How Indian startups are using digital technology to be a positive force for society
India’s start-up ecosystem is filled with innovative solutions and advanced technologies which have an important role to play in helping to address societal challenges.
Take for example Kabadiwalla Connect – a start-up that developed an app to help residents connect to their local scrap shops – known locally as ‘Kabadiwallas’ – to sell the recyclable waste they collect.
Founded by a data scientist Siddharth Hande, the startup works to leverage the power of these ‘scrap shops’ by integrating them into the formal waste management system of the city. Speaking about the challenge that inspired his startup, Siddharth explains, “Through all my beach cleanups, I found that you could optimise the informal supply chain, and creating accurate baselines of who they are and where they work was the starting point." He believes that digitisation can be a key enabler for waste pickers. Digitalisation can help integrating the formal and informal waste management process, enabling traceability across stakeholders in the supply chain.
The Shell GameChanger team helps Kabadiwalla Connect to advance the research, development, and commercialisation of of their technology. Shell GameChanger works with start-ups on unproven early-stage ideas that have the potential to impact the future of energy. The aim is to de-risk technology that can have a significant impact on the energy industry and potentially Shell businesses.
Siddharth and his team value the support of Shell, especially the focus on health and safety. Today, waste pickers and people working in scrap shops often have to choose between their health and safety or their livelihood. But Kabadiwalla Connect is trying to change that . "As a social enterprise, we have a chance to leverage the circular economy to improve the lives of waste pickers and small scrap shops. It is really rewarding work. I think in another decade, if we create these ecosystems that are recycling everything that will be mission accomplished," he says.
The GameChanger team provides support, expertise, and seed funding in a wide variety of areas to develop early-stage energy transition, digital and energy solutions, while the start-ups keep the independence to make their own decisions.
Kabadiwalla Connect’s technology, once it reaches its full potential, could help support Shell in meeting its obligation under the Indian Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Law. EPR holds manufacturers accountable for managing post-consumer waste as well as the complete lifecycle of their products. For example, the technology could support the Shell lubricant recycling programme, a collaborative sustainability project that enables customers and partners to participate in responsible plastic waste management and recycling.
Read Video Transcript
Read Video Transcript
Title: Change Makers - Film 2 - Fine cut
Duration: 2:09 minutes
Description:
A video to discuss how Shell GameChanger is helping the work of Kabadiwalla Connect, featuring Siddharth Hande.
Change Makers - Film 2 – Fine cut Transcript
[Background music plays]
Upbeat synthesised sitar-style music with male voices.
[Video footage]
A birds’ eye view of a busy road junction surrounded by trees and buildings. A graphic appears over the top of the footage in the middle of the screen, with writing in white and yellow.
[Graphic]
A small yellow and red Shell pecten inside the outline of a square box.
[Text displays]
Shell.ai Scientific Conference, Bangalore
[Video footage]
A long-distance overhead shot of Bangalore, showing an elaborate building with a second red-coloured building directly opposite. We can see the rest of the city in the background. Then a white illuminated sign that reads, ‘Experience zone,’ followed by a brief shot of four people having a discussion in front of a small screen. We then see a small group of people listening to a man (Siddharth Hande) at the conference. He is wearing a grey suit and he gestures to the group as he speaks. Black text appears in a white and yellow box.
[Text displays]
Siddharth Hande, Founder & CEO Kabadiwalla Connect
[Siddharth Hande]
My work in waste management started when I organised beach clean-ups in my home town of Chennai.
[Video footage]
A series of head-and-shoulders shots of Siddharth as he walks through one of the rooms at the conference. He smiles to people as he passes them, then footage cuts to a mid-range view of him walking into a smaller room. We see video cameras and lighting equipment in the room, and two people operating them. Siddharth goes to a square which has been marked out on the floor and stands on it.
[Siddharth Hande]
In Hindi, Kabadiwalla means a small scrap shop. It’s a colloquial term that’s used to talk about the work they do, which is to buy all kinds of recyclable waste at the city generates.
[Background music plays]
Smooth synthesised strings with a slow tune played on keys. The music builds with a slow drum rhythm.
[Graphic]
A white screen with black and yellow writing.
[Text displays]
How are Indian startups using tech as a force for good?
[Video footage]
Head-and-shoulders shot of Siddharth standing in front of a yellow screen with the outline of a Shell pecten on it. He gestures with his hands as he talks seriously into the camera, as the shot alternates between mid-range and close-up views.
[Siddharth Hande]
Kabadiwalla Connect is a startup that works to integrate the informal supply chain into a formal waste management system. We help residents in the city connect to their local scrap shop so they can responsibly recycle their waste. In Chennai, for example, we’ve mapped pretty much every single scrap shop that works to collect recyclable waste. We’ve found over 2,000 of them and that they were collecting 130,000 tonnes every year of paper, plastic, glass and metal, and if that was a formal contract, that’s a multi-million dollar contract.
[Graphic]
A white screen with black and yellow writing.
[Text displays]
How can digitisation improve lives?
[Graphic]
The yellow outline of a Shell pecten grows in the centre of the image and expands until disappearing offscreen.
[Video footage]
More head-and-shoulders footage of Siddharth standing in front of the Shell branded yellow screen, speaking into the camera. We see shots from in front and to the left of him.
[Siddharth Hande]
Kabadiwalla Connect wants to change the system by helping more people connect to their local scrap shop. Digitisation is a key enabler, especially for the ultra-poor. When you think of waste-pickers and scrap shops, right now all of the business activities that they have are completely black-boxed. Digitisation has the potential to bring them into a formal system.
[Graphic]
The yellow outline of a Shell pecten grows in the centre of the image and expands until disappearing offscreen.
[Graphic]
A white screen with black and yellow writing.
[Text displays]
How is Shell GameChanger transforming lives?
[Graphic]
The yellow outline of a Shell pecten grows in the centre of the image and expands until disappearing offscreen.
[Video footage]
Back to the head-and-shoulders footage of Siddharth talking into the camera in front of the yellow screen.
[Siddharth Hande]
Through Shell GameChanger, we’re launching a smart phone app called Kabadiwalla Connect that can help local residents connect with their local scrap shop. One of the key aspects or why we’re so happy with being a part of Shell GameChanger is really Shell’s focus on health and safety. Waste-pickers and people working in scrap shops have to choose either between their health and safety or their livelihood. Through Shell GameChanger we’re trying to completely change that.
It's really rewarding work. I think in ten years, if we are creating these cities and these ecosystems that are recycling everything, that would be mission accomplished.
[Graphic]
The yellow outline of a Shell pecten grows in the centre of the image and turns the screen white. A yellow and red Shell pecten appears in the middle of the screen with writing in black underneath it.
[Audio]
Shell brand mnemonic played on strings.
[Text displays]
Visit Shell.com/digitalisation
© Shell International Limited 2023
In Shell, technology leaders recognise that the best innovation will most likely come from people who are closer to the problem, as in the case of Kabadiwalla Connect. And so, the question that arises here is that how companies like Shell can help unleash that potential within a framework which is guided to get to a point where things are deployed into production for driving a greater impact.
Sharing his experience of working closely with startups in India, Sreenivas Raghavendran, a Commercial Partnerships Manager at Shell GameChanger, says, “They are extremely enterprising. What is interesting to note is that they don't necessarily belong to tech hubs from Indian metro cities. All these founders and innovators bring energy, positivity, authenticity, and seriousness to solve challenges; it is not just their will, but also their willingness to solve the problem that is impressive.”
