Banyan Nation emerged as the winner, beating Chakr Innovation by a razor-thin margin as the jury tipped towards the explanation for plastic waste discount amid wider issues over local weather change that the world is grappling with.
This award recognises a startup that finest embodies the ‘double bottom line’ mannequin, combining income and public good.
Founded by Mani Kishore Vajipeyajula and Rajkiran Madangopal, the Hyderabad-based startup is a plastic recycling firm that converts plastic waste supplies into recycled granules. It makes use of proprietary plastic cleansing expertise that removes inks, coatings and different contaminants utilizing environment-friendly detergents and solvents.
“Banyan Nation also stood out for their very grounded approach to solving the global problem of plastic waste using technology in a way that does good and also generates profits,” mentioned jury member Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys. “The work they are doing is a great case study for the circular economy, showcasing its value at scale.”
What prompted Vajipeyajula and Madangopal, who studied collectively at the University of Delaware in the US, to begin Banyan Nation collectively was the realisation that although firms and organisations throughout the globe have been saying grand plans to sort out plastic waste, little or no was being accomplished on the floor, particularly in nations like India.
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Though plastic recycling as an idea just isn’t new to the nation, a lot of it’s operated and managed by casual gamers with little to zero social safety and assurance of fine payout at the finish of the day.
Banyan Nation additionally took inspiration from the grassroots provide chain of Amul to contain ragpickers and waste collectors as stakeholders in the ecosystem.
With the assist of an in-house developed knowledge intelligence platform, the firm has managed to mix the better of the casual and formal sectors by integrating each recyclers on one hand and firms on the different.
It asks the staff who convey them plastic to segregate it in keeping with the requirements of the firm and, in flip, compensates them at above-market charges.
With the purpose of plastic recycling finalised, the cofounders began their first high-tech recycling plant in Hyderabad and are presently seeking to develop right into a second unit that might be prepared by the second half of subsequent 12 months.
The agency is presently increasing its assortment chain throughout the nation.
Winning the Economic Times Startup Award for Social Enterprise class, Madangopal mentioned, “is a testament” to the good work the firm has been doing to “formalise a deeply fragmented yet vibrant informal scrap trading economy.”
“(Our) clear mission is to bring in transparency and traceability into plastics recycling value chain and drive the circular use of recycled plastics in mainstream products and packaging,” Madangopal mentioned.
The startup counts Unilever, Intel, Tata Motors and different multinational fast-moving shopper items firms amongst shoppers.
Juror Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder, InfoEdge, recused himself from voting on this class as Info Edge is an investor in Digivriddhi Tech, which was a nominee in the class.
Other contenders
Chakr Innovation |
Kushagra Srivastava
ETtechKushagra Srivastava, CEO, Chakr Innovation
What it does: Chakr Innovation has created a tool that may be retro-fitted into diesel mills, to curb dangerous emissions. It converts the particulate matter into inks and paints. The product can seize about 90% of particulate matter emissions. So far, it has prevented 4 tons of PM from being launched into the ambiance.
Digivriddhi Technologies | Ragavan Venkatesan
ETtechRagavan Venkatesan, Founder & CEO, Digivriddhi Technologies
What it does: Digivriddhi Technologies is an built-in dairy fintech firm that gives monetary providers to dairy farmers, making it simpler for them to entry loans to purchase cattle and meet their working capital necessities. It immediately connects farmers and lenders and likewise gives a discovery-led market for the sale of cattle.
Gramcover Insurance Brokers Private Limited | Jatin Singh, Dhyanesh Bhatt
ETtechJatin Singh, founder, Gramcover
What it does: Gramcover gives a rural point-of-sale associate community of over 5,000 correspondents for insurance aimed toward livelihood and danger administration for marginal farmers. It helps them entry the Centre’s crop insurance programme in addition to non-crop insurance merchandise, together with motor, liv ..
Stellapps Technologies Private Limited | Ranjith Mukundan, Ravishankar Shiroor, Ramakrishna Adukuri
ETtechRanjith Mukundan, founder, Stellapps
What it does: Stellapps makes use of IoT and knowledge analytics to enhance the dairy provide chain throughout milk manufacturing, procurement, chilly chain, animal insurance, and farmer funds. It gives market linkages to dairy farmers, incomes a margin from its milk provide chain subsidiary, credit score merchandise and wearable gadgets monitoring animal well being.
