In June, Apple had an interesting partnership with Acumen to support social enterprises in India to improve livelihoods through clean energy innovation. Acumen is known for its expertise in projects that help low-income individuals. The idea is simple: Through the Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator, Acumen experts will lead a 12-week programme to bring out the best in social entrepreneurs, helping them scale and refine their businesses to transform the lives of people living in poverty and, at the same time, protect the environment.
Acumen has zeroed in on 15 entrepreneurs for the accelerator. The chosen few will work on everything from agriculture, e-mobility, and hydropower, offering the enabling technologies needed to maximise energy’s potential to improve livelihoods.
The next four months will be crucial as the participants develop and refine a scalable business model that has the potential to transform the lives of low-income people while conserving resources and protecting the environment. The cohort will participate in a blend of virtual Learning Labs, seminars, and self-directed customer experiments to support the development of their business models and impact. When the programme is completed, they will be invited to pitch to a curated audience of sustainable energy ecosystem stakeholders at a Demo-Day.
Upon completing the programme they’ll join The Foundry, Acumen Academy’s global community of over 1,300 social innovators, who have collectively made an impact on more than eight million lives across the world. Accelerator participants will also be considered for additional technical assistance and investment from Acumen’s Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative — Powering Livelihoods Using Solar (PEII+). The five-year $25 million initiative invests in early-stage productive energy companies in India, East Africa, and West Africa.
Let’s meet the cohort. Business facilitators include Nimisha Tiwari (LinkITBlueCollar) and Harsh Tiwari (EMPBindi International). Agriculture and allied sector include Runjesh Bargal (Vanya Environmental Services), Riddhish Soni (Aumsat Technologies), Neelkanth Mishra (Jaljeevika Infotech), Dhananjay Abhang (Kisangas), Srinivas Marella (Coolcrop), Rishabh Rawat (Arth) and Ashwini Vikas (Suryanirbhar Agritech LLP). Business sector include Nikky Kumar Jha (Saptkrishi Scientific), Upamanyu Ghosh (BluPower), Tushar Devidayal (Devidayal Solar Solutions), Zunzar Patil (Eidikos Business Enterprises), Jai Bharathi Addepalli (Mowo Fleet) and Dharmik Bapodara (Yotuh Energy).
In 2020, Apple achieved carbon neutrality for its global corporate operations and announced Apple 2030: a strategy to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030. Apple’s plan centres on an aggressive 75 per cent reduction in overall carbon emissions from 2015 levels. By avoiding activities that generate carbon, significantly expanding renewable energy across the company’s corporate operations and supply chain, and designing with recycled and renewable materials, Apple has so far reduced total emissions by over 45 per cent since 2015, while still growing revenue by over 65 per cent in the same period.
