Make me happy.in directs users to websites of its partner stores and earns commission when users shop
Business is not always about money
making alone. Sometimes, it’s for a cause, too. And Makemehappy.in, a
website, can easily be classified into the special category as it
donates 70 per cent of its earning to a good cause. The website features
online partner shops and earns commission when they link users from
their website to the website of their affiliate partners. The user, in
turn, shops online from these stores. The website keeps only 30 per cent
of the commission and forwards the rest to an NGO. Once its donation
reaches Rs 50,000, it selects another NGO, and thereby keep changing
NGOs to reach out to beneficiaries of different sections.
The start-up is incubated at the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship at IIM-A
The start-up is incubated at the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship at IIM-A
How like-minded got together
The idea of starting the venture was conceptualised by Christian W Atz who hails from Germany. He got support from Akiko Takahashi, a Japanese national, and Rukmani Mohindra from India. Akiko and Rukmani look after the developing area, the operations and communications in India. The website team consists of German, Austrian, Japanese, Spanish and Indian members.
Says Rukmani, “A user can book his flight tickets through our travel agent partners or shop from our partner online stores. We get a fixed commission from our partner shops when we redirect users from our website on to theirs and they shop online. We donate about 70 per cent of the commission to a good cause that can make a difference to someone’s life.” Makehappy, India was launched in February 2012.
Initial struggle
Says Rukmani, “In the beginning, we directed some users to makemytrip, violetbag.com, Shoppersstop and Timesdeal. We generated about Rs 2,100. We conducted an online voting and let users to select the NGO we partner with. Music Basti got the most votes. So it will receive Rs 50,000. Once the amount is donated to it, we will select some another NGO through voting.”
The trio faced a lot of challenges to start the venture. The most challenging was to get partner shops which are famous. She says, “It was difficult to convince the brands and famous chains that what we do and offer is a genuine service. We succeeded and Smile Foundation, Unlimited India and Music Basti participated in Facebook voting. We do not have much funds for marketing, hence our only marketing tool is social media.”
On the cards
Talking about the future plans, she says, “We are now preparing for “makehappy 2.0. For the next release, we will add features, such as “login” and a virtual “contribution account”, so users can follow up the amount that has been forwarded by them. We will try to partner with NGOs supporting various causes and give a chance to users to support the cause (NGO) of their choice.”
The idea of starting the venture was conceptualised by Christian W Atz who hails from Germany. He got support from Akiko Takahashi, a Japanese national, and Rukmani Mohindra from India. Akiko and Rukmani look after the developing area, the operations and communications in India. The website team consists of German, Austrian, Japanese, Spanish and Indian members.
Says Rukmani, “A user can book his flight tickets through our travel agent partners or shop from our partner online stores. We get a fixed commission from our partner shops when we redirect users from our website on to theirs and they shop online. We donate about 70 per cent of the commission to a good cause that can make a difference to someone’s life.” Makehappy, India was launched in February 2012.
Initial struggle
Says Rukmani, “In the beginning, we directed some users to makemytrip, violetbag.com, Shoppersstop and Timesdeal. We generated about Rs 2,100. We conducted an online voting and let users to select the NGO we partner with. Music Basti got the most votes. So it will receive Rs 50,000. Once the amount is donated to it, we will select some another NGO through voting.”
The trio faced a lot of challenges to start the venture. The most challenging was to get partner shops which are famous. She says, “It was difficult to convince the brands and famous chains that what we do and offer is a genuine service. We succeeded and Smile Foundation, Unlimited India and Music Basti participated in Facebook voting. We do not have much funds for marketing, hence our only marketing tool is social media.”
On the cards
Talking about the future plans, she says, “We are now preparing for “makehappy 2.0. For the next release, we will add features, such as “login” and a virtual “contribution account”, so users can follow up the amount that has been forwarded by them. We will try to partner with NGOs supporting various causes and give a chance to users to support the cause (NGO) of their choice.”
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