The Sharing Economy is booming. Rentership is on the rise and many are consciously choosing to rent because of the freedom, flexibility and convenience it offers. While P2P sharing, such as overnight stays in Airbnb private apartments or car sharing, is becoming increasingly popular, B2B sharing models are generally less common.
Pranav Krishna Prasad, CEO of BuyLeft, believes that the B2B Sharing Economy is an upcoming trend, and has a vision to support the growth of social enterprises through asset sharing. With this vision in mind, he took a leap of faith and started BuyLeft right after the completion of National Service. The company aims to reduce operational costs for social enterprises by leveraging excess capacity, and underutilised resources.
Pranav is an advocate for protecting the planet we live on, and he later found out that there are various social enterprises already working on this meaningful cause. The lack of support for these enterprises to expand and scale their positive impact became his motivation to start BuyLeft.
On the rationale behind the business' name, Pranav explained: "There is always a “right”, and proven way to resolve a problem, but we pride ourselves on choosing to go by the “left”. The name alludes to having to think unconventionally, and applying innovative methodologies to tackle social issues. The name also aligns with our business model, providing a platform for social enterprises to lease leftover and underutilized resources."
BuyLeft aims to create an ecosystem for social enterprises to efficiently utilise resources, where assets can be listed for short term lease on a marketplace. "With transparent listings, we hope to bring clarity to a market which remains shrouded in opacity by profit generating corporations. By reducing their operating costs through a more efficient employment of existing resources, we aim to empower social enterprises," explained the CEO.
A plethora of asset sharing platforms have sprung up in recent years due to its popularity, but Pranav identified a gap in the market for a solution that specifically targets social enterprises. BuyLeft offers a tailor-made B2B solution for like-minded social enterprises to reduce their operational costs through asset sharing. "We aim to enable social enterprises to be less reliant on funding via donations, and to develop a degree of self-sufficiency through creating new revenue streams and reducing costs," says Pranav.
The company was incorporated in June 2021, and is in the early stages of development. Pranav stepped out of his comfort zone and propelled into the startup right after National Service with no prior entrepreneurship experience, while juggling other commitments such as his co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer role at the ASEAN Business Youth Association and the Chief Technical Officer role at a boutique firm specializing in FinTech and Commodity Trade Finance Solutions.
"While most people choose a team of experienced individuals, I chose a group of my most trustworthy friends from my time in the army to lead this company with me," he said. However, Pranav's team had to leave due to other commitments during the company's initial stages. He would have taken the easy way out and given up if not for the passionate desire to launch his own startup. It was now or never.
The CEO looks forward to learning something new everyday. "Given how new I am to the startup industry and in general, the working world, I am constantly gaining new knowledge and learning how the real world works beyond the textbooks I study. Knowing at the end of the day that I will wake up to learn a lot of new skills, information or meet lots of people that I otherwise would not have met if not for me embarking on this journey, that is what I find the most interesting of all," he said.