Aranyaarth is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to restoration, environmentally regenerative practices and Sustainability education. At Aranyaarth Foundation, we believe that Nature can offer us everything we need and more. Our goal is to (re)create wilderness corridors connecting the ancient forests of the country, and facilitating their regeneration through free-flow of genes and, with much luck, bringing back the lost richness of our natural environment and its resources and in the process, educate and heal ourselves.
Being the most coveted institutes in the country, it's high time we start taking a greater role and responsibility of our natural environment and a greater lead in the transformation of the business ecosystem and practices becoming sustainable. Enterprising has been a tool for great transformations throughout history and we believe that with the right guidance and some effort, our future entrepreneurs and leaders can achieve what many think is impossible---survival for the human race!
To that end, we are offering primer courses for a new outlook on enterprising and leadership through the lens of sustainability. These courses offer learnings and experience on how keeping sustainability at the core of the business strategy is not only possible and imperative in the long term, but also good for the business itself!
In the words of one of our participants from IIM Bangalore, “As the course progressed, my perspective about a lot of things changed and helped me look at sustainability from a clearer lens”.
We have developed the courses to make it largely interactive, with case discussions and activities. Our attempt is to create a holistic learning experience for our participants where they express their unique points of view and learn from those of their peers. Our course experience varies with every batch as it is completely driven by participants prior knowledge, experience and work domains. The cases discussed are based on the batch profile to create a fresh learning experience for students as well as improve ourselves.
Students would be awarded a certificate on successful completion of the course. Resume points will be awarded on the successful completion of the assignments to a satisfactory level. As a forestation non-profit organisation, our courses, workshops and retreats are our way of funding our forest projects. We'd be happy to introduce ourselves and the course to the interested audience (no bar on the number of participants) in a pre-session, on request.
As the students are still working in summer internships we wish to connect as soon as the colleges re-open and offer the courses to students. Please fill the below form with POC details to contact at your preferred date.
https://forms.gle/962fetiqxS9G
In this interaction/discussion based course, the participants are expected to have gone through with the
following readings/videos and develop an opinion on the subject from an entrepreneurial stand-point.
More than assimilating information, the objective of the course is to initiate the participants to be take
sustainability as a core strategic focus and design products, services, and eventually their entire business
model around it! The flow of the course is designed to express the flow of decision processes, and the
pitfalls therein, that an entrepreneur might encounter in their journey of establishing an enterprise that
is economically sustainable, socially relevant and environmentally regenerative in nature.
Four sessions, spread over four hours in two days focus on the following main subject, the preparatory
material for which is enumerated herewith:
Session 1: Economics of Sustainability
https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxC161GvMPc&t=2s
(additional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM&t=28s )
Through these concepts, we encourage the participants to come up with their own definition of
Economics of Sustainability and what role they presume the subject plays in the design of a new
enterprise.
During the discussion in the session, we as a group would try to understand the intricacies of the subject
and its crucial role in the long-term sustainability of a business.
Mini Case : Agriculture or Tourism (Role playing)
Construction industry
Education
Session 2: Greenwashing vs Green practices:
https://youtu.be/xGF3ObOBbac
https://www.bcg.com/en-in/how-india-spends-shops-and-saved-in-the-new-reality
(Additional readings: https://www.grihaindia.org/griha-rating ;
https://www.grihaindia.org/static/Griha%20Rating%20Booklet_Dec12.pdf)
Develop your thoughts around why overconsumption an important conversation to be had with regard
to the green practices and green washing. What does green washing in education, and how is it related
to green washing in business?
Session 3: Circular economy
Complete analysis based on case studies
Case studies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCRKvDyyHmI
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/global-innovators-join-the-worlds-leading-
circulareconomy-network ; https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/companies-leading-way-to-
circulareconomy/ ; https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/29/countries-eu-
circulareconomy-legislation-denmark-sweden-scotland
Based on the overview of these global examples, can you think of Indian examples with circular economy
practices at the heart of them? Any success and failure stories of Indian green initiatives?
Session 4: Guest Session – Based on the Theme
How do you define sustainability in general and in entrepreneurship in particular?
And what are the practical aspects of sustainability as a concept?
What are the key differences between being an entrepreneur and being a sustainability entrepreneur?
And many more questions are answered……
Session 5: Project Ideation and analysis
The participants would be divided in the groups of two/three and asked to prepare their own
sustainability centric business plan.
Session 6: Lean Canvas evaluation
All the course sessions may change subject to the groups interest and discussion. It is highly
customizable course which is completely driven by the participants.
Feedback from students:
https://drive.google.com/file/
No comments:
Post a Comment