Science For Society Techno Services Pvt Ltd

Elevate Prize is a unique opportunity for S4S to amplify the work of our women farmers turned micro-entrepreneurs globally also helping us reach other women farmers in the developing nations. We are also excited to learn from the network partners, mentors, and other innovators. 

If chosen as the winner, we would utilize the funding to scale our work by reaching more than 2500 farmers impact in the following manner :

1. Poverty Reduction and Assured Additional Income                                   Increase the number of Women Micro-Entrepreneurs  to 2500               Provide Annual Additional Profit of Over $700k to Women Micro-Entrepreneurs

2.Skill Development and Training 

Train 60,000 Women Farmers in Entrepreneurship Training, Finance and Accounts training and also supports on skill development on food processing as per international standards

3. Health and Nutrition Training 

S4S provides 45% more nutritious food as tested by the National Institute of Nutrition, Government of India. S4S is supporting more than 1 million people plans to advance to 6 million number in 3 years.

People with improved access to nutrition - Over 120,000              Reproductive women with improved hemoglobin profile 40,000              People supported undernutrition awareness: 125,000

4. Save 360,000 tons/year of Food from getting wasted                      Lifecycle CO2 Saving: 290,000 tons                                                        

45 farmers commit suicide every day in India”

For many this is discrete news, to me, it is a personal catastrophe!

Born in a farming family in the Himalayas,I grew up viewing cultivation as the most secure livelihood avenue but also appreciated the harsh realities of farming. Soon like many cash-strapped farmers, we slipped steadily into debt, ultimately losing a near-and-dear one to the farming distress.

That tragedy and the sacrifices my parents made to educate me drove my resolution to solve the problems of poverty and gender inequality faced by the most marginalized communities of India. I was also reminded by my community that - We rise only by lifting others.

In the past 6 years at S4S, I have worked with 15000+ farmers, in 4 countries. And I have dedicated myself towards the transformation of landless women farmers to become micro-entrepreneurs.By providing an assured additional income of $1000-$1500 annually, resulting in an increased average farming family income by 50-400%. 

I want to empower the 120 million rural women farmers in India, helping them find new social identities- as climate champions and decision-makers in farms, families, and communities and ensuring her participation in social, economic, and political change. 

The agriculture sector employs 80% of all economically active women in India; they comprise 33% of the total agricultural workforce in the country. Most of these households live on <$2.5 per day and are in poverty. 

As most of the men migrate to cities in search of alternate livelihood options, they spend whatever they earn on alcohol or other leisure activities and the money never reaches the women who are responsible for running the household. 

Daily wages opportunities are available but limited thus keeping more than 120 million rural women out of work in India. Moreover, India loses 60 million tons worth $14Billion of agri-produce as post-harvest losses.

S4S Technologies - transforms women farmers into micro-entrepreneurs by providing them a combination of technology, finance, and market linkage. 

At the heart of the S4S business model is the solar-powered food dehydration system operated by women micro-entrepreneurs(ME), who earn an assured additional income by processing the products which would have gone wasted at the farm gate.

And also providing the money directly goes into the hand of the woman helping her run the household and also invest in well being of the entire family.

Our idea solves four major issues in India's agri-health nexus- simultaneously- low income to farmers, malnutrition, spoilage of agro products while bridging the gaps of gender inequality by promoting women entrepreneurship and participation in the workforce.

1. Financing Model Innovation :

 Women Farmers don't need to pay upfront for the cost of the machine and ensures an annual additional income of $1000-1500 per woman, and preventing food wastage at the farm gate. 

2.  Technology Innovation :

S4S provides farmers with a set of processing machines patented by S4S.

Solar Conduction Dryer (SCD) is an electricity-free solar-powered food dehydrator that reduces moisture content in agro-produce so that farmers and rural women can preserve their products for up to 1 year without using any chemicals.

• SCD is 2-3 times cheaper than other solar dryers
• SCD has zero operating cost and its payback period is just 100 days
• SCD retains 45% more nutrition, better color, flavor, and hygiene than sun-drying

3. Market Innovation :

S4S operates an end-end close-loop model by also buyback of the produce and supplying to 850 Customers in the Food and Beverage Industry including some of the marquee customers like -Nestle, Sodexo, Marico, Indian Railways, and Sodexo.

Sourcing and Procurement of Raw Material:                                              S4S is working with 6000 growing farmers in the network to provide market linkage.

Processing Of Produce 

S4S has 455 Micro-Entrepreneurs processing more than 22,750 Tons of produce.S4S will be adding 300 women more to be added by Sept 2021.

S4S saves 22,750 Tons of Food from getting wasted and saves 182000 Tons of CO2 in a 10-year lifecycle.

S4S provides $1000-$1500 Annual addition income to women micro-entrepreneurs for processing of produce. This is the direct profit, increasing their profit by 50-400% annually.

Food Security and Nutrition Supply

 S4S provides Nutrition rich food supply to 1,070,000 population                       Reproductive women with improved hemoglobin profile 30,000                  The number of people supported undernutrition awareness - 250,000 

S4S brings women farmers into the formal banking system who are all new to credit, without bank accounts driving financial inclusion.

The key activities for achieving this is :

1. Set up systems and processes for logistics, quality control, digitization, governance
2. Setting up of training center for replication in other geographies
3. Structures women farmer Joint Liability Groups so that they are linked to financial institutions
4. Training, installation, and quality checks for the farm-level  processing 
5. Monitoring and evaluation systems with impact measurement tools 

S4S currently directly serves 

6500 Farmers I 505 Women Farmers turned Micro-Entrepreneurs and 850 customers who make a million meals per day 

In the next year, we aim to reach 15,000 Farmers and 2000 Women Farmers

June 2021 : 

Cumulative people supported through nutrition training is 1,023,000

We will be training 67,000 people by the end of the year and 35,000 Women in  Entrepreneurship Training, Finance, and Accounts

We measure impact through the following impact indicators :

Women Entrepreneurs created# of entrepreneursCumulative Women entrepreneurs# of entrepreneursNo of Livelihoods ImpactedAnnual Processing Capacity created by S4S at the farm levelMT (300 Operational days)Annual Cumulative processing capacity created by S4S at the farm levelMT (300 Operational days)No of Farmers  sourcing of raw material# of new farmers addedCumulative number of farmers# Total No of farmersCO2 savedKg per month

Working with women in rural areas, S4S faces various cultural challenges as women in these areas have limited decision-making power. 

Traditionally, women in this region, despite being actively engaged in agriculture, have been only considered as farm labor, with no decision making role in their farms and no support from government extension
programs targeted towards building the capacity of women farmers. 

To overcome these issues, S4S has identified key interventions through which women can now be involved in a more dignified work and also not rely on the male members for income generation. And all these staying at home here they can now also take care of their children and provide elderly care.

•  No upfront capital asset purchase
•  No need to travel outside for training, services at the doorstep to ensure that they save time, and no dependence on male members to do business
• Assured additional income of $1000-1500 annually 

• We would leverage the larger platform to take our work to other developing countries in Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia
•  This recognition would also help us build new financial partners that can help women with no bank accounts and financial history ie who are new to credit avail financing at a cheaper rate of interest as compared to the current rate
• We would also advance the market development and reach to global corporates and network for buy-back arrangements thus helping us scale our impact and work
• We would also use this platform to add more strategic financial partners who can join us in our mission to uplift women out of poverty
• We would also like to learn from other organizations about leadership and management and how better can we scale our impact 
• We would also get mentorship and coaching from Elevate Prize and MIT Solve network to build our capacity for next phase of our journey that would help us deepen our work 

As an organization working towards Women's Empowerment it is our goal to have a diverse team and practice what we preach.

S4S is building a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Leadership Team with a 35% Leadership Team comprising Women and 40% of our Board and Advisory Team comprising of women and men who champion women at every step. Also, Our Leadership Team comes from diverse castes, social strata, and religions working in the most cohesive manner towards solving a common challenge. For us, it is a Top-Down approach. 

S4S has launched a Training and Development Program specifically for the women in the leadership position to not only upskill themselves but also get trained for training the women in rural areas as MASTER TRAINERS.

These Master Trainers now train other women to be more financially independent and also advise them on career advancements. They also ensure that women have a safe space and can voice their opinions.

There has been a specific budget allocated for these women to undergo more than 1000 hrs of Leadership Training from reputed institutes like Stanford Seed Transition Program etc, IIM Calcutta, etc.

S4S follows the Equal Opportunity policy and has also implemented POSH Policy.

Born in a farming family in the Himalayas, I grew up with pride in land ownership, viewing cultivation as the most secure livelihood avenue but all the same, appreciated the harsh realities of farming. 

Shunning lucrative and comfortable careers after my chemical engineering, I co-founded ‘Science for Society’ (S4S) with college friends. I am a Forbes 30U30 Awardee and also received recognition as 15 Women transforming from UN India and Government of India.

I handle Finance, Partnerships, and Impact measurement at S4S.

Dr. Vaibhav Tidke is the CEO is with Ph.D. in solar food processing which helps design snd deploy technology solutions for livelihoods to women. Shital has a MBA degree in marketing with experience and ensures that market linage is provided.The Team has been trained to deal with vulnerable groups like families of farmers who have committed suicide. The leadership team is trained to work with rural women.

S4S model is designed to keep women at the center and all solutions are designed to empower women. 

- Technology: The dryer system is very easy to handle without any heavy-duty lifting and no long-standing hours.

 - Finance: S4S provides a guarantee on the machines thus facilitating loan for the farmers.

Amol Padul of Hatmali was a student living with his mother Prabhavati Tai
Padul and younger sister in Hatmali. Being the only man of the house, Amol dreamt of being well educated working in a company, and earning well for his mother and sister. His mother was a part of our ME for S4S in 2015 where she would dehydrate different types of vegetables.

 Amol was initially not in favor of the work as he took it upon himself to feed the family compromising on his education. He had previously seen his mother tire herself - work and also do household work.

That's when I took Amol under my wing and started mentoring him. I urged him to try the equipment himself and then decide to pilot for 10 days. He was surprised when he saw that he could fulfill his mother’s dreams of being self-employed and also made him interested in back in farming.

We recognized Amol’s potential and provided him the training required to lead a team of women farmers like his mother and trained them to dehydrate vegetables.

Amol found this work very interesting, completed his education, and he joined S4S as a full-time employee.

If chosen as the winner, we would utilize the funding to scale our work by reaching more than 2500 women farmers impact in the following manner :

1. Poverty Reduction and Assured Additional Income                                    Increase the number of Women Micro-Entrepreneurs from 700 to 2500          Provide Annual Additional Profit of Over $700k to Women Micro-Entrepreneurs

2.Skill Development and Training 

Train 60,000 Women Farmers in Entrepreneurship Training, Finance and Accounts training and also supports on skill development on food processing as per international standards

3. Health and Nutrition Training 

S4S provides 45% more nutritious food as tested by the National Institute of Nutrition, Government of India. S4S is supporting more than 1million people plans to advance to 6 million number in 3 years.

• We have partnered with multiple partners like USAID, DFID, Shell Foundation, DBS Foundation for Funding support
• We work with the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra for beneficiary identification and local ecosystem support
• S4S partners with the Banks like HDFC Banks and DBS Bank for lending support to farmers 
• S4S partners with educational institutes like IIM Ahmedabad for monitoring and evaluation support
• S4S partners with Accenture and World Economic forum for strategic guidance and sustainability-related support
• S4S partners with corporate buyers for offtake of produce