Hi, I’m Nishan, founder of Oxi and a Global Grand Finalist in Battle of Minds 2021.
Oxi uses technology to solve climate change related issues. Our App helps users monitor their carbon footprints by providing emissions data of individual items they purchase. Users are rewarded for making better spending decisions, to lower their carbon footprint, with cryptocurrency tokens. This enables users to accumulate and exchange tokens for FIAT (£/$) currency. The idea for Oxi arose in 2020, thinking from first principles of how we can solve the climate issue where there is a lack of data and resources for individuals.
I learned about Battle of Minds through an Instagram ad and I applied because I thought it would be a good opportunity to gain some constructive feedback on Oxi.
I submitted my pitch deck to Battle of Minds and a few months later I received an email informing me that, after consideration by the judges, Oxi had made it to the regional UK finals.
At this point, I sought help from my friend and advisor, Ahad, who eventually became my partner in the competition. Taking part in the regional finals involved preparing for a 20 minute presentation and 15 minute Q&A session.
On the day, after some challenging but thought-provoking questions by the judges, we were delighted to find out that we had won the regional UK finals and successfully progressed onto the next stage: the Battle of Minds 2021 Global Grand Final which involved competing against 13 teams from different countries across the world.
As ‘Team Oxi’ we received an incredible amount of support from the UK team at BAT. This stage of the competition consisted of developing a pitch pack, a long form document explaining the idea in as much depth as possible, to be reviewed by the judges before presentation day. We presented again in front of the global judges for 7 minutes followed by a 13 minute Q&A session. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in this round of the competition, however the experience as a whole was incredibly beneficial to myself and Oxi.
Taking part in Battle of Minds helped me to dissect my idea and address any of the insecurities that existed. Successfully winning the regional finals gave me validation of the idea, providing the confidence to now be working on the business full-time. Over the past 12 months, and as a direct result of the attention brought about by the competition, I was contacted by a colleague at university running an engineering consultancy society who was in need of businesses to provide projects for his members. Having agreed to create a project for the society, this was my first endeavour at managing a team and eventually helped design the first version of the app, to which I am currently in the process of building. Version 1 is focused on gathering product information to fill in the data gap that exists around the carbon emissions of products we consume. My aim is to launch this version of the App before the end of the year, with consistent and progressive updates post-launch. The plan for Oxi over the next few years is to focus on reaching product-market fit, whilst scaling the database and beginning to onboard businesses.
The biggest tip I can offer is to stay vision focused throughout the process and be flexible to feedback.
You can connect with Oxi here:
Website:
https://www.oxi.org.uk/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/oxi.app/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/OxiApp/
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