Invites entries from youth entrepreneurs with innovative sustainability ideas in the fields of water, agriculture and recycling

Pune, July 12, 2017: Coca-Cola India in partnership with Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, a non-profit organization with the mission of building India through enterprise, today announced the launch of ‘Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017’. The competition invites youth from the upcountry places in India to put forward innovative entrepreneurial ideas related to Water, Agriculture and Recycling.

Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice President, Public Affairs & Communication at Coca-Cola India & South West Asia, said, “We have had a long association with Jagriti Yatra and we wanted to move beyond Yatra. In a young nation like ours, encouraging entrepreneurship is very important. At the same time, we wanted to create a platform to address challenges we face in water, agriculture and recycling today. We uphold this unwavering commitment to our communities, planet and the future generations.”

The launch of Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017 will provide a compelling platform to young rural entrepreneurs to come forward and develop sustainable communities through new enterprise models across India. He further added, “We would like to encourage bright minds from “middle” India to help solve some of the most pressing issues we are facing in the area of water, agriculture and recycling.”

Dr. Suyog Kumar Bhavare, Chief Operating Officer, Jagriti Yatra, said, ''Youth unemployment has been recognized as a big concern in the United Nations’ 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation, promoting sustainable agriculture and reducing and recycling waste are some other critical priorities. As a natural extension to Jagriti Yatra, we wanted to invite young talent in the far-flung places of India to propose sustainable solutions in water, agriculture and recycling with an underlying spirit of entrepreneurship. It’s been a pleasure working with Coca-Cola India and their support and participation has been a catalyst in the launch of Sustainable Enterprise Award.”

The awareness and promotion events will be conducted across 25 carefully selected Tier 1 and Tier 2 locations across India. The participants can apply online through the Website http://www.jagritiyatra.org/SEA/. Three entries each from in and around these 25 districts will be shortlisted by a panel of eminent and experienced jury members from Jagriti Sewa Sansthan and Coca-Cola India. The 75 finalists will then compete for the award during the grand finale to be scheduled in Delhi. Each team of 4 members will present their ideas to a jury of remarkable repute and expertise.

Besides the trophy, monetary reward and great recognition, all members of top three winning teams will be awarded with a special waiver for the 10th Edition of the World’s largest train journey of entrepreneurs, Jagriti Yatra 2017.

Please visit http://www.jagritiyatra.org/SEA/ for more information on submission guidelines, format and deadlines. This year, the online entries have been invited from Uttarakhand, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.

About Coca-Cola India

Coca-Cola India is one of the country’s leading beverage companies offering a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. Since its re-entry in 1993, the company has been refreshing

consumers with its products – Aquarius, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Fanta Green, Mango, Limca, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Maaza, VIO flavoured milk ‘Almond Delight’ and ‘Kesar Delight’, Minute Maid range of juices, FUZE Iced tea, Georgia and Georgia gold range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Schweppes, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water and Kinley Club Soda. The Company along with its bottling partners and through a strong network of over 2.6 million retail outlets, touches the lives of millions of consumers. Its brands are some of the most preferred and most sold beverages in the country – Sprite and Thums Up – being the top two selling sparkling beverages.

The Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people. The Coca-Cola system in India is contributing in its own small way to building sustainable communities through community initiatives like Coca-Cola Support My School, Thums Up VEER, Coca-Cola Parivartan, Maaza Unnati and by reducing its own environmental footprint. For further information on the Company’s India operations and its products, please visit: www.coca-colaindia.com. Follow us on twitter @CocaCola_Ind, or on facebook at www.facebook.com/cocacolaindia/

About Jagriti Yatra

Jagriti Yatra is an entrepreneurial annual train journey which started in the year 2008, with 500 brilliant young minds and today the yatra family has reached the 4000+ milestone. It covers 8000 kms and travels to 12 destinations in 15 days across the landscape of India. The Yatris, chosen after multi-level selection process, are introduced to extraordinary social and business innovators and entrepreneurs to get inspired. It starts on 24th of December from Mumbai and ends on 8th of January at Ahmadabad.

The Motto

The motto of Jagriti Yatra is “to Build India through Enterprise,” which is way forward for a nation like India, especially in the present economic climate.

The Journey

The journey is aimed at instilling and igniting the entrepreneurial spirit in the Yatris through role model visits, interactive sessions, practical exercises, thought-provoking talks, and prolific interactions. The young participants get a rare opportunity to understand the effort, struggle, impact and inspiration behind successful enterprises. The visits include Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College, the remarkable McDonaldisation of cataract surgery at Aravind Eyecare and many more, each leaving a deep positive impact on the young Yatris.

At the ingress of the 10th version of the yatra, hitherto, 800+ enterprises have born out of Jagriti Yatra, creating more than 8000 employment opportunities for the unemployed across India, impacting more than a lac citizens of India.