Upaya's Response to Covid-19

Dear Upaya Community,

The recent worldwide COVID-19 outbreak is a reminder that rare and unexpected emergencies have the potential to disrupt our professional and personal routines. Upaya provides investment and consulting support to early-stage businesses aimed at creating jobs for the poorest of the poor. Our portfolio of 21 businesses have cumulatively created over 15,000 jobs for the poor in India. During this period of heightened uncertainty, Upaya is taking extra measures to ensure the health and safety of those in our extended community so that we are prepared to help the most vulnerable.

In addition to the potential spread of the virus itself, we anticipate that significant disruption could result from market volatility, supply chain shocks, and other economic events. We are in regular touch with our investee companies to ensure they are aware of local developments and have a risk mitigation strategy in place. We are strongly encouraging them to develop contingency plans to deal with slower business cycles and support jobholders who may require additional assistance. We have delayed the launch of our next accelerator program by two months in hopes that by May, travel within India will feel safe again.

For our own staff, we have implemented a work-from-home policy – subject to directives from local health authorities in Seattle and Bangalore. We are curbing business travel to and from affected areas, again subject to local health guidelines.

We are hopeful and optimistic that COVID-19 will retreat quickly in the coming weeks and that we will spring back to business as usual. In the meantime, we are committed to seeing our community safely through these extraordinary circumstances.

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4/9/20 UPDATE: Please read our latest post to learn about Upaya’s three-wave COVID-19 response strategy.

Upaya extends debt to partners in India for the first time

Upaya Social Ventures has made 10 equity investments into Indian-based businesses employing the very poorest but until now, has not been able to extend debt due to regulatory restrictions. For the first time, in August of 2016, we have been able to structure small loan agreements with our partners to provide working capital assistance as they grow their businesses.

Parvata Foods

The first partner to receive debt from Upaya is Parvata Foods. Parvata aims to eliminate middle-men in the agricultural value chain so that poor farmers can keep more of their profit. Founded by Siddhi Karnani and Anurag Agarwal, their particular focus is to process and market the organic products from the state of Sikkim in northeastern India, which was recently declared the first fully organic state in the country. They source their products—currently spices and squash— from about 100 farmers with one to two acres of land who previously earned about $0.75 to $1.50 per day per person. Upaya has extended a two-year loan to Parvata and may make an equity investment in the future.

The second partner to receive an Upaya debt investment is Karmantik, a Delhi-based enterprise that aims to revive artisanal hand-crafted shoes. Founded in 2015  by Sruthi Niveditha Kande and Apoorva Kamath, who are alumni of the Young India Fellowship Program of Ashoka University. "Upaya came in at a time when we needed support to push ourselves forward, and for that we are very grateful," according to Kande.

Karmantik artisan