Entrepreneur Kumar Hindocha (1999-2006) is hoping to secure the backing of Sir Richard Branson for an innovative parcel delivery business that makes use of existing train and coach services – including Branson’s Virgin Trains.
First, however, he needed the specific support of Old Elizabethans for one day only (voting was on 19th May 2015).
Kumar already runs Islington-based PitchWise – a live booking website for private and public football pitches across London. Now he is hoping to launch the new delivery business, YouniMover, as part of Sir Richard’s nationwide Pitch to Rich competition.
“I have been accepted on to the next stage, which is about getting as many votes for our online 'pitch' as possible,” he says. He is therefore appealing for Old Elizabethans and others connected with QE to give their support online.
Kumar left QE in 2006 to take a degree in Management at Warwick University. “After graduating, I moved to south London and worked for Sky Television, learning the advertising ropes. I then moved into finance and then shortly after worked as a Student Career Advisor at King’s College London, before finally taking the leap into starting PitchWise.
“I saw a gap in the systems that schools, local government and sports centres were using in order to promote their sporting resources to local public, so I developed software in order that customers could find and book their local resources in one place and in real time,” Kumar explained.
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He applied a similar philosophy when devising YouniMover. “I have a passion for disrupting industries with ingrained customer service problems and operational inefficiencies – and this time my focus is firmly on the parcel delivery industry. I mean to create a platform that makes it cheaper and easier for people to transport their items around the country leveraging existing transport services. You can see why we need Virgin! The prize on offer is also an unmissable chance for me as a budding entrepreneur to learn from Sir Richard.”
Kumar entered the competition in the New Things category, which is for “ideas that might disrupt a market and shake things up”. Out of a reported 6,000 entries, YouniMover was one of 2,000 entries to be given a pitch page on the competition website. “We were actually outside the top 150, but the Virgin team were impressed with the high standard of submission, and are holding one more day of votes, 19th May, to narrow the selection. So with the School’s help I hope to make it!”
To read more about YouniMover, click here.