Innovation

Our Better Planet have started in the year 2018 years after Mrs Pallavi Shrivastava took a sabbatical from her job in the USA and moved back to India. It is after doing years of background research and meeting lots of small businesses, she felt a need to create a safe platform, without every time verifying whether the products are greenified or not. Her interactions with Indian parents, kids etc. and understanding their situation pushed her to ideate Our Better Planet.

Finally, in the year 2018, Mrs. Shrivastava and Manoj John started the eco-friendly store in the small humble space of her office. She started with listing a few vendors whom she met during the background work and since then it has a been a journey of continuous improvement today the company has 150-member vendors onboarded. The product range is quite a diverse right from bamboo made toothbrushes to ethnic wear. All the products are environmentally friendly and have an impact on some interest group.

Our Better Planet has a range of other innovative organic products, such as Green sole Shoes, upcycled gym bags, natural cosmetics etc. which are environmentally positive. The company also has a policy of not using single-use plastic for any packaging and also ensures that it use biodegradable packaging. The platform has also ventured into organic food grains, organic skincare, zero waste essentials, and eco-friendly stationeries, made of paper. Besides this, it has unique products such as clothes having natural colors and cookware made of soil etc.

Mrs. Shrivastava has plans of launching the platform’s own product line, and her immediate goals include vertical integration and collaborations to get competitive pricing. Other plans of the company include corporate associations, CSR activities and sources from corporate to NGOs. The platform has been striving to train its vendors to manufacture products that are environmentally friendly and sustainable. The platform also conducts workshops and awareness campaigns to make people and businesses understand the importance of sustainable consumption. The company also has a plan to launch its impact centers starting from Goa.

Inspiration

The vision of the founders of the company is as follows:

1) Whatever you take from the environment, you should replenish It with more

2) Impact of sustainability is a product of positive impact made by everyday actions

"My motivation is to provide products that are environment friendly and are sustainable" says Mr. Pallavi. The platform has been emphasizing providing upcycle, recycle raw materials for making products that are environmentally friendly and sustainable. As responsible and sustainable consumption has been their focus, various interest groups like women empowerment, differently-abled people, local artisans, etc. are promoted on the platform. It helps in providing them with an opportunity to earn livelihood and become financially self-reliant.

To adhere to its vision and mission company has a policy of no use of single-use plastic packaging. It also encourages minimal packaging which is bio-degradable. The company is working with its vendors to optimise their production process and also help them to market the products better. The company also plan to hold workshops with artisans to help them share their skillset with a larger audience. The certification business has received gives customers the ability to buy a product with an assurance that it indeed is genuine. This is a step towards transparency and helps customers avoid greenwashing.

Overall impact

Our Better Planet is an organization driven by the motivation to create a positive impact through every action. The vision of the founders is to make this world a better place to live and sensitize Indian consumers, thus empowering them to make an impact through this platform. According to Mrs. Pallavi Shrivastava (Co-founder of Our Better planet) "whatever we take from the environment, we should replenish it with more, therefore the mission of Our Better planet is to instill an environmentally positive lifestyle among its consumers". Our Better planet’s contribution to business, society and the environment can be attributed to five SDGs: Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), Woman empowerment (SDG 5). The company operates towards these SDGs by categorizing the products according to the impact that they create. The company has a strict policy in place for onboarding the vendors ensuring the purpose of the platform. It also has policies of no usage of single-use plastic packaging and minimizing plastic usage in the process.

It is truly a one-stop-shop where you can find a wide range of high-quality greenified products without every time verifying their quality and impact created. The product range includes apparel, accessories, bamboo cutlery, organic body care essentials, eco femme products, stationery, jewelry, etc. The company anticipates that the short-term effect will be the empowerment of small businesses, local artisans, etc. while the long-term effect will be people's lives will evolve from thoughtless consumption to conscious consumption.

Business benefit

The innovation and the business opened up markets that created opportunities and new ventures for local artisans. Apart from that, the business makes use of products which are naturally procured. It has been observed that whenever a business does something for the environment it creates a goodwill that motivates and inspires people to make use of the product.

Because, the business has made use of natural produce and is helping the environment and making use of local artisans it has greatly impacted the environment in a good way. More and more local artisans are getting jobs. Women are being encouraged thus encouraging gender.

The number of employees in the business are 8 including the founder and CEO of the startup. The company is partnered by famous brands like Tora Creations, Swaa Design, Setu Veda etc. The company though not profitable right now, has the potential to grow and make a name and buzz in the market.

With the world changing so fast, and the rising awareness about making environment sustainable, Our Better Planet has the ability to make it big today. The pros outweigh the cons and in the next few years, we can see it making big in the market!

Social and environmental benefit

Our Better Planet has been successful in creating an impact on the environment by producing eco- friendly products for the society. Ms. Pallavi Srivastava described that the platform aims at connecting consumers with the creator for the sale of handcrafted, ethically created products using the materials that don’t harm the environment.

This organization focuses on making the products made from natural materials without the use of any artificial or harmful chemicals that can harm the planet. The raw materials used in making the products are sourced locally and the techniques that are used are developed at home which leads to creating positive impact on the environment. The products are also made using the recycled materials that are recovered from waste and are converted to usable raw materials. Our Better Planet also focuses on creating the upcycled products – the products which were previously seen as waste, were created uniquely in order to give new life to them.

On the social front, Ms. Srivastava has been focusing on women empowerment by providing opportunity for the women from rural and underprivileged communities to create the products in order to make them financially independent, to earn self-respect and motivate them to earn their livelihood. The products made by the differently abled people is a good cause which will help them transform their lives by giving each purchase a meaning and the purpose of which will go beyond the consumption. Our Better Planet also focuses on the handcrafted products made by experienced artisans and people from various communities who have expertise in making unique products to provide platform to the local craftsmen and encourage their craftmanship that is getting extinct.

Interview

Pallavi Srivastava, Founder & CEO