Sustainability NOW: Technology for Greener Living

Jyoti Palekar is an Alumni of IIT Bombay and holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science & Engineering. She is sustainopreneurship practitioner, visiting faculty and trainer. Jyoti is co-founder & managing director of advisory and technical consultancy STEP Private Limited, and leads a team of specialist in environment management, sustainability and resource management. She is a lead auditor for Environment Management System and accredited professional for Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) sustainability reporting. Multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral assignments are her key strengths. With holistic viewpoint and strong commitment, she brings in sustainability, circularity and stakeholder partnership in her industrial environmental management and cleaner production assignments. As a part of her previous job profile she was nominated as a mentor for “Women in Business Program’ and was also trainer for ‘Culture of Caring’ program for creating Incident free working environment’. Jyoti is avid traveller, wildlife enthusiast and loves natural history.

Abhijeet Sirkar is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Apro GreenTech. An environmentalist by passion and qualification, Abhijeet has been fascinated by the beauty and tranquility of nature since a young age. Raised in the concrete jungles of Mumbai, Abhijeet realized the impact the environment has on our lives and why protecting it matters the most. This outlook formed the inspiration behind Apro GreenTech. Abhijeet heads Apro GreenTech and plays a vital role in preparing its programs while aiming to achieve a cleaner earth for our future. Apro Greentech provides complete greening solutions & execution. True to their tagline "Greening the Impossible". Apro Greentech provides products and solutions for multiple areas like renewable energy, harnessing wind energy, waste recycling & reusing, water cleaning & conservation & pollution control. Apro Greentech are constantly coming up with creative & innovative ways to a greener future.

Pranshu Singhal is the Founder of Karo Sambhav Pvt Ltd which started its operations in 2017. Karo Sambhav collaborates with producers and enables them to close their material loops by designing and implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programmes. It is developing financially viable systemic solutions by collaborating with disintegrated players across the e-waste value chain. Karo Sambhav started with a focus on e-waste and has now expanded into plastics waste management. Prior to Karo Sambhav, Pranshu was Director, Digital Learning Strategy in the Worldwide Education team of Microsoft for 3 years. He had worked with Nokia as Head, Sustainability for 11 years and was based in Finland, Singapore and India. He had worked with Nokia as Head, Sustainability for 11 years and was based in Finland, Singapore and India. He is an Aspen Fellow, an Ashoka Fellow, a Chevening Gurukul Fellow, and an Aspire Fellow. He has been a co-chair in the GAP action Network on Education for Sustainable Development of UNESCO. Pranshu has a Master’s in Environmental Management and Policy from International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Sweden.

Sudhir Bhatia is the Founder and Creative Director of bRnd Studio, a boutique design consultancy that applies an integrative thinking process towards the development of solutions that have an impact on people, environment and businesses. He leads a team of passionate, curious and skilled professionals from diverse backgrounds such as industrial and graphic design, research, character art, metallurgy and programming. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering and Fine Arts, University of Rochester, Sudhir studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute, NY. Prior to consulting, he worked at Symbol Technologies Inc. for twelve years, eventually serving as a Director of Design. Sudhir has taught design at Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, Industrial Design Center, IIT Bombay, and Indian School of Design & Innovation, Parsons Mumbai. He regularly conducts workshops on Design Thinking at AVID Learning and other corporates and NGOs in India. He has served as a juror for the Consumer Electronic Show and the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). He holds 21 patents and has won multiple design awards including two silver IDEAs for Design Research and Consumer Electronics.