1. INNOVATIONS BEYOND IMAGINATIONS
There were two shopkeepers. Both were selling icecreams. One of the shopkeeper was
getting nervous. Due to entry of MNCs, large companies and their fast marketing
campaigns, the business of selling icecreams was under threat. They were not able to
visualize their business. They were not sure about what to do and how. They were facing
tough task. Every day the sale was decreasing. They realized that it was becoming
difficult for them to sell. Due to increasing promotional campaigns from MNCs and large
icecream companies, they found it difficult to sell any more. They realized that their days
were over. Once they used to go from street to street and they were welcome. Children
used to throng around them and they were always among children. Now it was very
difficult for them to sell. One of the shopkeeper thought about cutting cost and recuding
prices. He replaced milk with lower quality substances and tried to achieve some profit
by reducing cost. But failed. Finally he decided to quit the business and take up job. He
couldn’t get a respectable job either. He was not skilled for any other business, so
ultimately, he settled for a very low menial labour, which didn’t give him either
satisfaction or money. The vendor had another approach, he thought of doing something
new and innovative. He made experiments and evolved new icecreams and approached
people with a sense of appreciation. Soon he found good response. Many rich people
invited him to put his stall in their functions – he was the cynogogue of attention as was
offering something different. He was offering something, which was not available
anywhere else. He evolved a unique blend, with his own unique mixture. He kept his
blend a trade secret and soon people became fancy for him. He was wondering about the
possibilities. He thought that if he could have large money, he could have also expanced
his business to give a threat to MNCs. What he lacked was only a brand name. However,
in his small city, he was a brand now.
Innovate or perish. This is the mantra for the new generation. If you really want to
survive and grow, you have to innovate. Innovation comes when you work. Innovators
are those who toil. If you are worker at the ground level, you can experience the
technology at work at the ground level. You can understand what to do and what not to
do. Innovation is achieved by someone who is able to see two things first hand –
technology at work and product at work. In ancient times, we have great many
innovators, because we had those people who could see both these things. Now we have
those people, who either know technology or who visit to the markets and understand the
consumers. We don’t have a person who understand both. Let us break our boundaries
and immerse ourselves in understanding both. When we do try to work from our own
hand using simple technology, we are able to become the master of technology. When we
are observing a consumer using the product and trying to understand his environment, we
are able to become the mastermind innovator. We have to understand the user and the
producer in order to innovate. We have to understand the possibilities, and the potential,
in order to innovate. We have to remove all our assumptions and keep infinite options so
that we may innovate.
Innovation is a lifestyle and not just an occurance. If you start innovations, you will
become what makes you truly miraculous. Let us immerse ourselves to the work. At
AFTERSCHO☺OL we put the learners to the task of innovations.

2. We ask people to break the ice and immerse to work and work at the down level to
change the rules of the game.