The Good Fund – Leveraging tech for good to drive farm to home

“I want to be very wealthy when I grow up”

Dad looked up, bemused and asked, “But why, ‘mole’?” (daughter, in Malayalam)

Wealth, according to my middle class, government salaried parents meant that it was most probably acquired by dubious means.

And as a culture, aspiration was meant for life’s higher ideals, not baser, material things.

And it was plain greedy to wish for more of something. Something someone has less of.

And yet, what I optimised for from life has changed from money I can earn, to impact I can drive, over the last few years.

Tech, and access to information, can be a great leveler.

What technology has driven today though is how wealth creation can be moral.

Yet, based on my recent trip to the rural farmlands, there is this huge lacuna that exists in leveraging tech for good.

The fresh produce from the foot-hills ranging from millets, luscious fruits such as guavas, noni to star-fruit lay wasted while the tribes that rear them struggle to make ends meet.

I have been researching agri-tech start-ups that connect farms directly to households, providing the tribal artisans a distribution channel to customers whilst giving customers access to the fresh produce.

I closest I come across is myHarvest Farms – a farm to home initiative by Archana Stalin and Stalin Kalidoss (Tip – I have issues adding items to the cart :))

I wonder if there is more that can be done in terms of on-boarding farmers, logistics support or potentially exploring subscription boxes.

If you know of Agri-tech startups playing in the space of farm to home – please DM.

My hope is, at some point in the future, to start a VC fund directed at #StartupsforSocialImpact – #TheGoodFund

Towards that, as I learn more, here is my weekly series to amplify the startups that are already paving inroads in this space

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Ranjani Mani

#reviewswithranjani

#Technology | #Books | #BeingBetter

#TechforGood. #TheGoodFund

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