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Overlanding is a new buzz word that is taking over India. Pioneered in western countries, this form of outdoor exploration refers to a self-reliant way of life while using a car, pickup-up truck or even buses. Overlanders experience freedom of staying off the grid, exploring nature while still enjoying creature comforts like a refrigerator, and television. Kwiklander is an upcoming startup in this segment with a mission to make the outdoors accessible. As their co-founders explain, accessibility is not just about the ability for a person to reach a particular destination, but it also means having amenities to make that experience comfortable. And they further categorize these amenities into two, ‘principal’ which include food, water, and shade; and the second ‘derived’ which are mainly product and market driven. ‘People will enjoy our great outdoors only when they have food, water and shelter with products that are inexpensive, easy to carry and store and quick to setup and with that in mind we started on our journey with our first napkin designs in September of 2022’, talking in unison about their vision.
However, they were in for rude awakening when they studied the Indian mindset regarding the camping and overlanding. The niche segment had just begun to take roots in India with the first government campsite still under development. The market was simply not ready for products like rooftop tents, modular car camping setup, or full-fledged caravan conversions. They quickly pivoted to more modest products like a portable kitchen, grill and stove that would cater to a larger audience that included picnickers, weekenders, and BNB frequenters. Kwik lander’s procurement and sales head and co-founder, Burhan Bhanpurawala talking about their initial prototyping said, ‘We built a few prototypes of each of our designs only to realize that after the pandemic, most of small or medium sized businesses had lost their appetite to develop new products within the country. Everyone was happy to rely on Chinese made parts or even final products which were marketed as ‘Made in India’ ‘.
Navigating the sourcing issue, Kwiklander launched its first product, an Ultra-compact charcoal barbeque grill exclusively on amazon in August of this year. ‘The beauty of this product is that it is the size, shape, and weight of an ordinary 15” laptop. With unique pull-to-open and flip-to-close design, the grill can be set-up in less than 10 seconds’, as explained by their product designer and co-founder Nalik Kenia. The entire grill is made of stainless steel, so its washable, will not rust and does not let off any fumes like most grills on market. Each grill comes with skewers, tongs, a charcoal grate, and a washable carry bag. The grills come in two different sizes with 4 and 6 skewers respectively.
Speaking about the future, the founders were confident of becoming a trusted brand for overlanding, not just in India but also in other parts of the world. Marketing head and co-founder Marmik Patel said, ‘Exporters to the middle east and Europe have shown interest in making our brand global. We want to launch top quality products in foreign markets as we will be competing with customer bias for products made in Asia.’ As for their future products he added, ‘We are working on portable kitchen, car awning/shade, & a portable bonfire pit, again focusing on the ‘Kwik’ part of our name.’