MoHUA-AFD Launch Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to Nurture the Evolving Ecosystem of Indian Waste Management Sector

What is the News?

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs(MoHUA) in partnership with the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has launched the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge.

What is the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge?

Aim:

– To provide an impetus to innovative start-ups to come forward and drive catalytic transformation in the sanitation and waste management sector.

– To promote an enabling environment for enterprise development under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0).

– To capitalize on the start-up movement by providing opportunities for entrepreneurship to young innovators to create socially impactful and market-ready business solutions.

Eligibility: The challenge is open to a) start-ups registered in India and b) French actors collaborating with an Indian start-up (as a joint venture).

Thematic Areas: The challenge is open across four thematic areas viz. (i) social inclusion, (ii) zero dump (solid waste management), (iii) plastic waste management and (iv) transparency through digital enablement.

Awards and Prizes:

– Top 10 startups to receive ₹25 lakhs along with one year of dedicated incubation support from French Tech, the French government’s initiative to promote start-ups. 

– Eligible startups will get additional incentives which include up to ₹ 50 Lakhs follow-on investment from Villgro, the implementation partner of the Challenge and up to 100,000 USD worth of credits and technology support from technology partner Amazon Web Services, to each winner.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘MoHUA-AFD Launch Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to Nurture the Evolving Ecosystem of Indian Waste Management Sector’ published in PIB on 27th January 2022.