Based in southern India, Essmart builds an innovative last-mile distribution channel that enables socially impactful goods, such as improved agricultural tools and efficient household devices, to reach and impact their intended end customers. Essmart does this by connecting a catalogue of over 150 life-improving products to the local, mom-and-pop, “kirana” retail shops that account for 90% of India’s retail market. By providing local shop owners with appropriate marketing, quick distribution, and reliable after-sales service, Essmart helps local shop owners become active selling points of innovative, impactful technologies in their communities.

Essmart aims to build the world’s largest network of kirana shops selling socially impactful goods, and currently has a network of 600 kirana stores that reaches deep into rural areas. Manufacturers and suppliers leverage this shop network to distribute their impactful products, to gather valuable customer data on end customer needs, and to test new products. “We are connecting a broken supply chain,” said Jackie Stenson, Chief Executive Officer at Essmart. “Rural businesses and end customers should be able to access goods that improve their lives and livelihoods, while at the same time their voices should be heard up the supply chain so engineers can design better products that meet real needs.”

“Rural distribution of useful products is a key challenge for improving livelihoods at the base of the pyramid,” Adrian Ackeret, CFO of elea, noted. “Essmart’s well-conceived and efficient approach has convinced elea from the beginning. Creating a network of existing mom and pop shops generates impressive economic and social value for shop owners and for end consumers alike, and at the same time spearheads the transformation of informal retail in India. We are excited to add another innovative model in last-mile distribution, one of our investment focus areas, to the elea portfolio. As an active investor, we are very much looking forward to working alongside Essmart’s founders and management team in the years to come, providing strategic support and sector-specific insights.”

To date, Essmart has enabled life-improving products to impact over 185,000 people living in peri-urban and rural India. These products range from efficient cookers to solar lighting to organic pest control devices for farmers, and have helped local businesses and end users increase productivity by 37M hours and generate 79M Indian rupees in cost savings. Essmart’s innovative logistics and supply chain software, which addresses the unique complexities of moving unfamiliar durable goods into rural markets, and strong relationships with local shops has been key for creating life-improving technology access at the last mile.

With this new funding, Essmart will embark on a phase of growth and expansion throughout southern India. “This funding is a key milestone that allows us to begin scaling our operations while also implementing the operational structures that will let us continue to operate efficiently and effectively at scale,” said Prashanth Venkataramana, Director at Essmart.  Tobias Bidlingmaier, Development Programs and Business Support at DEG, which provides funding from its Up-scaling program, says: “With the Up-scaling program, DEG finances innovative pioneering investments of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in developing countries that are in the start-up phase. We are happy to partner with Essmart and help them  boost their performance and increase growth.”

“PG Impact is very happy to partner with Essmart’s management team to help the Company define and execute a growth and governance strategy that will optimize and accelerate both the commercial growth of the Company, and as a result – the social impact on rural base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) customers (kirana owners) and end users,” said Krysten Crainshaw, Global Head of Partners Group Impact (Verein). “As the charitable entity of a global private markets investor, we are committed to creating non-financial value alongside our patient capital.”

DEG: More than finance
For more than 55 years DEG has been a reliable partner to private-sector enterprises operating in developing and emerging-market countries. We provide our customers with tailor-made solutions, including financing, promotional programmes and advice tailored to individual needs. They can thus develop successfully and sustainably, while generating local added value and creating qualified jobs. With our portfolio of around EUR 8.3 billion in over 80 countries we’re one of the world’s largest private-sector development financiers. Learn more: www.deginvest.de

elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization
elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization fights absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means. As a professional and active philanthropic impact investor, elea supports social enterprises and entrepreneurial organizations in creating sustainable and measurable impact. Guiding its partners towards achieving self-reliance and autonomy, the foundation not only invests financial capital but also provides them with business know-how, coaching and access to its network. As such, elea is a growing community of committed entrepreneurs and philanthropic investors. Learn more at elea-foundation.org

Partners Group Impact (Verein)
Partners Group Impact (Verein) is the employee foundation of global private markets investment manager Partners Group. Founded in 2006 and funded by employee donations, it aims to support entrepreneurial projects and organizations that create positive, high-impact and measurable social and/or environmental benefits. Since inception, the foundation has invested in 50+ grants and impact investments to social enterprises addressing issues including, but not limited to, hunger, education, and healthcare.

Swiss Re Foundation
The Swiss Re Foundation reflects the social and humanitarian values of Swiss Re. We partner with social entrepreneurs, aid organisations, researchers and Swiss Re clients and employees to help communities increase their resilience. Our initiatives address the causes and effects of risks in four areas – climate, natural hazards, society and water – both in emerging and developing countries and in regions where Swiss Re has offices. For additional information, visit www.swissrefoundation.org

Here’s an update on our numbers:
Number of distribution centers: 4 (Pollachi, Anthiyur, Mettupalayam, Karur)
Number of stores in our network: 250+
Number of essential technologies sold through our network: 1650+
Number of employees: 31
Number of essential products in our catalogue: 26 in October 2013; 45 in January 2014

As you can see, we’ve been working very hard. We’re thankful for the team that’s been making it happen:

Pollachi Team

Anthiyur Team

Mettupalayam Team

Additionally, Essmart has been recognized by two organizations for its work in essential technology dissemination. Jackie and Diana were named as 2013 Echoing Green Fellows, and Essmart was awarded the first-ever D-Prize! You can read the Press section of our website to learn more about how others are recognizing Essmart’s work.

We’ve also been thinking through our experiences to distill lessons on social impact technology dissemination. These lessons have been presented in the forms of webinars and articles, which you can read in the Presentations and Publications section of our website.

That’s about it from us for now. We’ll continue updating when we can, so please subscribe to our blog or check back with us often. Our Facebook page and Twitter accounts are updated more frequently, so you can follow us through these avenues to get the most up to date news.

All the best,
The Essmart Team

Dani, our new Media Intern from Spain, sat down with Prashanth for a short interview.

Dani: So, Prashanth, tell a bit about yourself.

Prashanth: Well, to begin with I was born here in Coimbatore and actually have a fairly diverse background. My father is the Chief of Human Resources at Landmark Group, my mom is a psychological counselor and homemaker, and my older brother is a research scientist at the South Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute. I attended a private boarding school in Yercaud and have lived in very socially diverse settings right from my school days. After school, I went on to study mechanical engineering at Anna University in Chennai. After graduating, I got an offer to work at Saint Gobain, which is one of the largest glass manufacturers in the world. I started as an intern but progressed to becoming one of the main engineers designing the energy and structure calculations for buildings in western India.

In 2010, I received a scholarship to earn a Master’s degree in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University. While studying there, I met Jackie, who is one of Essmart’s co-founders. I remember having many conversations with her, and I was particularly interested in her dissertation work on technology dissemination in rural and underserved communities.

After finishing my Master’s degree, I rejoined Saint Gobain, where I was promoted to a more international role and was put in charge of seeking new opportunities for the company in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. This was a huge step in my career because it helped me understand new cultures and identify new markets.

When Jackie and Diana decided to start Essmart, they immediately contacted me because of their interest in southern India and my interest in the same topic. I have been involved at the concept stage since nearly the beginning and helped carry out Essmart’s first pilot in Pollachi in January 2012.

Dani: Who are some role models who have had an impact in your life?

Prashanth: There are a couple of people who I have and will always admire. One person is my granduncle, who was the Finance Minister of India and the Governor of Maharashtra. He is remembered today as the mastermind of India’s Green Revolution. Through his life, I learned the importance of staying connected with your roots no matter how successful you are. Apart from my parents, the other person that has influenced me greatly is my grandfather on my father’s side. He was the Chief of Police in Tamil Nadu. He is one of the reasons for why I would like to be involved in some type of public service in the future.

Dani: On a less serious note, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Prashanth: I used to play a lot of golf, but now I find myself playing tennis, swimming, or running when I find time. I read a lot of non-fiction, especially about South Asian history. I just finished reading a book by Shashi Tharoor, who was former United Nations Undersecretary General. I enjoy traveling and have been fortunate to visit 21 countries to date. Food is also a very important part of my life.

Dani: Is there any message you want to leave to our readers?

Prashanth: Yes. I have a dog called Sniper and he is very cute.

BostInno article on the IDEAS Global Challenge winners

MIT News on the IDEAS winning teams

Harvard Gazette article on the President’s Challenge Finalists

Our President’s Challenge team bio

Article in the Harvard Citizen (HKS’s student publication) – print only.

And we got a mention on Joost’s blog (Joost introduced co-founders Jackie and Diana).

Awesome news! Essmart was just announced as one of the 10 Harvard i-Lab President’s Challenge finalists! Evidently, there were about 170 teams that entered the competition, so this is a pretty big deal for us.

Thanks, Harvard i-Lab! We look forward to finishing out the competition!