What this country needs is more businesses that try to do more than just business, businesses that give back to the communities and ecosystems they depend on.

In that sense, we need more businesses that don’t just take value from the system, but actively put value back into it.

Akshayakalpa is one of them, and that’s one of the reasons we invested.

Shashi and the team are building a business for profit, of course, but profit isn’t the only motivation. There’s also a genuine desire to improve the lives of the communities around them and build in a way that can sustain itself over the long term. That mindset is still relatively rare.

You can see it in the way they work with farmers, helping new farmers get started, helping existing farmers improve their incomes and farming practices, and investing in ways that can create new livelihoods in rural communities.

We’ve been working on something new called Rainmatter Originals. The idea is simple: to tell stories about entrepreneurs who are trying unusual things and building businesses differently.

And we couldn’t think of a better story to begin with than Shashi and Akshayakalpa.

A lot of sweat and tears went into making this video. No blood, thankfully. :)

If you’ve ever wondered whether there are different ways to build a business from much of what we see around us today, I think you’ll find their story interesting.

Watch it and let us know what you think of our first Rainmatter Original.

Watch the episode.

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