With a background in working alongside NGOs, and having co-founded a non-for-profit company myself, I had the unique privilege of being placed as a Banyan Impact Fellow with a for-profit startup. I have learned so much from my host organization and the co-founder of Ecowrap, and have come to deeply value the place for-profit startups have in the social development sector.
Below is an interview with my host organization Ecowrap’s co-founder Angraj Swami. The interview highlights his experience building a startup in the social development sector and provides wisdom for others looking to do the same.
Ecowrap started in 2016 and was incorporated in 2020 after pivoting its model seven times to find the best product market fit. Today Ecowrap partners with more than 1,130 hotels, restaurants, bars, and cafes throughout Jaipur. They are looking to build partnerships in other cities to tackle the problem of source segregation of waste with the strong resolve “Mera Desh, Zero Waste”.
Ecowrap provides dustbins, pick-up services, and incentives to waste generators, to segregate waste that they then sell to recyclers. Ecowrap has since started a women’s livelihood project (Muskaan) to help rural women secure sustainable livelihoods through opportunities in up-cycling.
Where did your interest in the social development sector begin?
Angraj Swami: It came from a place of curiosity. When I was in college it was a different experience for me, coming from a village. Minimal waste generation in the village had shaped a lot of my thoughts. When I was in Delhi, I saw so many people were throwing away resources that in the village we would use again and again. I kept following my curiosity and eventually found myself in this sector.
I wasn’t familiar with the word waste until I came to Delhi. Growing up I had seen people waste their time but never resources. In my village everything had a use. It sounds naive, but when I came to Delhi, that was the first time that I realized waste could be used to describe physical resources.
How did your curiosity start?
I used to go often to sit with my friends at a famous paratha stand in Delhi. To the left of the paratha stand, the land was used as a dumpsite. I watched over the course of a few years as it filled up with waste. When they ran out of space on the left-hand-side, they covered it with soil and grass and then began dumping on the right-hand side. I thought to myself that putting soil on garbage is like pouring water on your mistakes. I became curious about the origin of this waste. As I started doing research, I began to wonder how long we as a society could continue to consume natural resources, and what would happen after that. It was concerning, and I wanted to find a way to solve this problem.
Did you initially plan to start out in the social development sector?
I had hoped to start a business. When I did market research, I found that source segregation was a huge problem that no one had been able to crack as of yet. I saw the opportunity and went for it. My mind was always in business. It started with curiosity, and the more I learned, the more problems I uncovered. I began challenging myself to start solving bigger and bigger problems, and ultimately it became the source of my self-respect, along with my finances.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced beginning a startup in the social developments sector?
There are multiple activities to manage. First, team-building. Culturally there are a lot of taboos in the waste management sector which make it difficult to find like-minded people. Cofounders have changed numerous times, 16, in fact. In 2016 the government officially launched their startup policy. The startup ecosystem was booming and the government was helping to provide infrastructure and funds to startups. People were attracted by the schemes and rushing to this sector, but didn’t realize how much time it would take to build something from the ground up. Many people came and went. There is a clear academic path for those in business, but there aren’t any programs I know of specifically for those in the social development sector which requires a unique skillset.
What skillset do you feel is required?
A clear sense of ethics associated with your earnings, understanding how empathy impacts your work, and being grounded in how your work is attached with your values.
How are the challenges you face today similar or different from the challenges you were facing when you first started building the startup?
Initially there was no capital or access to government or corporate funds. Over the past few years, we have built a strong ecosystem where other people are connected with the company. In past 4-5 years we have a better support system and have model validation so now we are scaling the project. We are looking for more people who are well experienced in the social development sector, but these people are difficult to find. The development sector is considered a low-return sector and the capital is usually though venture capitalists.
However, many are reluctant to invest in the social development sector when tech-based sectors have close to 10 times the return on their investment. In the social development sector, it is closer to three times. The government is collaborating with larger organizations in the social development sector, but they are reluctant to collaborate with to startups. Many invest in NGOs but few invest in for-profit ventures in this sector.
What advice do you have for others who have a desire to build a startup in the social development sector?
First, I’d say many people who are in this sector focus highly on empathy for their cause, but it is important to also focus on the business side of the startup as well. The more economically strong you are, the greater ability you have to create impact. Founders always try to sell the cause, but people don’t purchase a cause, they purchase a product. It is important for founders to focus on creating an excellent product.
Second, nowadays as startups are booming, people are getting more focused on tech. This puts an unnecessary pressure on startups to use or develop technology whether they require it or not. This can severely strain the business model you have developed. It is not necessary to develop new technology to have a strong startup…a strong startup can be rooted in an innovative business model. Remember that.
Third, the problems that those in the development sector are trying to solve are large. Every founder gets tempted to scale as fast as possible when they start. But this is usually when they are still very limited in resources. Eventually, in doing so, they become unable to serve the market they are trying to reach and it becomes negative branding. Uncontrolled launch is a huge problem for startups working in the social development sector. You should always evaluate your capacity to serve and grow in a very controlled manner.
Where do you see the future of startups in the social development sector?
After Covid-19 things changed drastically, and the government has become more focused on climate change. More funds are starting to be allocated by the government to those focused on climate change. The government of India also recently launched the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme where impact startups are emphasized. I think that we will start to see a growth of startups in this sector over the next few years.
How do you think NGOs, Non-Profits, Government Organizations, and Startups can come together to create impact in this sector?
The problems that we are trying to resolve are not just the result of just one individual’s or one group’s mistakes… they are collective problems that we are all responsible for resolving. We need to all work together to collaboratively respond. We can’t work in silos. We all need each other. The more stakeholders that are involved, contributing their skills, the more likely we are to resolve this.
