This crisis has given us an opportunity to take a fresh approach to fighting extreme poverty. We need to to more—and so do our peers.
Understanding the 2021 Scale-Ups Accelerator’s Selection Criteria
Upaya Social Ventures and MIT D-Lab Announce Collaboration to Support Women-Led Startups in India
Brian Boland and Caroline Vance Join Upaya’s Board of Directors
This design enterprise upskills marginalized women to help them achieve financial independence
Meet Deepa Pant, founder of SVATANYA, whose mission is to empower underprivileged women with financial independence that comes with a dignified job. SVATANYA is a Delhi-based social enterprise that trains women to make handcrafted products
Upaya Wraps Up 2020 Virtual Accelerator Program
Upaya Social Ventures and Beyond Capital Recommit to Investment in FreshR to Further Benefit Smallholder Farmers in India
Follow-on investment to support the extension of FreshR’s microentrepreneur and farmer networks, as well as continue expansion into new region of underserved communities
Bhawanipatna, India (PRWEB) September 2, 2020
Upaya Social Ventures and Beyond Capital are pleased to announce their follow-on investments in FreshR, a burgeoning social enterprise based in Odisha, India. FreshR connects smallholder farmers with underserved markets to increase farmer incomes and enhance consumer access to fresh local meats and fish. FreshR leverages innovative supply chain technologies and retail platforms to create an integrated distribution model, creating India’s first one-stop solution for the fresh meat and fish industry.
FreshR founders Sadananda and Ambika Satapathy started their business in 2016 to improve access to fresh meat retail in Odisha with the goal of combatting the malnutrition and high unemployment rates prevalent in the region. The company builds reliable rural and urban distribution networks that offer smallholder farmers support and greater access to the fresh meat value chain. Their business also proved resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns in India.
Along with the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation, this bridge-round follow-on investment will allow FreshR to expand its operations into the cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in eastern India, as well as extend its network from 200 to 850 microentrepreneurs and farmers to generate greater financial and social impact.
“We are excited about the impact FreshR will create by helping microentrepreneurs and smallholder farmers command higher prices in the market and introduce standard operating procedures that will greatly improve the quality of fresh food in their communities,” said Eva Yazhari, CEO of Beyond Capital.
“As we look to the recovery phase of the COVID-19 crisis, the most important thing we can do is to safeguard and grow jobs for the most vulnerable. Upaya is pleased to be bringing innovative revenue-based financing to FreshR to help them grow their business in a way that aligns our interests,” said Kate Cochran, CEO of Upaya Social Ventures.
Since Upaya Social Ventures’ and Beyond Capital’s initial investment in 2019, FreshR has helped poultry farmers increase their incomes by almost $1,500 and microentrepreneurs by almost $4,000 annually. The company has successfully launched its meat mart and executed live fish and iced fish transportation, greatly improving the quality of meat available in the marketplace. The expansion into Bhubaneswar-Cuttack will enable the company to capture a much larger market, beyond its current operations in Bhawanipatna.
ABOUT UPAYA SOCIAL VENTURES
Upaya Social Ventures is fighting extreme poverty through dignified jobs. Founded in 2011, Upaya provides investment and consulting support to early-stage businesses aimed at creating jobs for the poorest of the poor. Upaya’s continually growing portfolio of impact investments has created over 16,000 lasting, dignified jobs. Endorsed by ImpactMatters as a high-impact, cost-effective nonprofit, Upaya’s teams in Seattle and Bangalore are committed to a goal of helping entrepreneurs create jobs for 50,000 people in India by 2023.
Please visit http://www.upayasv.org for more information.
ABOUT BEYOND CAPITAL
Beyond Capital is an impact investment fund that invests in for-profit social enterprises throughout India and East Africa. The fund invests in businesses that are focused on greater access to health care, water, sanitation, and energy, as well as food security and financial inclusion, which can increase the quality of life for consumers living at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Though the fund seeks market-rate financial returns, Beyond Capital is structured as a nonprofit, which permits the organization to emphasize fidelity to its social mission alongside its financial mandate.
Please visit http://www.beyondcapitalfund.org for more information.
This startup provides work for families in one of India’s poorest forested regions
Building a Business from the Ground-Up: A conversation with Nand Kishore Chaudhary, Jaipur Rugs
As part of the ongoing resources we offer our entrepreneurs, we were extremely delighted to host Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary, Founder of Jaipur Rugs, to share his experiences and insight. In light of COVID-19, this session with NK Chaudhary was an inspiration and added a spark of positivity for our entrepreneurs.
This Startup Helps Farmers Earn Money from Crop Residue
Finding the right type of capital for your business
For most entrepreneurs, fundraising to build and scale the business is both a necessity and a pain-point. There might be many challenges in the process of accessing capital, but before you even go into that process, it’s important to identify and seek the right type of capital for your business needs.
Upaya and Acumen invest in Haqdarshak to Reach Families in Extreme Poverty
We are pleased to announce Upaya’s latest investment in Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions to connect Indian citizens with government schemes and services through its mobile and web platforms. With a presence in 20 Indian states, Haqdarshak has so far reached over 300k individuals and has helped over 60k people this year with COVID-19 specific relief schemes.
“We were impressed by the traction that Haqdarshak has already shown in reaching poor families to connect them with government schemes that have never been more relevant,” said Upaya CEO, Kate Cochran, in a press release issued by Acumen, the leading investor in the round. “We look forward to working with the team to help them reach even deeper into extreme poverty.”
Haqdarshak relies on a network of entrepreneurs (Haqdarshaks) to transform the way people find out about, apply for, and benefit from welfare schemes, while creating livelihood opportunities for the Haqdarshaks who enable the service. To date, the company has trained over 5,000 Haqdarshaks who have facilitated over 230k applications for government services. Haqdarshak aimes to scale to 10k trained entrepreneurs in the next few years.
For more details, view the press release issued by Acumen at Acumen.org.
Empowering Women with Every Stitch
Creating Job Opportunities One Toilet at a Time
How Measuring Impact Looks Different During COVID-19
On-the-ground survey data is extremely important in informing Upaya’s impact work in India. With COVID-19 disrupting this practice, at a time when information from the field is more crucial than ever, we had to adapt. Here’s what you should know to effectively collect survey data during the age of COVID-19.
