500 young people will embark on an 8,000-kilometre ‘Jagriti Yatra’
BASF and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, an Indian non-governmental organisation, will provide a collaborative platform for 500 young entrepreneurs to develop social business models on the theme of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (W.A.S.H.). The collaboration activities will take place through the Jagriti Yatra initiative – the world’s largest entrepreneurial train journey, now in its 11th edition. With a vision of ‘Building India through Enterprise’, Jagriti Sewa Sansthan aims to inspire young, middle-class Indians to lead development by taking up enterprise, and then to adapt and replicate successful models across the country.
The participants, or ‘Yatris’, will begin their train journey in Mumbai on December 24, 2018 and will travel to key cities and villages throughout India: Hubali, Bengaluru, Madurai, Sri City, Vizag, Ganjam, Nalanda, Deoria, New Delhi, Tilonia and Ahmedabad. They will return in Mumbai on January 8, 2019, having covered more than 8,000 kilometres. During the 15-day journey, Yatris will participate in an entrepreneurial ecosystem comprised of panel discussions, role-model visits, Yatri interactions and Biz Gyan Tree, a platform for young entrepreneurs to create social business ideas. By the end of the journey, the team intends to have developed a concept for a social business model that will address issues related to W.A.S.H., to mark the 75th anniversary of BASF India.
Dr Raman Ramachandran, CMD, BASF India and Head, BASF South Asia, said, “BASF’s global corporate purpose is to create chemistry for a sustainable future: in our daily business and in our engagement with communities. In India, we aim to provide leadership and support communities around the umbrella theme of W.A.S.H. Jagriti Yatra is a valuable platform for us to engage with young entrepreneurs and encourage sustainable social business models. As we usher in the 75th year of BASF India, we look forward to some great ideas that can achieve long-term benefits around the theme of W.A.S.H.”
Shashank Mani, Chairman, Jagriti Yatra, said, “Keeping in mind the need to build a powerful enterprise-led nation, our focus is to use Jagriti Yatra to create jobs in towns, villages, and developing regions and encourage the best social business models to aid the growth of the country. It’s been a pleasure to collaborate with BASF and work towards building a sustainable future that aligns with our mission of building India through enterprise and ingenious innovation. This creates reasons for optimism about the future.”
The Yatris for this journey have been selected from a pool of more than 15,000 applications received from 49 countries, including 28 states in India. The diversity and versatility that Yatris bring to the table is extensive and strongly contributes to the entrepreneurial spirit. So far, 51 per cent of the Yatris have joined social initiatives, 53 per cent have set up enterprises in cities, and 47 per cent have implemented enterprises in small towns and rural areas. Almost 2,000,000 people have benefited from these enterprises in the form of direct and indirect employment.
As a global company, BASF’s social engagement helps contribute to solving current and future social challenges by aligning with impact-oriented social activities.
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