The/Nudge Prize

About

Oorja is a venture-backed, award winning social enterprise working at the intersection of renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. It is a farming-as-a- service company providing integrated solutions powered by clean energy to smallholder farmers along the agricultural value chain. Despite an urgent need, 85% of farmers cannot afford to invest in solar technology and instead rely on polluting and expensive diesel generators. Oorja is closing this gap by financing, installing, operating and maintaining off-grid distributed solar energy systems for community use and selling affordable and reliable irrigation, milling and refrigeration services on a pay-per-use basis, without any upfront cost to them.

Thematic Area

UpstreamAgTech

Geographical area of work

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

Existing Investors

The DOEN Foundation, Cisco CSR, Echoing Green, Vista Ventures Social Impact Fund, La French Tech, Climate-KIC

https://www.oorjasolutions.org/Learn More

Founder(s)

Dr Clementine Chambon

Dr Clementine Chambon, as CTO leads Oorja’s technology strategy, engineering and fundraising. She has technical expertise in design of DRE systems. Clementine previously worked as a renewable energy consultant for the Grantham Institute and the European Commission. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Bioenergy from Imperial College London. She is a recipient of the Echoing Green Climate Fellowship, Forbes 30Under30 and MIT Technology Review’s Social Innovator of the Year awards.

Amit Saraogi

Amit Saraogi, as CEO leads strategy development, operations, supply chain and partnership engagement. He previously spent 15 years in investment banking, business consulting and development practice in India, US and Switzerland. He holds a Master’s in International Development from Columbia University, New York and a Bachelor’s in Business Studies from Sydenham College, Mumbai. He is a recipient of the Echoing Green Climate Fellowship and was named as 100 Most Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Around the World by Social Enablers in 2017.