Sahil Harriram always knew that someday he would build new technologies that had never existed before. He founded Elite Robotics with fellow students from University of Newcastle to build intelligent, autonomous vehicle platforms for use in mobile robots – think lawn mowers, package delivery vehicles and street sweepers.
Sahil attended a breakfast SSE Speaker Series hosted at University of Newcastle, an SSE member institution. Bo Ji, Assistant Dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, delivered an inspiring session about entering the China market.
The SSE Speaker Series encouraged Sahil to apply for an SSE International Bootcamp to China, an opportunity to pitch his robotics startup to global manufacturers and investors.
“I had a feeling this program was going to be the next big step for us. It was a million times better than I’d originally anticipated,” said Sahil Harriram.
The SSE International Bootcamp has enabled Elite Robotics to start manufacturing custom circuit boards now, instead of waiting a few years. Sahil is travelling back to China and aims for a first production run by the end of next year.
“I setup a manufacturing deal with a company based in Shenzhen that knows all the high level managers in plastics and electronics manufacturing. There are so many investors interested in our technology,” said Sahil Harriram.
The SSE experience gave Sahil more confidence in negotiations, the ability to scale his business, and a better understanding of his market. Most of all, he now sees the true global value of his technology.
