ideas that will reduce waste in the food supply chain through new practices, behaviours and solutions.

“It has been IAN’s continuous endeavour to invest in innovative ideas across sectors,” shared IAN co-founder Saurabh Srivastava. “In partnership with Michelin, IAN would like to focus particularly on the food supply chain. The challenge of moving food produce efficiently from the farms to tables, reducing the current level of waste creates many opportunities to invent and grow profitable businesses in India. IAN encourages entrepreneurs to come forward with ideas and solutions which will make a difference.”

“The tie-up with Michelin will be instrumental in the search for unique and scalable business ideas in the space of food supply chain,” added IAN incubator board member and investor member Ajai Chowdhry. “This initiative, through the contributions of innovative entrepreneurs, will benefit the community at large, across the value chain, from producers in the field to the consumers.”

Under this initiative, shortlisted innovators and entrepreneurs will receive assistance with designing their products or services, building prototypes, getting customer validation and preparing the foundation for the idea’s commercialisation. “Michelin plays a direct role in the quest for sustainable mobility solutions,” commented Philippe Barreaud, Michelin’s head of Innovation Incubation for Asia. “The capacity of the Michelin Group for innovation is not limited to tyres and Michelin has been leading, for several years, initiatives to develop innovative mobility solutions.”

The F2ML initiative is open to individuals, teams or start-ups and SMEs in India and aims to encourage innovators to become entrepreneurs. The shortlisted applications will be assigned business mentors from the IAN mentor pool of successful entrepreneurs, investors and senior professionals.