Green Entrepreneurship

As the impacts of the climate crisis worsen, it is necessary for society to balance profit with people and planet. The Green Bengal Innovation Network (GBIN) is a network of incubators, universities, and business associations that incubate, support and scale green entrepreneurs, MSMEs and businesses across West Bengal. GBIN is fostering an entrepreneurial culture towards a green economy in the state by supporting the creation and growth of green sustainable companies and increasing availability of investment funding for start-ups. Using a Hub and Spoke network model, GBIN leverages competitions/challenges, symposiums, training and workshops, to allow collaborative initiatives to grow that bring together thought leaders from academia, industry, and social sector under one umbrella.

 

During the Move for Earth ride in West Bengal, a GBIN contest provided a platform for students to share their green business ideas, which was attended by over 200 youth.

Key initiatives of this work include:

• The Greenovation Club: It is a unique initiative to empower students of colleges and universities of West Bengal to sustainably build the world around them through ‘entrepreneurship’, and provides opportunities and resources to young minds to develop entrepreneurial skills in the area of sustainability.  
• Green Entrepreneurs Forum: The forum aims to bring together sustainable entrepreneurs working as manufacturers, service providers, recyclers, with special focus in major districts and cities of West Bengal 

Green Enterprise Fellowship (GEF): The Fellowship (GEF) is an opportunity for young changemakers and aspiring entrepreneurs to contribute to the urban and semi-urban green or sustainable enterprises of the state, and thereby add to the green economy of West Bengal. Each GEF fellow will be placed in a dedicated urban/rural green enterprise where they will understand the enterprise’s challenges and address topics like marketing (brand build, market linkages), communications, finance, and technical (R&D, Agri / Non Agri Value Chain Development).