Abstract

The case “Hemalatha Annamalai: Woman Pioneer of India’s Electric Vehicle Revolution” talks about the efforts of Hemalatha Annamalai (Annamalai) in establishing Ampere Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (Ampere), an early mover in India’s electric vehicles (EV) market. Annamalai was a serial entrepreneur who hit upon the idea of disrupting the Indian automobile industry with EVs and did extensive market research in that regard. She then set up Ampere in 2008 with the aim of achieving “business growth with social inclusiveness”. The case documents Annamalai’s efforts to introduce a range of EVs with the intention of making the maximum social impact, especially in rural markets. The case describes the way she handled critical business challenges and led Ampere to become one of the leading brands in the Indian personal and last mile mobility EV segment. Though Annamalai exited Ampere in 2019, she continued to serve as a mentor to new entrepreneurs and provided investment to novel ventures in the EV industry. Can successful entrepreneurs like Annamalai inspire others to achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.
• Recognize emerging business opportunities for new ventures.
• Scrutinize the product development research process.
• Analyze how customer needs can shape the new product development process.
• Develop strategies to overcome the challenges in new venture development.

Keywords

New Venture Development; Entrepreneurial Motivation; Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur; Frugal Engineering; Challenges in New Venture Management; Women as Entrepreneurs; Women CEOs; Innovation; Product Development Research Process; Entrepreneur Innovation Model; Market Disruptor; Competitive Strategy; Social Inclusiveness