The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) felicitated the shortlisted 30 startups under the Swachhata Start-up Challenge at the Swachhata Startup Conclave held at the Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi on 20 September.
The Conclave was organized as part of the Swachh Amrit Mohotsav being conducted by MoHUA, from 17 September to 2 October, when India is celebrating eight years of accomplishments of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)-Urban, and as a run up to the first anniversary of SBM Urban 2.0 to be celebrated on 1 October.
Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, H E Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India Shri Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA and senior officials of Ministry along with representatives of several start-ups working in sanitation and waste management sector graced the occasion.
Speaking at the event, Kaushal Kishore said that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having a clean India has taken the form of a Jan Andolan with launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM). Recycling and turning of waste into useful products under this mission, may not just help in moving in direction of Garbage Free Cities but also help in generating employment at large scale.
The Minister informed that out of the 30 shortlisted start-ups shortlisted under the Swachhata Start-up Challenge, each of the top ten will receive financial support of Rs 25 lakh from French Tech, the French government’s initiative to promote start-ups and that each of the remaining 20 start-ups will get the financial support of Rs 20 lakh from Government of India.
A total of 244 entries were received from aspiring startups, of which 30 startups were shortlisted by a jury pool of 20 members drawn from leading academic institutions and incubators, industry, and government bodies.
These 30 startups cover the full spectrum of the waste value chain, starting from automated solution for waste collection, to segregation, transportation and value addition spreading across diverse sectors (MSW, Textile Waste, Agri & Food waste, Construction & demolition waste).
MoHUA had launched the Swachhata Startup Challenge under the ambit of the SBM-Urban from January 2022 onwards, in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the DPIIT (Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade). The Challenge aimed to harness the entrepreneurial potential of the waste management sector in India and promote an enabling environment for enterprise development.
The Technology Challenge invited entries and solutions from all stakeholders working in the sanitation sector, including NGOs, CSOs, academic institutions and startups. The winning entries received from startups in the Technology Challenge were allowed to participate in the subsequent Swachhata Startup Challenge in January 2022.
The day-long event featured learning and networking activities, exhibition by the 30 Startups showcasing their solutions, discussion on policy initiatives for promoting Startups for Garbage Free Cities and sharing of success stories by entrepreneurs & founders of Unicorns.
