Our Blog
How Our Accelerator Program Continues To Evolve To Best Serve Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
Upaya’s annual accelerator program is a key component of our mission to support early-stage social enterprises.
Giving Money Back To Donors
Upaya has done something novel in the past few weeks – novel for us, at least – we’ve written checks to our donors… and it feels great.
This Mother’s Day We Wish For Dignified Jobs For All Mothers At Work
This Mother’s Day, as two working mothers at Upaya, we reflected on what it would take to create dignified jobs for mothers from extremely poor households. Despite their hardships, these women have the strength and ability to address the difficult battle of being a worker, a woman, and a mother, but they can’t do it alone
How Resham Sutra Is Weaving Its Theory Of Change To Empower Rural Artisans
Upaya’s portfolio company Resham Sutra embarked on their journey to create a Theory of Change Framework recently.
How Dignified Jobs Build Resilience For The Extreme Poor
Globally, research has shown that the extreme poor are greatly affected by the cause and effects of climate change. Air, water, and other sources of pollution are often the causes of climate change while extreme weather events such as heatwaves, drought, floods and hurricanes are the effects – both of which wreak havoc in the lives of the poor, often posing a threat to their livelihoods, health, and infrastructure. The poor are especially vulnerable as they lack coping mechanisms which are neither accessible nor affordable.
Breaking The Bias For Women Entrepreneurs
“There hasn’t been a better time to be a woman entrepreneur”, said Ekta Jaju, Founder of ONganic in one of the conversations we had with her last year. This stuck with me. And it’s absolutely true, but I only partly agree.
Economic Justice Requires More Than Money Alone
The world has made great strides in cutting extreme poverty in half in the past 20 years, notwithstanding the devastating effects of COVID. But it is also a basic fact that we live on a planet that could easily provide adequate food, shelter and healthcare for our entire population. And yet over 700 million people continue to live in unjust poverty.
Why You Shouldn't Look For An Annual Impact Report From Upaya
You might wonder where Upaya’s impact report is. The truth is, we don't do “an impact report.” That might be surprising given that roughly 10% of our operating budget goes to tracking and analyzing the impact that our portfolio is having in job creation. We don't do an annual report, because we collect and publish data and analysis on a rolling basis all year long.
Ten Social Businesses Selected For The Upaya And YSB 2022 Accelerator
Upaya Social Ventures (Upaya), a nonprofit organization growing small businesses to create jobs for the extreme poor, today announced the nine early-stage Indian companies selected to participate in the Upaya and YSB 2022 Accelerator
Covid Reminded Us Not To Become Complacent In Our Mission Against Poverty
For most of Upaya’s existence, our momentum has mirrored a consistent trend of reducing extreme poverty in the world