Preetika Rao

Apna Mask Initiative, a pan India initiative by StartUpVsCOVID, a Startup community with over 1000 members has come together to support the Government of India to fight COVID.

The #ApnaDeshApnaMask campaign encouraging people to wear homemade masks started with stalwarts in the Startup industry – Rajan Anandan of Sequoia India, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Alok Mittal of Indifi, Vishal Gondal of GoQii, Jasminder Singh Gulati of Nowfloats along with others taking a pledge to make and wear a homemade mask when they step out of their homes. Today, Vidya Balan, Dia Mirza, Sonu Sood, Shama Sikander, Preetika Rao and many others have joined this significant campaign.

#ApnaDeshApnaMask is aimed to support the Government to spread awareness around the importance of wearing a Homemade mask and maintaining hygiene. The campaign will help build awareness and educate 1.3 billion people to adopt the trend of making masks at home and wearing them, every time they step outside. This is a very critical ask from Govt to ensure that people do not start hoarding masks that are reserved for healthcare workers.

“#ApnaDeshApnaMask is one of our flagship initiatives to fight the war against the coronavirus which has now evolved into a global humanitarian crisis. We are supporting the Government’s efforts around educating citizens around the importance of wearing masks.” shared Alok Mittal, Founder of Indifi Technologies and CoFounder of #ApnaDeshApnaMask initiative.

“As we prepare ourselves to get out of the lockdown, washing hands regularly and wearing a mask will be critical for our safety and protection. At ApnaMask, we are focused towards building awareness through the #ApnaDeshApnaMask initiative as well as educating on the proper use of homemade masks. As specified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, medical masks are not necessary for normal people and therefore, we will be encouraging people to make their own mask at home.” shared Poonam Kaul (Co-founder of ApnaDeshApnaMask initiative).