Bhubaneswar Twins Charge Up Sustainability With Eco-Friendly Battery Venture

Bhubaneswar Twins Charge Up Sustainability With Eco-Friendly Battery Venture

They are just 23 years old, but Bhubaneswar-based twins Nishita and Nikita Baliarsingh have
become the pride of Odisha and the toast of the country too.

The sisters recently came to the limelight after being listed in Forbes India 30 Under 30 2021,
which honours new-age entrepreneurs in the country.

Speaking about their success, the duo says passion can be a driving force in achieving anything that a person desires. It was passion for working on sustainability and a cleaner and greener world that drove the sisters to launch Felis Leo Ventures in 2015. They rebranded it to Nexus Power in 2019.

Education

Both Nishita and Nikita graduated in Business Management from Xavier School of Commerce, Bhubaneswar. Post that, Nikita went on to do Masters in Media Management from Xavier School of Communications, Bhubaneswar, and then pursued a course in strategic innovation management from IIM Bengaluru and nanotechnology from IIT Roorkee.

On her part, Nishita is currently studying Chartered Accountancy (CA). She has also pursued courses in Operations Management and Finances from IIM Bengaluru and studied battery management systems and Internet of Things (IoT) applications in IIT Kharagpur.  “Despite being management graduates, the short-term courses that we did gave us the space to commence and give shape to our company,” said Nishita. As for pastime, Nikita enjoys music, writing, and horse-riding while Nishita takes a keen interest in photography.

Family
The Baliarsingh sisters come from a family of entrepreneurs who have supported and helped
them move forward with their vision.

“Our parents are very supportive. From the very beginning, they were okay with us not opting for placements and instead of going on with our own ventures. They were, of course, sceptical in the beginning because we were stepping into the corporate world and that too without much work experience. They were concerned, but very supportive. Everything we have learned about business is because mom and dad are in the business sector. Whatever we have learned from them is now helping us build our own empire,” quipped Nishita.

Nishita shares that she is 40 seconds older than Nikita and that really counts. As siblings, they share a very cordial relationship and are always there to back each other in times of need. “But of course as siblings, we do have our share of fights. We end up quarrelling when we don’t agree on certain terms but that just lasts for a couple of minutes and then we are back on track,” Nishita said with a chuckle.

Nexus Power

Being fond of a clean and green environment since childhood, the sisters always wanted to do
something for sustainability. “So we decided to contribute towards this revolution and chose
entrepreneurship as our career,” said Nikita.

“To pursue this ambition and make a sustainable impact in the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector, we launched an EV battery start-up that recycles agricultural waste. This is how Nexus Power
was launched in 2019 to provide battery technologies for EVs,” she said.
“We make the batteries out of crop residue which is entirely biodegradable and eco-friendly.
We are currently focusing on two- and three-wheelers,” added Nishita.

Future Outlook

With Nexus Power, the duo plans to contribute to sustainability across the globe. “We look
forward to having our electric batteries completely ready and supply them across the globe
and not just in India,” said Nikita.

“We also have a long plan of entering into the mobile phones batteries or consumer electronic batteries sector. We also plan on designing and developing four-wheeler vehicles which are very affordable yet luxurious,” said Nishita.

Recognition

The twins admit that the recognition by Forbes was unexpected but thrilling to say the least. “I am not sure about the mechanism behind choosing someone for the Forbes list. But for any entrepreneur or young professional, it is a huge accomplishment. We were thrilled and delighted when we got the call and it was difficult to believe initially,” Nikita said with a smile.

Apart from the Forbes recognition, the Baliarsingh sisters have received several other accolades. They are recipients of the Best Sustainable Engineering, 2019 by Business Excellence Awards, Bengaluru, Best Enterprise, 2019 by Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) and Governor Of Odisha, Innovative Enterprise of the Year, 2019 by CII YI Innovex Start-up Awards and many more. 

Inspiration

Nikita is fascinated by Ratan Tata and admires the functioning of the entire TATA group and the ventures they are into. She is also a big fan of Elon Musk. “What attracts me about Elon Musk is that his field of work which is basically in the technical field is completely contradictory to his educational background. Probably we are following his footsteps as we want to be in a similar space and give out the message that to start a career in the technical field, you don’t necessarily have to be an engineer,” shared Nikita.

Pandemic

The pandemic has been more of a blessing in disguise for these girls. “We had a lot of pending paperwork of the company, but we kept on procrastinating. Once the pandemic came into the picture and the lockdown happened, it gave us ample time to sit and introspect about what we are doing. So 2020 was the period when our company really made progress,” revealed Nikita.

They wisely utilized this pandemic in getting the patents and trademark done. The virtual meetings that took place made it easier for them to interact with investors and mentors across
the globe.

“It was easy to keep in touch with the industry and get different perspectives by meeting people across the globe virtually. Otherwise meeting people physically wouldn’t have been feasible, to travel all the way. But thankfully because of the online meetings and interactions, everything became very convenient,” asserted Nishita.

Message

Though young in mind, the sisters are headstrong and emotionally tough to face each obstacle
and come out of it successfully.

“Do not expect too early and too much out of anything that you are planning to do. Because things don’t change overnight and it takes time. Patience is a must. Entrepreneurship is not
just about the hard work, the money, the team we have, but it is more of emotional strength
that a founder needs to have when they are trying to work on a start-up. So keeping your
nerves intact and being grounded at all times-highs and lows-is very important and if you
want to achieve something as big as TATA or Tesla,” the duo signed off.