Swadesi Way (formerly Leap Club) is a purpose-driven brand that sells wholesome, local and organic food products sourced directly from farmer collectives in India. We are contributing towards building a beautiful world where farmers and consumers come together to care for each other's well-being and the well-being of the planet.We are completely transparent with customers about who grew it, how it was grown, and how much money reaches the organic farmer. They can trust that the food is genuinely organic, and feel content that they are contributing to the well-being of farmers and helping them build sustainable enterprises. We are backed by YCombinator (W21), Goodwater Capital and other marquee investors on our mission. Click here to place your order: https://swadesiway.com

Auroville is a community of 3,000 individuals that aspires to become a universal town where men and women of all countries can live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. Talam is a small team of developers that builds software for Auroville. I volunteered with Talam, and other Auroville units, helping with product development and strategy. I spent the most time building Consciously, an analytics dashboard that provided every Auroville member with insights into the sustainability of their personal consumption, as well as our collective efforts as a community.

At Digital Green, I was part of the founding team of Loop - a tech-enabled platform that empowers farmers to organise themselves in groups, get access to rates across different markets and sell their vegetables in the best possible market right from their doorstep.During my stint, we scaled from 0 to 21,000 farmers across Bihar, Maharashtra and Bangladesh. I played a key role in streamlining on-ground processes and managing UI/UX for mobile apps, analytics dashboards and IVR-based products. I also developed impact evaluation and market recommendation algorithms.I spent a significant time in villages talking to farmers, trying to understand the on-ground challenges and running big and small pilots to find their solutions. In the first 18 months, I felt that we were creating something pathbreaking that would have a sustained impact in the lives of farmers. However, later on, I didn't align with the direction we decided to take as a team and left the organization. Loop eventually shut down after a few years.I still feel sad that we weren’t able to do what was needed to make it work. I also have a lot of gratitude for everything that I learned in this journey:- I closely experienced how the existing market-driven agricultural system disempowers farmers and deprives them of their freedom and safety. We need nothing less than a paradigm shift in food and farming!- I learnt about the complexities of the non-profit ecosystem. Sometimes, a good solution isn’t good enough. You need something that works for all stakeholders involved.- I worked with individuals who were passionate about their work and have spent decades working with farmers. Their drive and purpose were infectious!A lot changed within me while I was trying to change the world.

SELCO Foundation focuses on creating last-mile energy solutions for poor people across varied contexts. One of the problems that they identified was that low-income schools in rural Karnataka were not able to provide digital education to their students, because the electricity supply was inconsistent and running computers/projectors on battery was very expensive for them.I was part of a small team that was trying to figure out how to make the entire digital education setup more energy-efficient and how to use solar energy to make it more cost-effective. We first conducted a feasibility study across 19 schools of 6 districts, tested multiple prototypes and then conducted a pilot in 2 schools.I'm not sure about the "long-term" impact of my work at SELCO, but it was a humbling experience for me. It taught me patience. I realised the complexity of developing solutions that solve real-world problems.