In August 2022 Forbes Asia published its second ‘Forbes Asia 100 to Watch List’. A list of 100 small companies and startups across the region that are addressing real-world challenges with fresh thinking and innovative products and services. Forbes Asia is specifically looking for growing companies with a positive impact in their local markets or region and a record of success serving customers or attracting investors. Women on Wings’ business partner GramHeet was selected as one of the companies on the list.
Position on list serves as inspiration
GramHeet offers a holistic model which provides end-to-end post-harvest services to farmers through a digital platform. This integrated model not only helps farmers in increasing their income by reducing post-harvest expenses, but also offers better prices for their produce. Shweta Thakare, co-founder and COO of GramHeet: “A startup journey owns unending challenges and offers ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ in abundance. This remarkable achievement by Team GramHeet couldn’t have been possible without the sustained support that various individuals, institutions and organizations have extended as GramHeet grew. As we innovate, grow and diversify our impact – we stand extremely honored by Forbes for placing our work and vision in front of the world and inspiring us to do better and serve better as we stay committed to building a global food system where every farmer cultivates with dignity and feeds the world with absolute pride!”
How the list is compiled
To select the 100 to Watch, Forbes Asia solicited online submissions, and invited accelerators, incubators, SME advocacy organizations, universities, venture capitalists and others to nominate companies as well. The final 100 were selected from over 650 submissions. To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, privately owned, for profit, have no more than US dollar 50 million in its latest annual revenue and have no more than US dollar 100 million in total funding through August 1, 2022. Forbes Asia evaluated each submission, looking at metrics such as a positive impact on the region or industry, a track record of strong revenue growth or ability to attract funding, promising business models or markets, and a persuasive story.
Well deserved
Women on Wings and GramHeet started collaborating in 2021. They will jointly work on bringing women farmers back into the value chain thereby improving their financial independence. Supriya Kapoor, Director Social Enterprises at Women on Wings: “This is a well-deserved recognition for GramHeet. Women farmers in India are rarely involved in post-harvest activities because of the highly male-dominated agri-markets. Through GramHeet’s village-based solution and digital platform, women farmers can sell their produce and avail of post-harvest credit against their stored produce, from the comfort of their home, ensuring their entry back into the value chain not merely as cultivators but as farmers. They can now own the harvest they grow.”
Image | Shweta Thakare (right) with three women farmers
