Neha Tapadiya, co-founder of Scion Energy Storage, found her purpose of life in creating her own company. As she found her purpose in Scion Energy Storage, an energy storage startup company, she is contributing to the need of creating a sustainable energy future with her energy storage company.
Ikigai is a Japanese word that means “the reason of being” or in other words we can put it as the “reason to jump out of bed every morning”. This term has a lot of rough and approximate translations but the key idea is “finding happiness in what you do”. Neha Tapadiya proudly says that she has found ikigai in “the art of creation”. Let it be her successful energy storage startup, Scion Energy Storage or her creative venture, “Eat Travel Inspire by Neha”. Neha Tapadiya, the co-founder of Scion Energy Solutions is more than what meets the eye.
The journey of finding a purpose
Coming from a family with a business background on both maternal and paternal sides, having a natural inclination to the field was almost inevitable. Her father Mr. Natwarlal Malu is the founder of Sanjivani Plastic Piping Systems, Sangli. Growing up observing keenly the manufacturing done at the factory and closely observing her father smoothly functioning in his office and being a part of the business conversations that filled the dinner table, filled little Neha’s heart with awe. Even though she wasn't clear about her road ahead, she was certain that she too wanted to build something on her own.
After her schooling, she got exposure to Electronics subject during her vocational course in higher secondary education for two years. She found herself enjoying the subject and decided to pursue it further and joined the DKTE’s Textile & Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji to pursue Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Telecommunication in 2007.
After completing her graduation in ENTC Engineering, Neha worked for Avanti Software Solutions Pvt Ltd as a Software Engineer. Later she decided to broaden her knowledge and went to Northeastern University in Boston, USA to do her Master of Science in Engineering Management in 2012. Neha chose this particular course as she was not looking for a mainstream tech syllabus, but rather a mixed exposure where she could get management as well as tech knowledge. Learning about subjects such as Supply chain, Marketing, Operations and all was adding to her entrepreneurial spirit inside.
She was also a coach at IDEA – Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator, to mentor and guide startup companies that were formed by the students in university to get funding from investors. She used to help them in pitching their ideas and presenting themselves to potential prospects and analyzing their products to implement necessary changes to make them more commercially viable. 8 out of 12 startups that took her guidance got their funding.
Interacting and brainstorming with such a crowd resulted in developing a lot of ideas for a startup herself. She also did an internship with EnerNOC, an energy solutions company, and got hands-on experience on the business aspect of the energy sector. After coming back to India, she worked with her father in Sanjivani Pipes as an Export head. Before her, there wasn't an exporting unit in the company and with Neha's effort they were successful on the exporting front in a year or two
Scion Energy Solutions
After getting married in 2017 to Mr. Manish Tapadiya Neha moved to Solapur. The family owned the successful business empire GITA Group. Neha wanted to contribute her part while at the same time doing something different from the existing family business. “Since I already had experience in the energy storage industry, we saw potential in the Indian market as almost nobody was coming up with the technology required for an effective energy storage sector which is a bridge between the current power generation and power consumption.
There was a gap in the energy sector and hence we decided to enter this industry in 2018,” she says. “Also, as a part of GITA Group, we were already into energy generation, and ACSR wire manufacturing, so the energy sector was the vertical for forwarding integration in the business line. So, this led to entering this unique and thrilling industry,” she adds.
Neha and Manish decided to start the company as a start-up from scratch. They shifted to Pune with minimal needs, this was a choice that they've made and now were fully committed to it. The company started in a conference room and with three people for a good 6 months. Also, they got hands-on exposure to the product in the first year as it was crucial to have a very clear picture of what they were doing. The toughest bit, in the beginning, was to prove the product.
“India was a new market and the conventional methods of energy storage were easily available and were economically cheaper. Even though the durability and compact structure of the Lithium battery was pleasing, the price of Lithium batteries at that time was higher than the Lead-acid batteries that were already in use, so it was as good as creating a new market altogether,” she says.
But Neha and Manish were determined looking at the potential this industry had, they were persistent with the clients and answered every question patiently. They didn't just have to find a place in the existing market to sell but rather had to create a market itself. Gradually, the company entered the different niche applications and proved the product.
They were catering Electric Vehicle, AGVs and Industrial Robots, Medical, Defense, Solar Applications by this time. This gave Scion a technical expertise edge as it provided each product customized as per customer’s requirement.
The hard work and persistence are paying off and what started from a conference room and three people is now a platform with 200MWh/ year capacity and more than 50 working staff. “We plan to maintain the balance of male and female employees in the organization. We provide maternity leave as well as flexible working hours for females along with a free-hand platform where women can come forward and take up higher positions and responsibilities and develop themselves.
We also have programs to help employees take up various courses to develop their skills and expertise. We had around 7 0%-30% female to male employees working for us in the financial year 2021-22. Also the company's growth rate in the same year has been 300%, this journey is exciting and we look ahead to growing exponentially,” Neha proudly adds.
Eat Travel Inspire by Neha
While doing MS and coaching and getting married, starting a company from scratch Neha was also figuring out and exploring her interests. Living alone in the USA and having to cook for herself had concreted in her an interest in experimenting with global cuisines with local ingredients. Plus the solitude there helped her to self-reflect and to develop an affinity to wards travel ing and writ ing her heart out through her blogs.
Eat. Travel. Inspire. by Neha is an amalgamation of everything she is and loves. Let it be the production of large-scale Lithium-ion batteries or the handmade process of Purplessence: Neha’s handmade body essential products range or just preparing her favourite food delicacy, she found adrenaline rush in the process. She found her ikigai in the art of creation.
Women in the EV sector
On women's participation in the EV sector, Neha says, “This is a fairly new sector and the number of women participating is increasing over the years. I feel more women should take a core interest in the technology and infrastructure developing in this field. This will give them a platform to participate more. Today, women are excelling in almost all the fields out there right from aerospace to medicine to technology. So, the EV sector is a great platform for women looking out to establish and create unique and sustainable solutions. This is a sunrise industry and I welcome maximum women to enter this field.”
“I believe that Indian culture has always been so adaptable to the changing times. I feel it is the equal responsibility of the women interested in having a professional career to understand our Indian culture, why it is important in our well-being in terms of lifestyle, family, social as well as personal life and then take action accordingly. “
The pursuit of Ikigai
When a woman immerses herself in Business because of what's at stake, she has to make conscious choices on her priorities to get things done. Still, the beauty here is how she is finding happiness in what she is doing. She knows how important her role is in the company is and she enjoy s every second of it. As this is what she always wanted to do. She is finding her career as what excites her to jump out of bed every morning. It's safe to say that Neha has found her ikigai.