A young girl with big dreams living in a small town of India.
But nothing will not stop her. Rather it inspires her. She notices how the real India lies in its villages, and to effectively treat a matter you must start from its very roots.
And so, Nupur Agarwal began her journey as a Social Entrepreneur in 2015, with her dreams in sight, and a boatload of determination. Now, just three years later (2018), she is a role model for millions of women, not only in India but all of Asia, as she is a recognised changemaker under many internationally acclaimed organisations such as Ashoka, CXC, and the World Economic Forum. She is one of the very few people who have challenged the conventional norms of small towns and remote regions in India. She did this not only by starting an innovative venture, but by creating value across the board in her organisation model. How did she manage to do it?
Nupur is a 26-year-old Serial Social Entrepreneur from Dehradun. In all her ventures, from the Dehradun Drum Circle to the Evolve Foundation, from Delhi FuckUp Nights to Kisan Window to Evolving Planet, her main goal has been to empower people and communities. She has proved to be an epitome of empowerment, not only among the urban youth but also the rural youth of India.
The Dehradun Drum Circle (2015) was her first venture which focused on spreading awareness about the Right to Speech and Expression, and the importance of a society free from discrimination, through music, dance, and photography. She has been very successful in making Drum Circle a national movement, and today more than 20,000 people are a part of this journey. The Uttarakhand Government has recognised her as the Youth Icon of the state for creating such a unique and impactful movement.
A year later (2016), her willingness and urge to transform the definition of ‘Rural India’ gave birth to the Evolve Foundation, which aims at creating smart sustainable villages. Presently the organisation is one of its kind in the world, as it takes a holistic approach to empower and smartly sustain villages. The organisation generates employment,provides vocational education and skill development, and promotes organic farming, as well as holding health boot camps. By following this approach, Evolve has halted the migration of thousands of villagers to the city, and also brought back migrants to their villages to create cottage industries of Indian handicrafts. Their biggest success has been a cottage industry for plantable stationery, such as seed pens, seed pencils and seed paper that grows into plants when potted in soil.
The Evolve Foundation is creating a success story not only as an organisation but as a super effective model to empower and uplift our nation. The model has is now well-recognised, replicated, and appreciated by the Government of India.
In 2017, after working for a year in the villages of India, she concluded that to further the impact of livelihood and self-sustenance, the organisation must focus on farmers and agriculture sector. Understanding the changes of the Indian agricultural system, she framed a system of Fair Trade and Organic Farming at a large level with her Co-Founder Abhinav Alhuwalia.
Kiwi Kisan Window is a health and organic food chain founded by the two of them to uplift the marginalised farmer and create an entire Fair Trade chain of food production in India. They are not only empowering the farmer (producer) but also the consumer as they sell great quality, healthy, and organic food, produced at a cheaper rate through their retail stores.
We believe Nupur’s recognition at an international level will inspire millions of young people (especially women) in small towns to chase their dreams and help build a country with equitable and inclusive growth.
What about you? Are you one of those young people with great minds? Then stop waiting till the next year, the big city, or a better idea. Stop overthinking and just answer this: What is it you can do right here and right now to evolve even the slightest?
Start there.