HaraBara Builds Greener Pastures
Wednesday January 28, 2009 , 2 min Read
In the effort to connect “green” business manufacturers and suppliers, Jagdish Amin and David Wheat launched HaraBara in October 2008. Businessworld features the duo’s new business-to-business platform:
HaraBara’s primary objective is to unearth ‘golden nuggets’: companies that are doing great sustainable work, and getting them to talk about it.
While there are plans to create a worldwide forum, the focus right now is on India. The HaraBara Connect India site offers a clear benefit for greening businesses in the country:
Thousands of Indian companies are dealing with environmental and green challenges. Share experience with other Connect members facing green concerns. Find out what works and what doesn’t work. Access proprietary HaraBara databases, undertake joint projects, and establish new connections. Save time and money dealing with green issues.
The online platform allows a quick and easy way of making connections in the green indsustry, and as a result, could promote faster progress of environmental efforts.
Perhaps more interesting is the founders’ explanation to Businessworld of what prompted them to start HaraBara, when a “client wanted to sell solar lanterns in rural India but wasn’t able to develop a local distribution network.”
“We realised that companies would find it useful to have a website that gave them access to customers and suppliers, and that helped them figure out local laws and regulations,” says Wheat.
I’m sure there are other industries which face a similar challenge when trying to start up operations in a new location. For that reason, HaraBara is a great example of turning a roadblock into a far-reaching solution.