This Indore based Social Startup Helps Needy Patients by Raising Funds for Their Treatment and Organises Cancer Awareness Programs

We are publishing an interview of Ms. Ranu Jain Gupta – Founder, My Sanika – A social startup that helps needy patients by raising funds for their treatment and organises cancer awareness programs.

Please tell us about the founders
Life was going smooth around 14 years ago. One fine day we got to know that our father has been detected with the dreadful disease Cancer. It shook the whole family as me and my younger brother was studying and our father was the only earning member of the family.

Our mother took a bold step and she started handling the business along with taking care of our father and the entire family. We had spent so much money in his treatment but still she sent me to study out of Indore in one of the most expensive institutions of India. She took a loan for this. She always kept me like a princess.

He passed away around four years ago and that very day, I had decided to do something for the needy cancer patients. Around one year and half years on January 10, 2016 I had started an NGO, My Sanika Cancer Care Society.

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem? 
India has a huge number of cancer patients who choose to discontinue their treatment due to lack of funds, ignorance or sometimes due to superstitions. My Sanika helps needy patients by raising funds for their treatment and organises cancer awareness programs.

During our father’s treatment, we had seen that so many patients and their families were unable to afford the treatment. Some of them had a myth that the disease now the patient can’t be saved. Some of them went for the unconventional homely remedies.

What is the uniqueness about your Startup? 
There are NGOs that are working for the welfare of needy cancer patients but majority of them are mainly dependent on donations. The unique part about our NGO is that 95% of our funds are coming from the events that we organise.

We have a very small team but still we could manage to organise 9 fundraising events without asking for donations and any sponsorship. Till date we have helped 12 needy cancer patients.

What is the revenue model? Explain your thought process. 
We organise various fundraising events and all the proceeds are given for the welfare of needy cancer patients.

We also did an auction of merchandise by YouWeCan, a foundation of Yuvraj Singh. All the proceeds were given to YouWeCan for the education of cancer survivor kids.

Who are the consumers that you are targeting? 
We target different set of people based on the event that we organise.

What is the big picture of your startup? Will it lead to something bigger? If so, how? 
We have come up with a story platform “The Super Warriors”. Through this platform, we will share the inspirational stories of Cancer conquerors to motivate the other fighters.

We are also coming up with a big business plan to scale up My Sanika and as a target for 2017, we want to help at least 100 patients.

What is the success story of your startup in your own words? 
As a social entrepreneur I had faced many challenges, many frustrations and lot of disappointments.

I still remember when we wanted to do our first fundraiser. It was a drawing competition “Paint Fitness” for kids. We went to so many people for the sponsorship but everyone denied saying two things:

How do we trust you? Do you have 80G?
We were too new to have 80 G and about “trust” we could only ask them to give us a chance to prove.

That day I had decided that we will do things on our own without trying much for the sponsorship and donations.

Being a mother while running your own organization and working in an IT company was very challenging. Mompreneurs have dual responsibilities but family supported me a lot and that’s the reason I could achieve so much within one year.

Today, we get media coverage from all the popular media and newspapers. We have also received three awards. One of them is “The Emerging Startup of 2017”

Any other information about your startup that you would like to share with us.
Here I will write about when and how we helped our 1st needy patient.

We raised our first fund through painting competition for kids “Paint Fitness”. So many kids participated in it and contributed to a cause. That day I realised that real happiness lies in “giving” not “taking” 🙂

A special message for the aspiring women entrepreneurs:
Entrepreneurship is an ideal model for women to launch themselves and their ideas into the business world. Multitasking has been in your blood since ages. By opting a path of entrepreneurship you can adjust and manage household and business life successfully on your own terms.

Thanks Ms. Ranu. Best of luck!