With climate action and sustainable development as key goals of every country, including India, which is a part of the United Nations, the focus on sustainable entrepreneurship is growing the world over. A 2021 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Sustainability reveals that women make key decisions regarding consumption and ethical commitments in most economies due to the traditional role prescribed to them. This has almost automatically led to women-led entrepreneurial ventures being more eco-friendly, sustainable and ethical—apart from being profitable. The study also suggests that the role of women in sustainable entrepreneurship is growing, and is projected to keep growing.
Proving this study right are a number of Indian women who are not only driving sustainable businesses, but inspiring millions to follow their example too. Here are seven Indian women sustainable entrepreneurs who are taking the movement forward, and deserve your attention.
Kirti Poonia
She was a part of Tata Administrative Services when she came across Okhai, the sustainable, homegrown company which started off by empowering traditional women artisans based out of Gujarat’s Okhamandal area. Under Kirti Poonia’s guidance, Okhai expanded from having 350 women from Gujarat on the team to 27,000 women artisans from across India. Even as the brand’s ex-CEO, Poonia remains a board member. Her latest ventures, Relove and Restore, are working to bring much-needed circularity in the Indian fashion industry.
Rameshwari Talluri Seth
Rameshwari Talluri Seth may be a household name as a veteran of multiple film and television industries across the country, but there’s one more identity she has developed in recent years—that of a sustainable entrepreneur. As the co-founder of Neemli Naturals, Seth and her team are helping develop one of India’s leading cruelty-free skincare brands. The products are PETA approved and 100 per cent vegan, made from natural ingredients—so the brand is good for the planet and for you as well.
Anamika Sengupta
She worked for an IT company, went on maternity leave, and returned to find herself without a job. But as a new mother committed to sustainability, Anamika Sengupta decided to start her own venture, Almitra Tattva, a company that turns traditional Indian weaves into baby wraps. Soon after, she started Almitra Sustainables with her husband, Biplab Dutta. This venture supports traditional Indian artisans across the nation create sustainable household products, and they make everything from bamboo toothbrushes to coconut choir mats. Both of Sengupta’s ventures thrived during the pandemic and continue to do well for the artisans she supports and for the planet.
Ruchi Jain
This Oxford-educated entrepreneur, who has worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the World Bank, was inspired by her mother—a naturalist—to start her venture, Taru Naturals. Founded in 2016, Ruchi Jain’s venture connects small-scale sustainable farmers from around the country with conscious consumers around the world. Before exploding on the B2C and e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Jain started selling the produce in bulk to restaurants, which ensured cash flows thanks to fixed orders. As Taru’s organic products gained popularity the world over (the products are sold in the US, Switzerland and Dubai, apart from pan India), the farmers behind them also stood out.
Gauri Satam
Building a home which is sustainable—from the way it uses natural light to the way it’s constructed using eco-friendly materials—is not an easy task at all. And yet, Gauri Satam, the co-founder of Mumbai-based unTAG Architecture & Interiors, makes this possible with her team. Satam runs her company with her life and business partner, Tejesh Patil. The pair believes that homes should be created in accordance with the immediate climate and context, as a part of the ecosystem and not in spite of it.
Mansi Reddy
There aren’t too many brands of chocolates that work with the Indian cacao bean, but doing so for Indian chocolatiers is a step in the right direction when it comes to sustainability—not only because it supports Indian cacao farmers and chocolate artisans, but also because it eliminates immense amounts of carbon emissions by reducing the miles the raw material has to travel. Mansi Reddy, the founder of Mason & Co, is one such sustainable entrepreneur. Her company creates vegan, bean-to-brand crafted chocolates from beans sourced from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Reddy’s chocolate factory is based in Auroville, Puducherry. What’s even more admirable is the fact that Reddy employs an all-woman team of local women, who are trained in the art of making chocolates.
Ritika Jayaswal
In 2019, Ritika Jayaswal started Nourish Mantra, a clean, holistic beauty brand which is PETA-certified, vegan and cruelty-free, and plastic-neutral. Jayaswal, who is based out of New York, but traces her roots back to India, is a practitioner of Vipassana and believes that sustainability is at the core of her life’s work. So, while the brand blends ancient Ayurvedic knowledge with modern concepts of inner revitalisation through supplements, it also makes constant efforts to innovate in plastic-free packaging and ethical ingredients and formulations for its products.