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This social enterprise links farmers directly to consumers

3 friends quit corporate jobs, start Jivabhumi to help growers
Last Updated 15 June 2016, 20:34 IST

 An agri-tech social enterprise started by IT professionals that connect farmers directly with consumers, a start-up of fresh graduates that helps hundreds of students find and harness their passions.

The present batch of incubatees at the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore are of varied hues.
Quitting their comfortable corporate jobs, three friends embarked on an entrepreneurial journey to try and help farmers while tapping the market of chemical-free agricultural produce.

The result was a social enterprise called Jivabhumi, started a year ago and with a growing network of farmers and a base of customers. The enterprise is working with farmers who grow organic produce in various districts of Karnataka as well as other southern states.

“The farmers fix the price of their produce and then we decide on the overall pricing,” said Laxmi Narayan, one of the co-founders. Customers can log on to an e-commerce website maintained by the firm and place their orders from over 40 different produce.

“We started off as a pilot around July last year and presently have a connection of around 1,500 farmers and a base of 300 customers. We go to the doorstep of farmers instead of they going to the market. While helping farmers we also help customers access locally grown organic food,” said Laxmi.   

Another incubatee, The Climber has been started by a group of  graduates whose aim is to help school and college going students to pursue their interests and passions. They do this by connecting students with experts in the fields of their choice.

The idea for the startup came to the co-founders while they were just about to join college. A number of them had no choice but to go for traditional courses like engineering due to a lack of information about other possibilities.

“We are already connected to around 1,100 students in around five cities and hope to achieve a target of around 2,500 students by end of this year,” said Sameer Ramesh, one of the co-founders.  The team already has a presence in various institutions like NIT-Trichy, Vellore Institute of Technology to name a few. 
 
Other incubatees of NSRCEL include ScienceHooper, that aims to provide children a hands-on learning of science, MedCync, that provides a support network for patients and medical knowhow. As many as 16 startups are presently being incubated at the cell.

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(Published 15 June 2016, 20:34 IST)

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