The Indian food delivery app Zomato introduced a new feature called Zomato Originals on its mobile app.  With the feature, Zomato entered the world of video streaming. The over the top (OTT) streaming feature will have original food themed programs belonging to different genres like comedy, reality, fiction, advice and celebrity interviews.  Another category, Sneak Peek, will give inside stories about various restaurants. However, the Sneak Peek feature is currently available in only 18 cities. 

Over the next 3 months, Zomato Originals will feature 18 original series produced by the food delivery app.  These series are divided into 3-15 minute videos. Zomato plans to add 2,000 videos to the app, which will be available for streaming only in India.  However, Sneak Peek and recipe videos will be available across the world. All the shows are shot vertically, which makes it easier to view them on mobiles.

In a statement, Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goel said, “We are constantly looking for new ways to engage our users around food. Most of our users visit the app several times a week. This presents an opportunity to further delight our users using Zomato Originals.”

Zomato Originals features some well known names of Indian social media, like Sumukhi Suresh, who stars in the show Banake Dikha, in which she teaches the audience how to get the basics of cooking right.  Another show, Food and You, features India’s well known chef Sanjeev Kapoor.  The 3 minute daily show talks about the myths surrounding food.  Other shows on the app include Starry Meals with Janice, where social media star Janice Sequria takes a look inside Bollywood stars’ kitchens.  Another show which would be available is Grandmaster Chef with Sahil Shah, where comedian Sahil Shah learns old recipes.

Although Zomato is new to the OTT sector, according to the Company, it will not have a problem attracting viewers as most of its users spend a lot of time on the app.  With 70 million daily active users, looks like Zomato found the perfect opportunity to grow.

The Walton family, in control of the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, was named the richest family in the world by Bloomberg in June 2018.  The family adds $ 70,000 per minute, $ 4 million per hour and $ 100 million per day to their fortune. 

The Walton family consists of Walmart founder Sam Walton’s two sons Jim and Rob Walton and daughter Alice Walton.  It also includes Sam’s late son Jhon’s widow, Christy Walton and her son Lucas. The family owns more than 50 % of Walmart through their individual holdings as well as through holding company Walton Enterprises.  Their collective wealth makes the Walton family the richest in the world.

The Walton family inherited the majority of their fortune from Sam Walton, who founded Walmart as Walton’s Five and Dime in 1945 after borrowing money from his father in law.  Walmart then expanded massively, making Sam Walton the richest man in America at one point in his life.  Now a hugely successful retail corporation, Walmart operates a chain of discount department stores and grocery stores.  The Company has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries and employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide. Based on its annual revenue of $ 514.14 billion, Walmart is considered to be the world’s largest corporation. 

Walmart made news in India after it struck a deal to acquire the Indian ecommerce company Flipkart in 2018.  Walmart acquired 77 % of the Company’s stake from Flipkart co founder Binny Bansal by investing $ 16 billion.

Since the ranking of the Waltons as the world’s richest family in June 2018, their wealth increased by $ 39 billion, making their net worth shoot up to $ 191 billion.

The Women Startup Summit was held recently in Kochi and was hosted by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM,) in association with the Indian Women Network, under the Confederation of Indian Industries.  The summit brought together various women entrepreneurs and women leaders from different parts of India, who shared their experiences and stories with a crowd of students and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The main topic of the day long summit was to tackle the problems which restrict the women of Kerala from entering the field of entrepreneurship.  The topic was discussed by the speakers of the summit, which included Kerala State Planning Board member Dr. Mridul Eapen and Kerala IT Secretary M. Sivasankar.  Mr. Sivasankar listed the three main reasons which stop the women of the State from venturing into the business sector.

The first of the three reasons he stated was “social barriers,” such as girl students not being able to put in more study hours at their school or college because of strict hostel rules imposed for their safety.  The second reason cited by Sivasankar was the increased need for experienced woman with professional experience of 5 to 10 years heading “brown startups.” The third reason mentioned was the lack of women coordinators at the KSUM Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres. 

Dr. Mridula Eapen said the lack of awareness among the women of Kerala about their potential may be a factor in less women opting for a career in the field of entrepreneurship.  She stated in her inaugural speech, “The proposals and points emerging in a meet like this will have their resonance in the policy making decisions of the board. The summit is definitely a strong step towards women empowerment.” 

The meet also hosted the “She Loves Tech 2019 Global Startup Competition,” with Dr. Nusrat Sanghamitra of CyCa OncoSolutions winning the competition.

Despite having a high literacy rate only few women from Kerala are willing to venture into the field of startup.  Kerala Government organized the Women Startup Summit in an effort to eliminate this problem and encourage the women of Kerala to participate more in the startup industry.