Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Coca-Cola India and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan announced the winners of ‘Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017’, a competition which invited youth to propose ideas to ensure sustainability of water, agriculture and recycling.
Coca-Cola India in partnership with Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, a non-profit organization with the mission of building India through enterprise, today announced the completion of ‘Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017’ at an event held at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education. Team Laymen were announced the winners, Team Prerna, the first runners-up and Team Manure It, the second runners-up. The competition, which took place over several months, invited youth to propose entrepreneurial ideas to ensure sustainability of water, agriculture and recycling and recognized the most promising ideas across 25 regions in India.
Balu Nayar, Board Member, Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, said “While there has been a lot of attention to startups in the digital space, it is essential to engage youth to address challenges we face today in water, agriculture and recycling. In a young nation like ours, encouraging entrepreneurship is very important. I appreciate the efforts of Coca-Cola India in partnering with us to institute the Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017 that provides a compelling platform to young entrepreneurs to come forward and contribute to developing sustainable communities through new enterprise models across India.”
The jury comprised eminent experts from across the industry. 6 finalists were shortlisted who then competed for the award during the grand finale by presenting their ideas to a jury of remarkable repute and expertise namely, Mr. Avinash Jogdand, Executive Director, Ramlex Pvt. Ltd. and Ms. Nidhi Saraf, Founder and CEO, Key Ventures, among others.
Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice President, Public Affairs & Communication at Coca-Cola India & South West Asia, said, “The Sustainable Enterprise Awards 2017 is our endeavour to reach out to the youth of middle India and empower them with a spirit of entrepreneurship. The platform seeks to inspire middle India to actively work towards sustainable development and power the country’s development story. It is heartening to see the passion with which these young minds worked towards creating innovative solutions which can work at the grass-roots and make a difference to society. We hope to continue our efforts in this direction and be a catalyst in their success.”
Selvakumar Varadharajan, who was from the winning team, said, “We are very happy to be recognized for our ideas. It is such support which encourages us and keeps the entrepreneurial spirit alive. We are grateful to Coca-Cola India and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan for this opportunity. It has been a great learning experience for all of us. This provides us the support that we needed in order to implement our sustainable aggregator model in the agricultural sector.”
Besides monetary rewards, all members of top three winning teams were awarded a special waiver for the 10th Edition of the World’s largest train journey of entrepreneurs, Jagriti Yatra 2017. The teams will be utilising their prize money to fund the implementation of the projects suggested by them in the final rounds.
