One of the highlights of any trip is the opportunity to meet with other .CO enthusiasts and website owners.  While in Delhi with the Geeks on a Plane crew, I met entrepreneur Swapnil Chaturvedi, CEO of Samagra.co at Startup Weekend Delhi.  With over a million registrations, I know that .CO is everywhere, but I still relish meeting our community in the far reaches of the world.  I did a small Q&A with Swapnil in order to get some first-hand knowledge of why he is excited to be online, grow his business and proudly use the .CO extension for his online platform. 

Here it is – Enjoy!

What was your inspiration for Samagra.co?
My journey towards making a social/environmental impact started when my wife became pregnant with our first child. I was doing lot of research about effect of environmental toxins on the fetus and it was during this time that we visited India after a gap of 4 years. Being away from India for a long time gave me a different perspective towards India’s social and environmental problems. It made me realize that although Indian GDP is growing at a phenomenal rate, there are no systems to enable people to meet their most basic needs. I was (and still am) shocked by the growing economic disparity. While Forbes magazine has many Indians listed as the 20 richest people, there are still over 500 million Indians who earn less than $2 a day and live without basic needs like water, sanitation, electricity.

I realized that while I am leading my life in blissful ignorance, there are over 1000 kids dying every day in India from diseases that can be easily prevented. This realization shook me to the core. Not long after this, I left my job in the US and started finding ways to create the most impact with my efforts.

Tell me more about Samagra.co – what does your company do?
I decided to start Samagra to enable the urban poor to lead healthier and more dignified lives.  By leveraging and optimizing proven technologies to convert human waste into electricity, Samagra provides sanitation and clean energy to the urban poor living in the slums of India.

What is your long term vision for Samagra.co?
Although I have started Samagra with a vertically integrated structure, my long term vision is to create a community of local entrepreneurs who will own various components of Samagra’s value chain and will manage the health and wellness of their communities on their own.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?
For us, the biggest challenge has been in changing people’s behavior regarding sanitation and hygiene. Now education and awareness campaigns are an important part of our business model. Having worked on few behavior change programs based on “psychology of influence” and having spent considerable time in understanding people’s “wants and needs”, we are now launching a new program we call Poop Rewards.  This program has been designed to promote wide-scale behavior change for people who live in rural areas.

What 3 words do you want people to think of Samagra.co?
Cradle-To-Cradle (Holistic, Inclusive, Integrated)

Why did you choose .CO as your online home?
Well, .CO is cool! (as he laughs).  Also, it was available to me when other options were not or were undesirable as being able to truly share the global scope of my business vision.

What 3 words do you think of when you think of .CO?
Novel, Different, Futuristic

Lastly, what is the single most important piece advice you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are hoping to get their big ideas off the ground?
First know “WHY” you want to start your own company. Once you know the WHY, the How, What, Where, Who, When etc can be easily figured out.  Have fun!