TRANSFORM is an impact accelerator led by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and EY. It unites corporates, donors, investors and academics to support visionary enterprises to test and scale new solutions that tackle environmental challenges, improve health and wellbeing, and build inclusive economies.
As part of TRANSFORM’s support to Baeru, India’s first ocean plastics recovery startup that is pioneering marine litter recovery initiatives along India’s coastal frontiers, EY Ripples, the Corporate Responsibility arm of EY, provided Baeru with personalised business support.
Divya Hedge, Baeru’s founder, and Holly McCann, Senior Consultant at EY, told us about the collaboration and its impact.
Divya Hegde, Founder of Baeru:
I first became interested in waste management when I moved back to my hometown in India and while I saw improvements to incomes and aspirations there was also an increase in waste pollution. Baeru was founded with the aim of mitigating and recovering ocean-bound plastic, generating coastal livelihoods with a focus on women, and building local circular economies.
At Baeru, we approach the circular economy with a three-pronged approach. The first is government partnerships, where we encourage local governments to reuse and repurpose existing waste management infrastructure.
The second is generating jobs for local women. We have deliberately kept livelihood opportunities open to women from all communities and we provide equal opportunities to our women waste workers, where they can make the most of different income streams to improve the quality of their lives.
For example, TRANSFORM has supported us with setting up India’s first coastal payback material recovery facility (MRF), and the women that work in there get paid out of the revenue generated by the MRF. Through models like this, we believe we can move the needle on female empowerment.
The third is the prevention of plastics from entering the ocean, which is done by door-to-door waste collection carried out by the female waste workers. The waste is then taken to a MRF for segregation and recycling.
Holly McCann, Senior Consultant, EY:
As part of TRANSFORM’s support to Baeru, I worked closely with the organisation over a three-month engagement period, collaborating with Divya and her team to define their strategic objectives, assess their business model, and then build a value case for investment. I’m pleased to say the outcome of this collaboration was that Baeru had a really clear understanding of their business model, suitability for growth and a clear plan moving forward for investment.
Working with Baeru gave me insight into the challenges that small social enterprises face on a daily basis, and the agility, entrepreneurial mindset and determination that is needed to succeed. I learned so much from Divya and from her team about the depths of the marine plastic pollution problem, but also about the innovative solutions that Baeru and other enterprises are coming up with to drive change.
Baeru has already started to make some real tangible progress on the goals that we discussed, and that is really exciting.
Divya Hegde, Founder of Baeru:
Baeru’s circular economy model has generated about 1,000 livelihoods for women so far. With TRANSFORM’s support, we’ve seen real impact on their quality of life. For example, some have been able to purchase mattresses to sleep on and bikes for community projects, while others have been able to put their daughters through college. As a result of our work, the community has started looking at waste workers differently.
