Our Blog
The Tribal Hermit: Taking Dhokra Craft To The World
Nirmaan Dutta founded The Tribal Hermit with his Uncle Suntu in 2021 as a rural development and livelihood project by the LEAD at Krea University to generate sustainable livelihood opportunities for the Self Help Groups (SHGs), artisans, and farmers in rural India
Karghewale: Transforming Weavers Into Entrepreneurs
In 2020, Nivedita Rai and Sourodip Ghosh founded Karghewale in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh to provide comprehensive support to the weaver-entrepreneur community, with a focus on textiles, apparel, and handicrafts
Gangpur Ventures: Tackling The Fodder Deficit Of Eastern India
In 2021, Bimal Lakra founded Gangpur Ventures in Rourkela, Odisha to create livelihood opportunities for tribal communities by addressing the acute shortage of fodder in the dairy farming industry
MoneyBin: Adding Value To Waste
MoneyBin addresses the issue of improper waste segregation by collecting recyclable waste directly from households, employing unskilled women laborers to collect and segregate it into multiple categories, and selling it to recycling factories
Raheja Solar: A Solar-Powered Solution To Food Waste
In 2018, Varun Raheja founded Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt. Ltd. in Indore, Madhya Pradesh with the aim of helping Indian farmers increase the shelf life of their produce, thereby allowing them to derive greater value from it
Farmology: Creating Farmers Of The Future
Farmology is an app-based platform which assists farmers by providing integrated crop advisory in real time
KraftInn: Meeting Consumer Demand For Sustainably-Made Products From Assam
KraftInn Home Decor is a D2C home decor brand that addresses the issue of sustainability for conscious customers by selling products made with bamboo, water hyacinth, and other natural fibers sourced locally from Assam
MOWO Fleet: Putting Women On Wheels
With an aim to create livelihood opportunities for women by building a women-serviced mobility fleet, today Jai Bharathi is redefining urban mobility in India through her startup, MOWO Fleet, which she founded in Hyderabad in 2019
The Dignified Jobs Collaborative: To make An Impact, Not Just Any Job Will Do
Upaya’s work of supporting social entrepreneurs as they create dignified jobs for people in extreme poverty is part of a much broader conversation about the dignity of work.
The Many Faces Of Dignified Jobholders
A big part of Upaya’s mission is expanding the conversation about job quality to intentionally include jobs created for those living in extreme poverty in emerging markets. But even within that subgroup, there are important variations that we need to understand in order to measure impact.