Kirti Prasanna Mishra

Cofounder and Director

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Kirti has more than 25 years of experience of working with Base of the pyramid (BoP) communities and development sector organizations in designing and delivering customised sustainable solutions. 

He carries unique expertise in strategizing and designing sustainable and inclusive business solutions targeted at the low-income communities. He has been supporting several organizations which are working in themes like agroecology, regenerative agriculture, sustainable sourcing and marketing of safe and healthy food. He has been supporting reputed organizations like FAO, UNESCAP, GIZ, World Bank, GAIN, IDH Trade, Solidaridad, Swissaid, Swisscontact, the Nature Conservancy etc. He has been working extensively with GIZ, India towards strategizing its food systems related initiatives. Kirti is spearheading the action learning initiative of Ecociate called Earthy n Green. The driving purpose of this initiative is to establish a sustainable food system business model by linking farmer based enterprises engaged in producing safe and healthy products directly with the consumers.

Saroj K Mohanta

Cofounder and Director

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Saroj has a career spanning three decades in Market Research and  Consultancy. He has deep understanding of community, consumers and markets has been contributing to developing market insights, designing disruptive innovation and business modelling. He has been an architect to several BoP Innovation Models that have benefited partners from both Corporate and Social sectors. He has rich experience of developing Rural Marketing strategies for corporate businesses. His portfolio of Business Model Innovations(BMI) includes Arogya Parivar for Novartis, Bhaichara for Baxter, and Advanced cook stoves for Shell Foundation. He has also been part of the product development of Baby Warmer for GE healthcare. He has worked on international consulting assignments on supply chain and product distribution in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Nigeria. He leads the Nutrition Business Portfolio at Ecociate. He co-created a Nutrition Supply Chain model to create access to nutritious food products among the tea garden women workers in Assam for GAIN.

Ashwini Chandak

Cofounder and Director

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Ashwini, Cofounder and Director, has over 20 years of experience in working with rural communities.

He has been instrumental in developing robust community institutions, promoting sustainable agriculture through agroecology, and regenerative and agriculture, etc. and has supported in establishing inclusive community-based enterprises across agri-horti-ntfp-livestock sectors, through public-private-community partnerships for economic well-being of communities and initiating a process for food system transformation.

He has worked extensively in India and Bangladesh and has been actively involved in developing enterprise promotion strategies and inclusive business models through a gender inclusive, environment friendly, market responsive value chain-based approach. He has led and supported multiple assignments for The World Bank, GIZ, DFID, IFAD, JICA, GAIN, FAO, The Nudge Institute, SWISSAID, and SWISSCONTACT etc. He is trained as a CII-certified Sustainability Assessor to assess the operations of business entities from the lens of sustainability and is trained to use FAO’s RuralInvest tool which aids in preparation of Investment (Business) Plans.

Nirmallya Mandal

Cofounder and Director

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Nirmallya has around 20 years of rich experience in social and market research, consultancy and project management, across various subjects of sustainability, entrepreneurship development, sustainable agriculture, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), livelihoods, CSR etc. With a post graduate in Rural Management and a background of Economics, he is a certified Master trainer from Pearson, London and has also been a certified and empanelled ‘Sustainability Assessor’ for the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Nirmallya has led numerous national and state level value chain studies for various organizations and has deep rooted knowledge of sectors like Fisheries, Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry etc. He has extensive experience across almost all states of India and Bangladesh.

Santosh Gupta

Director

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Santosh is a Director at Ecociate Consultants with 12 years of rich experience in the domains of Inclusive Business, Sustainable Agriculture, Livelihoods and Micro-finance. He has done masers in Rural Management and Post Graduate Diploma in development leadership. He keeps significant experience and understanding of the principles and practices of agroecology, regenerative agriculture and other nature-based solutions addressing the sustainability issues in Agriculture. He holds a deep understanding of the Indian spice sector and has worked on multiple projects to address the sustainability issues in the spice sector. He is well connected with the various sustainability platforms and assessment tools to measure and value the impact. He has worked with several private sector players in the Agribusiness sector to build their capacities around sustainability, inclusive business, good agriculture practices, business modelling and planning and introducing new systems and processes. He loves to be in field and amongst the farming communities to have deep conversations and explore indigenous solutions to complex issues.

Kaustuv Sovan Mukhopadhyay

Senior Consultant

Kaustuv, a post-graduate in Forestry Management from IIFM, Bhopal, has more than 20 years of rich experience and knowledge across various areas of Sustainable Agriculture, entrepreneurship development, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), rural livelihoods, etc. A specialist in capacity building as well as quantitative and qualitative research in the social domain, he brings innovation and ‘out of the box’ thinking to the table.

Mamta Gupta

Senior Consultant

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Mamta has over a decade of experience as a leader, consultant, and practitioner with an MBA in Rural Management. She has held leadership positions and successfully overseen various projects encompassing business development, strategic planning, policy formulation, and project management. Her professional journey has encompassed diverse sectors, spanning corporate enterprises, non-profit organizations, and prominent international institutions such as GIZ, FAO, the World Bank, and the International Labour Organization (ILO). During this time, she has consistently excelled in areas such as research and analysis, developing and implementing sustainability frameworks, conducting sustainability reviews and policy advocacy. Her forte is Market Research & Social Research, including evaluation & assessments, need gap assessment, and value chain development projects in the domain of sustainable agriculture and livelihood, agroecology, agribusiness and skill development.

Sudhir Shukla

Head, Accounts

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Sudhir is a dynamic professional with more than a decade of experience in the area of IT and support services, finance management and office administration. He has a strong background in Information Technology and its various enabled services.

Krishnapada Sasmal

Senior Consultant

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Krishnapada, a Masters in Social Work, has around 20 years of vast experience working with Self Help Group formation and management, promotion of collectives for both farm and non-farm sector producers in West Bengal and Jharkhand. He is also experienced in implementation of renewable energy in Sunderbans and other parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. He has done number of evaluation studies across the region of Eastern India, He is a certified trainer of collective formation and management from NIRD&PR (National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj) and NSFI (National Skill Foundation of India and has successfully completed course on “Financing Micro and Small Enterprises” from NIMSME, Hyderabad.

Payal Dewangan

Consultant

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Payal is an agrarian and rural studies researcher, with more than 8 years of extensive training in the field of Indian agriculture. Prior to joining Ecociate, she contributed her expertise at NIBSM in Raipur and NAARM in Hyderabad, where she excelled as a dedicated researcher. She has authored and co-authored over ten articles published in both national as well as international journals. Her academic journey culminated with a Doctorate specializing in agricultural extension and communication, earned from IGAU in Raipur. She holds a prestigious bronze medal from MANAGE in Hyderabad, where she completed a PG Diploma program in Agri-Extension Management. Beyond her academic and agricultural interests, Dr. Dewangan is a professional practitioner of fine arts. She holds a Diploma in Fine Arts from Indira Kala and Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya in Khairagarh, showcasing her versatility and creativity.

Venugopal Midivelli

Associate Consultant

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Venugopal, a postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience in applying theoretical frameworks and techniques for sustainable environmental management and community development. With 1.5 years of work experience on the world’s largest agroecological project, AP Community Natural Farming, he has a deep-rooted passion for sustainable food value chains and green, inclusive business models, aligning perfectly with Ecociate’s focus on sustainability.

Ayush Mondal

Associate Consultant

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Ayush is a results-oriented professional with Masters in Economics. He brings dedication, focus, energy, and strong teamwork skills to his role as an Associate Consultant at Ecociate, where he has been engaged in a wide range of research and consulting projects for the past 3 months. He has secured experience and insights in Green Marketing, Crop Residue Management, and Food System Transformation etc. Ayush has also demonstrated his commitment to social causes through his association with Civil Society Organizations. He also briefly served as a Junior Researcher at the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) for 2 months.