Air-conditioning on your bike? He made it possible!

Sometime in 2007, George Koshy did what may be unthinkable for most of us.

He quit his job at Castrol weeks before his wife was expecting a baby so he could begin work on an idea he had been toying with for years.

George wanted to invent a cooled motorcycle helmet.

A little over three years later, he is giving final touches to the helmet and is looking for an investor so he can start production.

Besides investing his own money, George received grants from the Union ministry of science and technology, under its Technopreneur Promotion Programme.

I met George at Avenues 2010, the annual festival of the Shailesh J Mehta Institute of Management at IIT-Bombay where students selected from 200 B-schools across India present their business plans.

What is the idea behind the Cooled Helmet?

Most bikers don't like wearing a helmet because it can get very claustrophobic and stuffy. They wear it because the traffic rules make it compulsory to wear one.

The idea of the Fresco Cooled Helmet is to make bikers want to wear it rather than have it enforced upon them.

It is powered by a 12 Volt DC electrical system of the motorcycle and has an effective heat transfer mechanism that throws out heat from the helmet and cools its inner surface.

There are no moving parts, so it is noiseless and does not require a lot of maintenance unless, of course, you drop it very often or if you happen to have an accident that damages the cooling modules within the helmet.

What made you come up with this idea?

As a student I used to drive about 30 km every day on a bike -- from my home to where I was studying for a management degree.

Like most other bikers I didn't like wearing a helmet.

I am giving it some finishing touches after which I will be able to start production.

The people I've met are excited about this product. But this has never been tried before. So most of them are still wary about investing in it.

Nobody will give the Cooled Helmet its due unless there is a proven product endorsed by the consumer in the market. It can augur well for the success and scale of the product if a two-wheeler manufacturer gets interested to invest.

If not, I will have to manufacture and market it myself.

By mid next year, I hope to start mass production of the helmets.

What were your learnings at Castrol?

I started off as a management trainee at Castrol soon after I completed college. When I quit, I was the regional market development manager of the western region.

During my time there, I was exposed to consumer sales and marketing. This gave me a sense of the huge potential in the two-wheeler segment, which is the largest and fast growing vehicle category in India.

Castrol was where I really discovered the potential for a product like a cooling helmet.

The marketing experience I gained at Castrol gave me the confidence I needed to branch out on my own.

More importantly, the five years at Castrol helped me save up some money that helped me sail through for about a year.

But having put in five years in a day job, I knew I wanted something more. I was finally ready to take the plunge and implement the idea rather than regret it later.

My wife Melanie has played a major role in me taking this decision. She believed more in my dream than anyone else and has stood by me.

When I discussed this with her, she was fine with it and encouraged me to go ahead. I had saved up a decent sum while I was working.

Slowly, she began to take over the finances of the house while I focussed on this project. She heads product development at Kotak Life Insurance so the transition has been smooth and hasn't really been a struggle.

The difficult part has been seeing this project through.

What were the challenges you faced while developing the helmet?

The challenge was to create something that was efficient, aesthetic as well as safe. Cooling technology is my forte, but integrating it into a helmet is a different ballgame altogether.

For this I had to study how helmets were made, spend time with the actual product and test it for feasibility. Initially I had tied up with a manufacturer. But about a year later we realised we weren't on the same page.

He was keen that we begin production. I was keen on experimentation. So we decided to part ways.

Also I realised that the approach I was taking towards integrating the technology was incorrect. So I had to re-look at the whole thing in a new way.

How did IIT come in the picture?

IIT was involved with the project right from the outset.

In the initial stages, I was looking at people who I could collaborate with on developing and integrating the technology into a helmet.

I got introduced to Dr M V Rane from IIT-Bombay who is a prominent expert in the field of heat transfer and has numerous patents to his credit. After much convincing, he finally agreed to get involved with the project as a consultant through IIT-Bombay.

We reached an agreement where Dr Rane and I would be inventors. IIT-Bombay and I would own the resultant patent and I would get access to Dr Rane's workshop within the Institute's campus where I could test the product.

What have your learnings been so far?

At the beginning I felt things would be simple. It is only when I was neck deep into it, I realised things weren't as easy as they seem.

There are times when you lose confidence and your expectations take a beating.

At such times I take it easy, lie low for a while and do nothing. Sure enough a few days later I am back on my feet.

The idea is to take on those challenges that come your way, stick at it and figure solutions to the problems.

I also realised that there is no alternative to persistence. You simply have to be at it and work hard towards achieving your goal.

Another learning has been that it is crucial to seek advice from the right people.