Essmart

Despite 78% of India’s adult population owning bank accounts (lower than Brazil, China, Russia, and South Africa), there is limited understanding and utilization of these services in rural regions. Many rely on word-of-mouth and social networks for loan options, avoiding formal lending due to the perception of complicated paperwork and lack of awareness. 44% of agricultural households have a Kisan Credit Card, a significant portion still lacks engagement with formal financial services. Financial inclusion plays a crucial role in enabling people to save money, access credit, and secure loans - it lays the foundation for long-term financial stability. Read the full article about the challenges and potential solutions here: #FinancialInclusion #CreditGap #FormalLoan #InformalLoan #P2PLending #AgriTech

As Essmart continues to grow its network and explore innovative ways to engage with rural farmers and retailers, partnering with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) emerged as a natural step. In villages, FPOs act as aggregators, connecting farmers, their produce, and their challenges. By collaborating with a single FPO, we can potentially reach and support hundreds of farmers. This enhances operations, improves success rates, and facilitates the adoption of new technologies and practices in rural communities. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share stories of our work with FPOs—highlighting their innovative contributions, from providing access to farm inputs to enabling farmers to generate additional income through value addition and food processing. Stay tuned! #FPO #Farmers #Partnerships

𝐈𝐬 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤? Agile research empowers you to adapt quickly and deliver products that resonate—because in today’s competitive market, speed and precision are everything. Imagine a team working on an agri-tech app for HNI farmers, aiming to simplify crop planning and yield tracking for premium users. They want to launch a new feature that uses AI to provide customized farm analytics, but they’re unsure if it addresses their audience’s needs. Using agile market research, our team can quickly gather input after sampling from our database. Within a few days, agile design can uncover whether the feature is useful, integration improvements, and other key insights. This iterative process saves them months of rework and helps deliver a more polished product  before launch. Agile research helps you adapt faster and build with confidence. Are you ready to move faster? Let’s talk about how agile research can transform your strategy. ✉️: testing@essmart-global.com #Agile #Research #Analytics

The renewable energy sector in India is growing rapidly, and it is crucial to set the principles of “regeneration, resilience, and justice” to practice from the get-go. Otherwise, initiatives in this sector might run the risk of doing more harm than good. Take the first utility-scale solar park in Gujarat’s Charanka for example. The IDR article below describes how local communities have raised concerns such as changing migratory patterns of birds and lowered groundwater levels in the area. When mobilizing renewable energy for good, it might be important to look beyond ESG reporting to guide action. As the author elucidates, businesses need to focus on solutions that are sustainable and capable of bringing about long-term change.

Right before the big Cartier Women's Initiative Founder Showcase at #ImpactWeek, seven of the fellows sat down to talk. What unfolded was a conversation unlike any other in this #ImpactPeople podcast series: about the life of founders – sometimes wonderful, sometimes not. Our guests shared their experiences on balancing family, business partners and expectations; their biggest questions for each other; and what it takes to keep going when the odds are against you.  Tune in to hear from Jackie Stenson (Essmart), Jessica Menon (Equilo), Monika Tomecka, PhD (uFraction8), Sofie Blakstad 🐝 (hiveonline ApS), Jife Williams (MN Environmental Services), Dr. Ishani Roy (Serein) & Rana Sanyal (RS Research): https://lnkd.in/eYHeWjqB Benjamin DeVries

I found my way back into the classroom and this time for a guest lecture in front of a room full of budding leaders and entrepreneurs from Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli. It was a great reminder for me as to how much I really enjoy being able to take from our work at Essmart and share it with others, especially students. Thanks again Professor Suresh Paul Antony aka SPA for this wonderful opportunity. Thanks to all the students for the fantastic questions, it really showed that my Saturday was well spent! #GuestLectures #IIM #Essmart #ConnectingPeopleAndTechnology

Urban flooding poses a significant challenge for several Indian cities, driven by rapid urbanization, inadequate planning, and climate change. Just last year in the national capital, heavy flooding over the Yamuna bank led to large-scale evacuations. In major cities like Bengaluru and Chennai, monsoon rains result in incessant flooding. Evidently, a new blueprint for climate resilient planning in cities is required, one that utilizes nature-based solutions and sustainable infrastructure to tackle these challenges. News of India planning to allocate $300 million to conserve water and tackle floods offers some hope. It is high time that preventative measures are strengthened along with post-disaster programs. This interesting article by the World Economic Forum (link in comments) shows how water-based urbanism and strong public-private-community partnerships in Bangkok and Belém help adapt to climate hazards. #ClimateResilience #UrbanPlanning #Flooding

"Know your users!" is a phrase one might hear often as a product designer or an entrepreneur. But really, what does it mean? And do you really need to invest in research to get there? Let’s unpack this phrase to underline what exactly is at stake: - User needs - User actions - Barriers to adoption These are some of the building blocks of user experience - be it for a digital or physical product. Not having a firm grip on how these 3 play out for your target demographic can lead your business to ineffective priorities and strategy. And your customers? To your competitors. ✉️: testing@essmart-global.com #UserNeeds #BarriersToAdoption #ProductDesign #Usability #UserBehaviour

I had the somewhat arduous task of taking the stage at the Climate Leadership Summit after a stellar session with 2 IAS officers, a former Chief Secretary and a Minister of the Karnataka government. Keeping the audience of students and policymakers engaged after a delectable lunch of course needed some animated faces to be made during my talk on the role of Ag-tech in climate science and our work at Essmart. This was a timely event organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development with the promise of a Bangalore Declaration on Climate Change taken as a goal for the year. I am very grateful to Dr Srinivas Ravindra for inviting me to this forum. #Essmart #Agriculture #ClimateLeadershipSummit #Bengaluru

“Out of sight, out of mind” often defines how we manage waste. While we collect and dispose of it from our homes or institutions, once it leaves our sight—whether through garbage vans or onto the streets—it is as if it never existed. Of course, the journey doesn’t end there, and what happens next is a responsibility too few of us are willing to shoulder. India generates over 62 million tons of waste annually, but only 43 million tons are collected. Of this, just 12 million tons are treated, leaving 31 million tons discarded in landfills. A major contributor to this growing problem lies at the source: improper or no waste segregation. There is immense room for innovation and rethinking how we view waste, who disposes of it, and how. Ensuring the health and well-being of waste pickers is crucial, alongside addressing incorrect garbage disposal practices. The ultimate goal should be to repurpose as much waste as possible—whether into biogas, recycling, or other sustainable solutions—and reduce our reliance on harmful landfills, which continue to harm local communities. Read The Hindu article in the comments below on how India being the world’s largest emitter of plastics is a cause and effect of this problem. #WasteManagement #Plastics