A Push Was All They Needed; The Stories of ePrashala and Under the Mango Tree

Friday October 19, 2012 , 2 min Read

In this vast nation we know as India, there are various problems that pervade through the population and an effort from any corner is needed. There are many people wanting to make a difference but it is hard to muster a voice. They've got all that is needed to make a difference and bring about change for a good but all they need is a voice that can make them heard. A little push and their efforts would bear fruit. This is where efforts like Mahindra's- Spark the Rise help. Here, via this video we look at two efforts- ePrashala and Under the Mango Tree who found a voice and made a difference.

ePrashala- A Solution for rural education in India

ePrashala is the worlds first LED projector with built in Computer that can run Windows XP or Linux, has LAN, wifi and 3 usb ports built in. and can run on solar energy without the need of dependency on conventional sources of electricity.This product is developed specifically for Education purpose keeping in mind the needs of rural India where education is very difficult and implementation of technology is impossible due to lack of electricity. It houses a dust proof light engine and has literally zero-maintenance and running cost. The cost of consumables is also negligible.

More about them here

Under the Mango Tree

Under The Mango Tree is a social enterprise that brings to the market a variety of gourmet honey and related products to support rural livelihoods. Their aim is to empower and equip poor farmers across India with bee-keeping training, to improve rural livelihoods by building a nationally recognized fair trade brand of gourmet honey.

Their ‘Bees-for-Poverty-Reduction’ (BPR) framework trains small/marginal and tribal farmers add beekeeping with the indigenous bee Apis cerana indica to their livelihoods. This improves farmers’ incomes due to improved bee pollination & increased agricultural productivity for farmer’s crops and creates a new stream of income from honey and beeswax.