Youth from Coimbatore recognised for their innovative ideas for sustainability in the fields of water, agriculture and recycling

Mumbai, 14th November 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 completion of ‘Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017’ at an event held at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education. Team Laymen were announced the winners, Team Prerna, the first runners-up and Team Manure It, the second runners-up. The competition, which took place over several months, invited youth to propose entrepreneurial ideas to ensure sustainability of water, agriculture and recycling and recognized the most promising ideas across 25 regions in India.

Balu Nayar, Board Member, Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, said “While there has been a lot of attention to startups in the digital space, it is essential to engage youth to address challenges we face today in water, agriculture and recycling. In a young nation like ours, encouraging entrepreneurship is very important. I appreciate the efforts of Coca-Cola India in partnering with us to institute the Sustainable Enterprise Award 2017 that provides a compelling platform to young entrepreneurs to come forward and contribute to developing sustainable communities through new enterprise models across India.”

The jury comprised eminent experts from across the industry. 6 finalists were shortlisted who then competed for the award during the grand finale by presenting their ideas to a jury of remarkable repute and expertise namely, Mr. Avinash Jogdand, Executive Director, Ramlex Pvt. Ltd. and Ms. Nidhi Saraf, Founder and CEO, Key Ventures, among others.

Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice President, Public Affairs & Communication at Coca-Cola India & South West Asia, said, “The Sustainable Enterprise Awards 2017 is our endeavour to reach out to the youth of middle India and empower them with a spirit of entrepreneurship. The platform seeks to inspire middle India to actively work towards sustainable development and power the country’s development story. It is heartening to see the passion with which these young minds worked towards creating innovative solutions which can work at the grass-roots and make a difference to society. We hope to continue our efforts in this direction and be a catalyst in their success.”

Selvakumar Varadharajan, who was from the winning team, said, “We are very happy to be recognized for our ideas. It is such support which encourages us and keeps the entrepreneurial spirit alive. We are grateful to Coca-Cola India and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan for this opportunity. It has been a great learning experience for all of us. This provides us the support that we needed in order to implement our sustainable aggregator model in the agricultural sector.”

Besides monetary rewards, all members of top three winning teams were awarded with a special waiver for the 10th Edition of the World’s largest train journey of entrepreneurs, Jagriti Yatra 2017. The teams will be utilising their prize money to fund the implementation of the projects suggested by them in the final rounds.

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.