Mumbai: Easy breezy Will-Kat impress young innovators

It certainly wasnrsquot business as usual on Monday morning at Todi Mills Compound at Lower Parel The maze of little lanes housing tony restaurants all boasting of Mumbairsquos transformation from mill to upscale space was closed off to the general public as Prince William and Kate arrived at the Social cafe The royal couple was on the last leg of their Mumbai tour after which they flew off to DelhiWillKat leave Taj yesterday morning on their way to Social the last of their public outings in Mumbai PicBipin KokateAt Social WillKat met young aspiring entrepreneurs at a UK government project called lsquoThe Great Campaignrsquo which promotes the UK across the globe They launched the third edition of the Tech Rocketship Awards in Mumbai which give successful Indian startups a chance to fly to the UK to meet venture capitalists and mentorsPrince William and Kate Middleton were shown DosaMatic by cofounder Eshwar Vikas PicsPTIldquoBeing here today it is clear that India is leading the way in so many areas of innovation and technology Your ability to innovate is not just good news for India but great news for the world With onesixth of the worldrsquos population young innovators like you must play a major rolerdquo said Prince William in his short speechVaibhav Lodha cofounder Ftcash and Sanskriti Dawle cofounder Project MudraVaibhav Lodha cofounder of Ftcash a mobile app that allows micromerchants to come on board in less than five minutes and allows customers to make payments electronically though different avenues said about WillKat ldquoThey were cordial and used our app asking questions and encouraging usrdquoWilliam and Kate also went on to learn Braille on Project Mudrarsquos Annie a BITS Pilani student startup that seeks to put Braille within the reach of all visuallyimpaired people Sanskriti Dawle cofounder of the device said ldquoThe duke and the duchess both learnt Braille Kate went on to write George her sonrsquos name in Braille It was really cute All those who were there cheered and clapped Our project is about lsquoMake in Indiarsquo and sells everywhererdquoWill then proved hersquos the newage royal showing some dexterity with the dosa The royal duo tried their hand at making a dosa on DosaMatic which can make dosas omelettes and even pancakes The Mukunda Foods start up machine can make up to 500 dosas a day Cofounder Eshwar Vikas said ldquoPrince William was very hands on and even went on to taste the dosa after making it He said Namaste Mumbai Thank you for the dosa experience It is going to be more filling next timersquo Kate on the other hand was less adventurous and refused a bite of the dosardquoBeing down to earth was their most endearing quality said Bangalorebased innovator Amey Mukund Mukund was impressed with the diversity of their grasp of different subjects and the fact that the couple ldquodid not look overwhelmed by our presentationsrdquoMany of these youngsters were hoping to win the Tech Rocketship Awards 201617 Suman Reddy whose medical startup is in the incubation stage in Mumbai stated ldquoNot just meeting William and Kate but innovators here as well as Anand Mahindra and Mohandas Pai was inspiring I am hoping to go to the UK after winning the award and maybe visit the duke and th duchess at Kensington PalacerdquoldquoIt was surprising to see just how interested the royal couple was to understand the workings of each of the startups They asked genuine questions and wanted to understand the projects thoroughlyrdquo said Social owner Riyaaz Amlani who also said that the couple reached the venue before time and stayed longer than plannedFinally when the couple left Will in a suit and Kate in an offwhite dress looking more formal than they did on Sunday morning when they were in casual cool because of their two outdoorsy public outings which were at The Oval Maidan and Banganga Tank people waved madly at the entourageSome people who could not enter their workplace because access was cut off for a while on Monday morning were happy that they had a royal excuse to go in late to work Others were grumbling below their breath Overall though the visit was certainly something for Mumbaikars to chase away their Monday morning bluesIt is over to Delhi for WillKat who seemed to have warmed city hearts with their easy breezy demeanour