Till 2018, Birbhum district in West Bengal was impoverished with malnourished farmers surviving on negligible incomes. Enter Pipal Tree (PT), with its Honey farming initiative, Birbhum today is glowing with pride, thriving with skill, progressing towards sustainable prosperity and happiness.

 PIPAL TREE – CATALYST FOR CHANGE

Pipal Tree believes in achieving “seemingly unachievable” goals through the deployment of scalable processes. Supported by National Stock Exchange to create sustainable livelihoods for the elderly, where traditional farming was physically challenging for the elderly. Pipal Tree zeroed in on honey farming, which created livelihoods for the elderly, with minimal physical challenges.

  PIPAL TREE CREATED A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES

Birbhum is a tribal area, with high Naxal activity leading to migration of youth, unemployment, absence of livelihood options for the elderly. Pipal Tree zeroed in on honey farming which needs minimal physical work, can be started and grown with little capital and provides a sustainable livelihood for 8 months in a year.

Pipal Tree trained the farmers in simple but crucial techniques of beekeeping. After training them, Pipal Tree donated a beehive to each family. Pipal Tree also created a local market connect for the honey and wax, its by-product. Parallelly, Pipal Tree is exploring market connect for Honey in Metros. Pipal Tree also has plans to create markets for other products from beekeeping such as Pollens, Royal Jelly etc.

A VIRTUOUS CYCLE FOR FARM INCOME

Beekeeping has created a positive side effect for the farmers in the adjacent area. Improved pollination by bees, has led to a significant increase in farm production, thereby fetching them higher revenue with zero extra efforts and cost.

PURE 100% NATURAL & UNPROCESSED  HONEY FOR CONSUMERS 

Pipal Tree’s beekeeping initiative has many winners, including the consumer. Here, the consumer is getting pure honey without risk of adulteration. Pipal Tree’s honey farming model has ensured highly remunerative income for the farmer eliminating any thought of adulteration.

FLOWERING SEASON DECIDES HONEY FLAVOUR

Pipal Tree made us realise, that the prevailing season of flowering, provides unique flavours to Honey. Pipal Tree team moves beehives to areas that have an ongoing flowering season. Besides the basic variant that comes with a hint of eucalyptus, other varieties include Mango Honey, Mustard Honey and Litchi Honey while yet another interesting variant is Coriander and Cumin Honey.

THE WIND BENEATH FARMERS’ WING

As these jars of honey, reach various Indian households, a large number of farmers and their families’ dream of sustainable livelihood is fulfilled.

 TO CONCLUDE

From irregular incomes to highly certain and stable cash flows, from sub-human lifestyles to a life of health & happiness, Pipal Tree has played a pivotal role in Birbhum’s transformation from a “vicious” to a “virtuous” circle of life. 

Led by Founder & CEO Santosh Parulekar and supported by Subhash Pandey along with their entire team, Pipal Tee has been a catalyst for those who needed one, in several backward districts of more than 9 states in India.

 CLICK BELOW & ACCESS YOUR JAR OF HONEY

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 OUR AGRI-TECH INITIATIVE

Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower

Over the years, we have visited NGOs doing good work in water management, women empowerment, livelihood development, education, health, skill and entrepreneurship development. Our visit to Ambuja Foundation’s work in Gujarat, astonished us to learn that this NGO encompasses all the initiatives stated above. It has impacted 2.5m people till date. Read on to learn more about this outstanding foundation.

Our Visit to

 AMBUJA CEMENT FOUNDATION (ACF)  

at Kodinar, Gir Somnath in Gujarat, on 22-24 January 2020.

  From water scarcity, to surplus, for thriving Agriculture  

Over 20 years and at a cost of US$15m (Rs1.1bn) ACF transformed 1200 sq kms in Coastal Saurashtra Gujarat from water scarcity to surplus water. ACF achieved this by linking local rivers with all sources of water in the region, converting depleted limestone mines into water reservoirs, rooftop rain water harvesting, building check dams, restricting saline water ingression through tidal regulator, focus on less water intensive crops, drip irrigation systems. Consistent water availability has ensured farmers ability to grow 3 crops in a year, compared to a rain fed single crop twenty years ago. This has tripled farmers income on a conservative basis.

Significantly growing value of agricultural produce

Cotton, Groundnut, Mango and vegetables are few of the main crops in ACFs area of operation in Gujarat. For Cotton, ACF partnered with Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and is currently reaching 35,000 farmers.  BCI, a global organisation, trained local cotton farmers in best global practices for gaining higher output, superior quality of product, reduced pesticide use and efficient use of fertilizers. Additionally, ACF has started booking contracts on commodity exchange platforms to lock the price ahead of cotton’s harvest. Similar initiatives in Groundnuts through Fair Trade, market linkages for Mangoes and other vegetables have dramatically raised farmers profits from each crop.

ACF, a part of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), has set-up Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) for the district of Gir Somnath. The purpose of this institution is to build capacities of farming communities through training, demonstrations and on farm research so as to reduce time lag in technology transfer.

Skill development led job placement/entrepreneurship support

ACF provides skill training through its Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institute (SEDI). SEDI provides courses of 4 to 6 months to rural youth in areas such as  nursing, electrician, welders, BPO etc. The youth are either placed in well paying jobs or are provided all the requisite support to become entrepreneurs.  ACF runs 33 SEDI programs across 10 states in India. ACF has trained over 65,000 youth since its inception 9 years ago.

Locally relevant women empowerment initiatives

ACF has promoted 700 Self Help groups (SHG) with 8600 women from rural areas. These SHGs have constituted the Sorath Women Federation (SWF). SWF has created locally relevant, yet, very powerful initiatives such as savings of few grains per day for creating Food Security during famines or floods. Interestingly, the Group which saved few grains per day, used its reservoir of grains to distribute food to the needy people without any external assistance during the pandemic. Additionally, ACF works on developing financial independence for widows, especially younger widows. At the time of our visit, we saw few young widows being trained to become electricians and nurses.

Creating online access to talent during Pandemic despite no physical access to remote areas

ACF leveraged internet availability across its areas of operation by digitally reaching over 100,000 people during the ongoing pandemic. ACF team organized Webinars with experts for areas such as health awareness including need for wearing face masks & social distancing, sustaining livelihoods during the pandemic, climate change and soil health. All of its 33 skill training SEDI centres are operational digitally. Interestingly, ACF secured jobs for its trainees through digital interviews.

Additionally, ACF`s SHGs made & distributed face masks to local municipalities, sanitation workers and those providing essential services.

 To Conclude

ACF is led by an outstanding and passionate team which is highly mission oriented in its approach. ACF has having achieved superior outcomes by use of highly innovative practices across most of its initiatives, ACF team continues to accelerate transformation of rural India.

 Play a role in India’s development

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Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower

Declining jobs for educated youth & migration to metro cities in search of employment is one of the key challenges facing India today. In contrast, we met the trainees of MAAC (Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics) from non-metros across India. Each of these trainees gets 3 or more job opportunities.
Interestingly, the Return on investment (ROI) for the fees paid by these trainees on their training is significantly superior to ROI on fees spent for popular courses such as engineering, medicine etc.
How superior is the ROI of this training? What has led to this transformation? Can this be scaled, especially in non-metros?
To learn more about these questions, read on…

Our Visit to

 MAAC 24FPS ANIMATION AWARDS 

at Mumbai, on 13th December 2019.

5 time Higher ROI on Fees as well as Reduced time of Training

A 4-year Engineering degree course from private universities costs upwards of Rs 300k (US$4,000) & leads to a starting annual salary of Rs 300k (US$4,000). In contrast, an  18-month, advanced animation course at MAAC costs Rs 150k (US$2000) & leads to a starting annual salary of Rs 300k (US$4,000). Whilst we have oversimplified the course timelines & their fees, majority of MAAC’s courses pass the hurdle rates stated above.

Unique Platform which has created a strong bridge between Recruiters & Trainees

Fresh graduates require additional training on joining their companies. MAAC has developed a unique proprietary platform which enables recruiters to review the projects on animation of the trainees. This ensures that the recruiters are able to hire trainees for their very specific job requirements. This, in turn makes the trainees productive for their recruiters with minimal needs of additional training. More importantly, since some of the recruiters are global companies, they have started selecting few trainees for their global requirements.

Delivering curriculum content through Augmented Reality

MAAC is amongst the first adopters to deliver its curriculum through AR. This makes high quality education available across the most remote parts of India.

Global Media players setting up base in India due to  availability of Skilled talent

Animation projects of global media players requires larger sized teams across multiple skills to work in tandem. Based on the availability of skilled people across India, we have seen one global media giant raise its Indian team size from 50 to 5,000 in the past 4 years. Interestingly, this Media giant is targeting 50,000 people team in India in the next 5 years. Companies such as Disney, Sony & Turner have started offshoring increasing animation content to India. Fortunately, companies such as MAAC are consistently increasing their capacity to train rising number of students to match the increasing demand for animation talent.

Confluence of factors should sustain India’s   dominance as “Animation Capital”

We believe there has been a confluence of 4 factors that will sustain this trend. These are:
1) Outstanding MAAC Team – Very rarely do we get to see the commitment, passion, competence and opportunity rolled into one. MAAC team falls in this group
2) Internet availability across India – This has ensured companies such as MAAC’s reach into non-metros where the youth with high aspirations, commitment and competence can be trained
3) Increasing interest of global players to set up base in India – This trend is creating a virtuous cycle of recruiters’ rising need of skilled people and availability of committed, competent and trained youth, leading to positive outcomes for animation-related businesses.
4) Animation work is age & location agnostic – Hence, people of all age groups across the country can participate in this trend.

 To Conclude

“Sustainable livelihood” in non-metros is an outcome of this trend
Animation needs highly diverse skills sets spread across Gaming, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Visual Effects, 3D etc. This ensures people with different skills can be a part of this movement across India. Most importantly, this skill has brought students from deep interiors of India such as Rewari, Mahad, Kanpur, Guwahati at par with students from metros of Mumbai, Delhi in terms of sustainable livelihood. Hats off to the MAAC team.

 Play a role in India’s development

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• By connecting us to corporates’ who can support our “Sustainable Livelihood” initiatives.

Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower

Our visit to Sholapur in July 2019 demonstrated the power of “doing business with a Purpose”. To give you the rationale for our conclusion, we are sharing a short history on Sholapur Milk farmers pre 2015, .
Pre 2015- villages at Sholapur, such as Wagholi, were
(i) black listed by banks for 100% defaults on bank loans.
(ii) Unemployment & migration to urban areas was high.
In July 2019, (i) the same banks are chasing the villagers of Wagholi by offering new loans, since majority of their past dues have been repaid.
(ii) Unemployment & migration has declined sharply.
(iii) Milk led farm income in this region has risen by more than Rs 2 billion  since 2015.
Interestingly, Sholapur had 3 droughts since 2015. What lead to this sustainable and transformative change? Read on…

Our Visit to Milk Farmers of 

 HATSUN AGRO 

at Sholapur, on 26th and 27th July 2019.

 Hatsun’s entry in 2015 led to Transparent Pricing

Hatsun Agro, is India’s largest private sector dairy, with a significant presence in 6 Southern States of India such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka amongst others. They started procurement of milk in Maharashtra at Sholapur in 2015. Pre 2015, farmers were paid effective price of less than Rs 17 per litre of Milk. Hatsun started with 50% higher price at Rs 25 per litre in 2015. Hatsun offered higher incentives for better quality milk. Higher quality milk fetches Rs 32 per litre today, for the Hatsun farmer.

 Quantity and Quality of Milk have improved significantly since 2015

Hatsun provides free animal husbandry services to its milk farmers such as
(i) improved cattle genetics through high merit semen
(ii) better artificial insemination services
(iii) guidance on growing fodder which raises nutrition
(iv) training on use of preventive techniques to avoid cattle diseases which lead to anti-biotic free milk.
(v) use of software technology to track genetic and lactation history of its cattle. Additionally, Hatsun does testing of milk to avoid multiple sources of adulteration. As a result, within 4 years, annual Milk output has increased by 80 million liters combined with significantly higher quality at Sholapur.

 Milk farmer profitability has grown manifold within 4 years at Sholapur

Hatsun has increased profits from milk farming through higher milk output per cow and sharply reduced costs. Cattle Feed accounts for more than 70% of total costs in milk farming. Hatsun has halved feed costs of its farmers by
(i) providing free seeds of high nutrition & higher yielding perennial fodder which grows with minimal water
(ii) Providing mineral rich feed supplements at low cost
(iii) reduced labor costs in feed making through development of Silage. Silage is green fodder converted into dry fodder for use in Summer, when green fodder availability declines. Additionally, Hatsun shares insights on farm automation with improvised machines which raises per person productivity.

 Sustainable and transformative change at a large scale

Hatsun’s initiatives, besides increasing farm profits have provided a new hope and confidence for existing farmers as well as their next generation. We understand that Hatsun is setting up a large dairy processing plant at Sholapur to be operational in early 2020. We believe this will ensure that the transformative changes of the past 4 years are sustained in the long term.

 To Conclude

We believe, Hatsun is a very strong Role Model for the private sector businesses of India in “doing business with a Purpose”. Hatsun today, positively impacts more than 4 million people in India either as its farmers, customers, vendors and employees.

 Play a role in India’s development

• By sharing our newsletters with friends
• By connecting us to corporates’ who can support our “Sustainable Livelihood” initiatives.

Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower

Genetics – Tool to raise Milk led, farm Income Permanently

In rural India, cataract led blind person’s life expectancy radically drops to two years. Aravind restores vision and thereby livelihood, by curing preventable blindness. At 0.5m surgeries each year, Aravind Eye Care does the largest number of eye surgeries in the world. 49% of these surgeries are done free or at very subsidized rates. For patients coming from camps, apart from cost of surgery, their travel cost, medicine and food expenses are also covered. Aravind charges market rates to the balance 51% paying patients and generates surplus from them by being frugal and optimizing resource utilization. We believe Aravind is India’s largest philanthropic initiative which generates its own resources and is NOT dependent on external grants. How do they do it?

About
ARAVIND EYE CARE
Restoring Dignity & Livelihood by Curing Blindness

Leveraging Surgeon’s Skill to the hilt

High Volumes Ensure Better Capital Cost Absorption

In-house manufacturing of high value Components

Women Empowerment In Rural Areas

Consistent Cost reduction has created a frugal operation leading to profitability

To conclude
Aravind, in our view, is a Role Model for :

(i) Superior clinical outcomes despite operating on large volumes. In addition to reduced surgical cost, Aravind has created growth opportunities for ophthalmic surgeons and young girls from villages in India.
(ii) Aravind was started by Dr. G. Venkataswamy (Dr. V) in 1976. Dr. V passed away in 2006, yet, Aravind continues to scale new heights due to strong succession planning and systems driven model and
(iii) Doing philanthropy on a large scale without being dependent on grants. Aravind keeps raising the bar for itself by making smart improvements in its operations on a daily basis.

Our standing ovation to Team Aravind…..

Anchor Grant provider for Jagriti is on board…..

Play a role in India’s development

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By connecting us to corporates’ who can support Team Jagriti, www.jec-p.org

Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower

Genetics – Tool to raise Milk led, farm Income Permanently

Milk is the largest agri product in India. Hence, any initiative which leads to increase in income from milk farming, leads to a positive impact on large number of farmers. Milk farmers who have adopted higher quality genetics, have seen a permanent increase in their productivity, which in turn has led to increased farm income. According to Amul, the total income of its farmer-members, has increased by five times in the last eight years, implying income growth at CAGR of 22% during this period. As a result, Milk has been at the Centre of rural transformation for many villages in Gujarat.

About
GENETICS 
Tool to raise farm income.

Why are we focusing on milk to raise farm income

• More than 70 m rural households in India depend on dairying for livelihood
• Milk farming helps to reduce the farmer’s risk from weather and keeps up a constant inflow of income. As a result, it has led to reduction in poverty
• Leads to women empowerment since women take care of the dairying business and enhance family income
• Transparent “Market Connect” is available in Milk through large co-operatives such as Amul and few large private sector dairies such as Hatsun, Prabhat, Creamline, Dodla. This is crucial for long term success of the farmers
• Availability of highly credible and successful option such as Genetics, to raise the farmer’s income permanently.

What do we mean by Genetics?

•  Better life expectancy
•  Reduced vulnerability to various diseases
•  Improved breeding and lactating properties including higher yield

What are the merits of use of Genetics in India?

• It enables farmers to produce more milk with fewer cows
• You get cows that are naturally more resilient, reducing the need for medication including anti-biotics
• Quality of milk is superior since it has been produced without using medications and most critically
• Genetics is a one-time investment which leads to a permanent elevation in the income during the life of a higher pedigree cattle.

Genetics provides the highest impact in raising milk farm productivity

There are 4 key tools available to raise productivity in Milk Farming. These are:

• Genetics
• Nutrition
• Automation including better farm management practices and
• Use of vaccines and diagnostics. Of these, we believe, Genetics provides the highest impact of more than 60% in raising farm productivity and that too, on a permanent basis.

Despite its highest impact, use of Genetics has been low at the farm level due to:

•  Higher upfront investment for the farmer and
•  Longer duration of 3 years for results to reflect in farmer’s income.

Key players who offer genetics to farmers in India

In India, there are 4 key players providing semen of “high genetic merit”. These are Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala (SAG), Amul, BAIF and Genus ABS. SAG is the largest of them with a highly dedicated team. Most of them have consistently kept pace with the technological developments to ensure technical competence. We believe, the sector needs to:

•  Raise awareness of the power of Genetics
•  Enhance its capacity to distribute semen of region specific breeds.

To conclude 
Having seen the power of Genetics at the grass roots across many villages in India, we are optimistic on the outlook of farm income growth, based on Milk farming. Hence, our mission to raise Farm Income led by use to technological tools such as Genetics.

Having had a highly enjoyable Entrepreneurial career, I started wondering “whether we can inspire the youth to become Entrepreneurs?”. Then, I met, Team Jagriti. “Jagriti Yatra” in our view, is one of the top 5 innovations from India. In this Yatra, youth from ages 20 to 26, preferably from non metros, comprising 40% women are taken on a 16 day train journey across India. The Yatra covers “Institutions of Excellence” such as ISRO, Sabarmati Ashram, Aravind Eye Care. The Yatra brings together youth from diverse economic, academic, social, regional backgrounds. The result, 22% of “Yatris” i.e the youth who complete the Yatra, have turned “Entrepreneurs”.
About
 JAGRITI YATRA 
Incredible innovation

What is Yatra all about ?
The Yatra is a 8000 km annual expedition across India on a dedicated train from 24th Dec to 7th Jan. Here, the youth visit institutions during the day and then travel to their next destination. While travelling, these youth interact with multiple Mentors, who are Experts from diverse fields. These Mentors hop on and hop off at different destinations. To enable “24 by 7” discussion on ideas, business plans etc, the Yatris, eat, live, sleep on the train. The train has customized cubicles for shower facilities as well as dedicated cooking team which cooks 3 meals each day. 15,000 youth apply each year to get selected for this Yatra, of which, 500 are chosen based on multiple parameters to ensure adequate diversity.

The Yatra Is Transformational For The Youth
Transformational learning happens for each of the youth from the Yatra. Foremost, the Yatra showcases “beauty of action & power of self belief” by the founders of the institutions visited. The Yatra for some, leads to discovery of “collective and individual purpose” in life. Quite a few are “forced out of their comfort zone”, which is similar to a feeling that each start up goes through in its initial years. Interestingly, majority of the 500 unconnected youth learn to build an unspoken lifelong thread of unity with fellow as well as alumni Yatris.

Leads To First Step Towards Entrepreneurship
In our view, certain key capabilities / traits determine the success of any enterprise. These are Integrity, Discipline, Teamwork, Collaborative approach, ability to explore novel ideas, taking calculated risks, asking the right questions and above all “an attitude of permanent optimism”. Interestingly, the Yatra, provides the first exposure of these traits to each of its Yatris.

After Yatra What Next? “Enterprise Centre”
Having inspired more than 1000 youth to become entrepreneurs, the next logical step for Team Jagriti, was to set up an “Enterprise Centre” to cater to the needs of both (i) Yatris trained on the Yatra and (ii) those who applied but could not get selected, yet had an Entrepreneurial drive. Jagriti set up a pilot Enterprise Centre at Deoria, near Gorakhpur at Uttar Pradesh. This Centre has started providing assistance to start ups in critical areas such as connect to markets, access to technology and capital and most critically, the “feeling of support” in every facet during its start up phase.

From Pilot Scale To Large Scale
Led by its visionary founder Shashank Mani, team Jagriti has started work on setting up “Jagriti Enterprise Centre” (JEC) which will enable it to impact 20 lakh people within 5 years of its start. JEC will attempt to hasten the process of connecting rural entreprises to urban markets. GormalOne has partnered with Jagriti to raise resources for the centre.

To conclude
We believe the power of any innovation lies in the scale of impact that it can create. Jagriti Yatra is one such innovation, which is acting as a catalyst to India’s transformation to a developed Nation. Come, be a part of this revolution by becoming a member of the team setting up “Jagriti Enterprise Centre”.

Click here for insights on Jagriti’s Project…

Play a role in India’s development
By sharing our newsletters with friends
By connecting us to corporates’ who can support Team Jagriti, www.jec-p.org

Manish Jain
Founder
GormalOne LLP

Delivering Resources to Empower