Climate Smart Entrepreneurs’ Alliance

Last year, Maria and I went to the IWF World Leadership Conference. It was a very interesting event where we had a number of stimulating discussions. One of them was about the need to have a Youth Foundation which would impart entrepreneurship training and be instrumental in creating social entrepreneurs. I was already working in this field and decided to form the Climate Smart Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (CSEA) as a stepping stone to the Youth Foundation.

CSEA was conceptualized as an association of budding and existing “green” entrepreneurs of the region (Eastern India). It enabled such entrepreneurs to network, share experiences and assist each other to work towards a common goal. It was established in October 2008, in collaboration with Jadavpur University Global Change Program. This platform was used to voice the concerns and opinions of the new breed of “green” entrepreneurs and was duly recognized by various public bodies, including government departments. 

After a few months, I realized the need to take a more holistic approach to support the “green” enterprises. So, new operations were initiated that aimed at supporting “green” enterprises with market research, data analysis and absorbing some of their peripheral activities.

CSEA will soon launch a green business directory to spread information about the various green entrepreneurial ventures in the state of West Bengal.

On June 5 (World Environment Day), we co-organized the Climate Responsible Lifestyle Initiative 2009, which had the Mayor of Kolkata as the chief guest.

There were several presentations, lectures and panel discussions on how our previous generations (of Indians) used to conserve resources as opposed to our current lifestyle. For example, the concept of a shower was either unknown or not so popular. People used a simple mug (a jar) to take water from stored containers (buckets) to wash themselves. This act conserved a lot of water compared to spending several minutes underneath a shower, with water gushing out incessantly!

The event also recognized several noted environmentalists for their continuous efforts for the mitigation of Kolkata’s pollution. There were competitions for children and youth too.

To set an example of climate-responsible lifestyles, we calculated the approximate carbon emission that our events generated. We did so by calculating the energy consumed due to the AC, fans, lights of the venue in which the event was held and also the fuel consumption from our transport requirements. From these energy consumption figures, we calculated our carbon emissions with the help of the guidelines from the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) reports. Once we established our carbon emissions, we calculated their cost using the cost of the carbon credits. Our event was hailed as “unique” because we offset our carbon emissions by paying the amount (carbon credits) to a “green” plastic waste recycling unit!

We are expanding operations and opportunities with a dedicated group of youth with subject knowledge. University students play central role in this organization and it serves the dual purpose of inspiring entrepreneurship in such ventures and educating youth to undertake sustainable lifestyle initiatives. We also offer several internship opportunities during summer and semester breaks and organize free workshops for them.

I will be writing on some of our interesting research projects in the next blog. We will be launching our website soon. If you are interested in setting up such an organization in your city or interested in joining our activities, please do let me know.  I will be delighted to support you in whatever little way I can.