ILLA Enterprises
As a child John loved to play with kites. However, as a young 8-year-old Satya witnessed the tragic death of his friend when his kite got tangled in an overhead power line. From this young age Satya first learned about electrical fatalities. It became apparent to Satya that electrical fatalities were not uncommon, and many farmers and livestock lose their lives to electrocution or other electrical incidents. This inspired Satya to become an electrical engineer with a social conscience. After finishing his education he founded ILLA Enterprises.
Intent: ILLA Enterprise’s mission is to reduce electrical-related injuries and fatalities.

Idea: ILLA develops innovative low-cost technology for electrical safety and supports farmers to adopt safe practices. ILLA has developed various technologies to improve safety through low cost earthing systems, panel boxes/ starters for agricultural pumps and innovative devices for electrical safety such as, a 3-phase pump motor, starter grounding equipment and overhead line circuit breakers. By running safety awareness workshops and collaborating with local authorities, ILLA diffuses safety practices and improves the electrical equipment of farmers and villagers.
Impact: Telangana ranks amongst the highest states in India for electrical fatalities. In 2017 alone there were 606 accidents resulting in the death of 241 farmers and 333 cattle. ILLA projects to conduct awareness programs in 12,000 villages, reaching 1 lakh farmers in the next five years with the ultimate goal of reducing electrical incidents and fatalities.
BVIC Intervention: ILLA became part of SOCENT when the founder was working on the product with the support of IEEE. After becoming a part of incubation program, BVIC opened its network for ILLA. The start-up got access to the large pool of farmers, space to exhibit and sale the product. BVIC also supported it by co-branding the product under its name with the network. BVIC helped ILLA in fine-tune the idea and widen the scope of growth.