As a footballer in Mumbai, Aalya Vora confronted a big hassle all through the monsoons every year. As most of the practice sessions occurred all through the rain, her footwear by no means dried earlier than exercise the following day. This, coupled with the humidity the town reviews at some stage in the year, intended that maximum of the shoes might scent except washed and dried constantly.

This easy want for fresh-smelling shoes led Aalya, a 16-year-vintage pupil at Hill Spring International School, Mumbai, to create a product referred to as Sili-Dry this year. These are small sacks packed with a drying agent.

“Sili-Dry combats the never-ending Mumbai humidity and rain issues by absorbing moisture and thus drying the shoes and preventing foul odours, dampness, and any kind of fungus formation,” explains Aalya.

So far, Aalya has bought over 1,000 portions of Sili-Dry and three hundred pieces of Odor-Go, and withinside the technique has catered to extra than 500 clients. This, she says, is a testament to now no longer handiest the big call for for a product like this however additionally the excellent of her product.

She sourced the raw fabric and outsourced production of the sacks thru her mom who runs a garment enterprise and had labored with those companies earlier than.

Aalya has priced Sili-Dry at Rs one hundred and Odor- Go at Rs 80. She has constructed in margins withinside the product that leaves her with sufficient income to be redeployed for advertising and in addition product development.

“I am thankful to the YEA! programme that is designed to make each student create their own innovative products, come up with business plans, design prototypes, and eventually pitch one’s business idea to a panel of investors. The programme definitely helped me become an entrepreneur and apply my skills in the real world,” she says.

“My plan for the future is to expand my sales platform and use ecommerce to reach out to a larger audience. I plan to do it during my school break,” she says.