Eclectic Northeast – July 2019

40 │ │ July 2019

business

Bhairavi Jani

L

iving in our times is

a wondrous blessing.

Whether to quench our

thirst for knowledge, to travel,

to eat, to connect with our loved

ones or strangers far and wide,

or just improve our lives in a

myriad of ways, technology and

industrialisation has empowered

us to achieve more with our time

and resources. But even as we get

on with our daily schedules, in a

nation of a billion, and a country

with such variety of natural

beauty, our consciousness towards

the environment often stops at

the annual holiday, or weekend

ruminations.

Increasing waste, effluents

and emissions, and depleting

forests are all contributing to a

slow corrosion of our beautiful

topography. A common concern,

especially among the dwellers of

We take a look at how the Northeast can benefit from ecopreneurship

THE NEXT BIG

OPPORTUNITY FOR NE

hills - more so in regions such as

the Northeast, where the flood of

tourism and mass industrialisation

alike are spoiling its breathtaking

environs - climate, soil, local

livelihoods et al.

In recent times,

entrepreneurship has been

recognised as an impactful

solution to economic as well

as sustainability challenges.

Ecological sustainability, as

an aspect of business can no

longer be the sole ration of vast

corporations or the exclusive

duty of the government. Under

the circumstances, grassroots

entrepreneurship in the area of

environmental betterment seeks

to innovate through community

involvement. They garner local

knowledge, implement effective

practices and showcase long-term

positive outcomes.

Some entrepreneurs in the

Northeast fathom the gravity of

the threat to their surroundings

and have taken it upon themselves

to do something. Not only do

they work to spread awareness,

but also reverse the adverse

effects of climate change through

their ventures. Through their

enterprises, they are providing

solutions to the environmental

challenges. They are popularly

known as ‘Ecopreneurs’.

Environment Friendly

Enterprises

Ecopreneurs are building

profitable and environment

friendly enterprises that start at

the village or town-levels and

scale up to cover the region. Take

the example of Dasumarlin Majaw,

the founder of Smokey Falls Tribe

Coffee. The young Khasi woman

entrepreneur found that various

residents of the Khasi Hills grow

a local variety of coffee shrubs as

decorative plants in their gardens.

Upon carrying out further

research and some reading, she

realised it has a unique flavour

that could be mass produced and

introduced to coffee connoisseurs

far and wide. She convinced the

women in the region to contribute

the berry harvest to her processing

unit that employs modern roasting

and grinding methods. Today,

Majaw retails her brand of coffee

to local cafes in Shillong and in

online retail stores. Not only is the

brand popular, but also utilises

indigenously found produce

to offer residents an additional

source of livelihood, encouraging

them to cultivate it meticulously!

Ecopreneurship offers products

and services that does not harm

the environment, but also attempts

to preserve it. In that, the typology

of ecopreneurship necessitates it

to be not only resourceful, but also

transformative, financially viable

and profitable, and as a result,

virtuous. Embracing the bottom-

up approach to transformation,

ecopreneurs operate with the

innate understanding that future