Energize 2022 – Day 6

Day 6 of Energize 2022 offered ANBites a change of pace. The previous five days focused on products and technologies, preparing the team to achieve the roadmap to scale up implementations this year. Sushmita Singh of PotHoleRaja® gave today’s presentation. In his introduction of Ms. Singh, President and CTO Abhishek Balakrishnan commented that technology is transforming societies, but the physical world still matters. Billions of dollars per year are spent on vehicle repair, and thousands of lives are lost annually because of the poor driving conditions of the roads.

This is where PotHoleRaja comes in. According to Ms. Singh, PotHoleRaja’s goal is to” make our world pothole free.” PotHoleRaja is a non-governmental organization in India that has been repairing roads since 2016. In fact, last year, over 13,000 potholes were repaired across India. What is unique about their approach is their combination of technology and community building. Individuals can report a pothole and its grid location via WhatsApp, then volunteers from the area repair the pothole. PotHoleRaja coordinates with the local government and provides the repair materials. Not only can individuals report and repair the roads, but businesses such as Nissan, ABB, and Lenovo are also sponsoring road upgrades around their facilities to promote safe driving and pedestrian safety. PotHoleRaja receives no government funds and relies on corporate support and private donations. Ms. Singh summed it up by stating that everyone deserves to travel like a Raja or Rani.

This talk further energized the ANBites as they saw the potential for taking action in their communities. In closing, Abhishek noted that the goal of this series of meetings was not only to energize everyone for the coming year but empower the team to take the initiative to improve ANB’s products and services. Energize will continue later this month, where a speaker from a client utility will discuss their journey with eTRACK+.