The Wheeler Institute will welcome Anshu Gupta to London Business School, for an inspiring discussion on the intersections of social impact and business strategy drawing from his work with Goonj.
Anshu Gupta is the founder of Goonj and Gram Swabhiman, a pioneering figure and thought leader in social entrepreneurship whose innovative approach has reshaped how businesses can address social issues.
According to Goonj, sustainability at scale is vital in a country like India, home to nearly 20% of the world’s population. In the last 10 years, Goonj has repurposed over 63 million kilograms of material and created 1.6 million days of productive work—equivalent to over 4,300 years—impacting nearly 18 million lives.
Through an intimate interaction with the audience, Anshu will offer valuable insights into the intersection of social impact and business strategy and Goonj’s operating model of leadership and expansion. The event will be a unique opportunity to know more about Anshu’s life and career trajectory and to learn from one of the world’s most renowned social entrepreneurs.
Date: Tuesday 12th November 2024
Starting Time: 19:00 GMT
Location: Lecture Theatre 4, Ratcliffe Building, London Business School, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4SA
The incredible story of Goonj
Goonj advocates for rethinking value in social enterprises by prioritising lives impacted over capital raised. Key initiatives include transforming old materials into resources for rural development through the Cloth for Work programme, enabling communities to build infrastructure and repurpose 5.2 million kilos of waste cloth. The School to School initiative channels unused materials from urban schools to rural areas, enhancing access to education. Not Just a Piece of Cloth addresses period poverty by providing over 7 million sanitary pads to vulnerable women. Green by Goonj upcycles excess materials into over 100 products, promoting sustainability and securing funding for future projects.
Every dollar Goonj invests returns over three times its value. With an efficiency ratio exceeding 95% for programme versus overhead costs. Goonj’s annual financial contributions of $8 million facilitate the collection, repurposing, and redistribution of over $10 million in clothing and materials. They mobilise an additional $8 million in local “human potential” to drive social progress across India.
Goonj is built on two key pillars: reciprocity and human dignity. Anshu advocates for reframing charity to recognise that giving involves receiving. Highlighting the wealth of knowledge and culture in financially poor communities. Goonj’s projects, driven by beneficiaries and rooted in local wisdom, reflect this collaborative spirit. Their commitment to human dignity, initiatives like distributing recycled clothing help individuals maintain self-respect.
The organisation’s unique business model earned it recognition as a Harvard Business School case study. Founded in 1999 with his wife Meenakshi, Goonj works on over 8,000 community development projects annually. From disaster relief, rural development, to sanitation, water, education, women’s health, poverty and livelihood.
About the speaker
Anshu Gupta, Founder of Goonj and Gram Swabhiman, is a trailblazer in advancing systemic change by transforming India’s urban surplus into a resource for rural development and resilience building. Since 1999, Goonj—co-founded with his wife, Meenakshi—has repurposed millions of tons of surplus material, bartering it with rural communities-led action projects. His work among the most marginalised is fostering climate resilience, equity, and self-reliance. His dignity-centred model has also inspired a systemic change in India’s culture of giving and participation of the common masses in development and climate action. Anshu is a frequent international speaker at forums like TED and World Economic Forum. He is a Magsaysay awardee and an Ashoka and Schwab Fellow and advocates for a new development pathway centred on peoples’ climate-resilience led action.