On Saturday, 16th of April, the ED Cell at PUMBA, on occasion of the first E-day, successfully conducted "EUREKA-2011", a B-plan competition. The event saw a total of 8 teams competing with each other to prove the mettle in their B plans.
Following is the Executive summary of the team that finished as the 2nd runner up at the event.

Title: "Saksham Bricks"
2nd Runner Up

Members:
Rishi Poptani
Subin Geo Matthews
Raunak Dubey
Rohit Vadnere

Executive summary:

EPS (Expandable Polystyrene) bricks are not only a novel building material, they will also change the way civil construction is done. They do not absorb water like traditional mud or fly ash bricks; they are at least 10 times more thermally resistive due to the EPS core; and of course, they are much stronger than traditional bricks because of the light concrete on either side of the core. A standard 8 by 8 by 16 brick will weigh about 25 kg.

We, the manufacturers of Saksham bricks, will begin our operations from Butibori MIDC, Nagpur in western Maharashtra. In five years, we hope to reach out to at least ten Tier 2 cities in central India, all with real estate markets growing annually at 20%, and all populated with customers who still prefer bungalows to flats, and are probably open to the idea of these novel bricks.

We plan to produce 500 bricks a day. The entire process consists of mixing concrete, and compressing and vibrating the bricks. The EPS blocks are placed into moulds and the light concrete poured into the space around the EPS block. This mix is then further compressed and vibrated to get better consistency. This is followed by 7 days of curing, after which the bricks are stacked in our warehouse. All this will be carried out from our 3000 sq. ft. plot in Butibori.

We require a starting capital of just over Rs. 30 lakh and by the end of the fifth year, have a proposed turnover of over Rs. 6 crore, having reached out to 150 clients via a mix of trade exhibitions, sales presentations and our website. Rs. 15 lakh out would be raised through owner’s equity and the remaining Rs. 15 lakh through a term loan.

We sincerely believe our product will change the way homes are made.