Mahindra Rise Announces Latest Round Winners

Auto major Mahindra’s “Spark the Rise” program which encourages entrepreneurs and ideas that change lives has announced the winners of the latest round of their second season. As usual, we’ve picked a few interesting ones to profile here. Take a look.

WASTE WARRIORS – Working for a cleaner India
Champion Name: Jodie UnderhillThe Waste Warriors team has a wealth of experience in the waste management field and is 100% committed to tackling India’s garbage problem. We do this through a combination of direct action, liaison and awareness raising. We currently have two major projects, one located in Dharamsala, HP and the other in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand.

No Nasties: The Organic & Fairtrade Movement
Champion Name: Apurva KothariThis team plans to make t-shirts that are made ethically & in an environmentally friendly manner. From farm to factory, seed to stitching, they looked at every step of the t-shirt making process and got rid of all the nasties!

Their mantra: Organic is eco-friendly + it reduces farming costs. Fair trade is ethical + it raises farmer profits.

Together, they help reduce farmer suicides and create happier communities & a healthier planet for all of us. The team works with independent designers, musicians and artists to create original prints for their tees. A share of our revenues go back to these folks and also to support various social causes with our profits.

SAMAJH: Responsible Parenting fr Responsible Adult
Champion Name: Nusrat KhanSAMAJH- Bridging the Parent Child Gap , is a CACTUS brain child. The project has decided to launch it full fledged as a movement to add quality to today’s PARENTING challenges and address the long term consequences of reckless parenting on the social fabric in the long run.

LEAD:  Learn. Excel. Achieve. Drive
Champion Name: Arham FaraazThis is achieved by creating awareness among college graduates from any discipline, early during their education and show them how best they can perform on any platform they choose in their field of education, innovate and make this world a better place to live. Help them explore their passion and mentor them to do what is right than doing what is easy.

Mahindra Rise & Ashoka to run a Twitter Conference

Mahindra Rise and Ashoka India will also be holding a three-hour global discussion/Twitter conference (A Twitter based discussion) on the topic ‘Water Sustainability – A Key To Our Future’ at 18:00 IST (GMT +5:30) on Thursday, 7 March, 2012. (#SparktheRise)

Some of the people on the discussion panel are

• Paul Polak, founder of Colorado-based non-profit International Development Enterprises (IDE) (@outofpoverty)
• Zenrainman, a pioneer in rainwater harvesting. (@Zenrainman)
• Ashoka India(@AshokaIndia)
• Naandi Foundation (@naandi_india)

* Disclosure: Mahindra Rise is a sponsor on NextBigWhat.com.