NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and Villgro Innovations Foundation are pleased to invite you to the launch of their latest initiative, Powering Livelihoods. The session will feature an inaugural address by Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, and Minister of Railways, a keynote address by Rajiv Kumar, Hon’ble Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, and a special address by Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All.

India has at least a USD 50 billion market opportunity for clean energy innovations to power rural livelihoods. The USD 3 million Powering Livelihoods initiative aims to catalyse this market by providing capital and technical support to social enterprises deploying clean energy-powered livelihood appliances to enable large-scale commercial deployments.

The launch will also introduce the six cohort enterprises under Powering Livelihoods. These enterprises are deploying a wide variety of clean energy-powered livelihood solutions including water pumps, multipurpose food processors, commercial refrigerators and textile machinery (reeling, spinning and weaving).

Time: 3:00 PM – 4:45 PM IST / 5:30 AM – 7:15 AM ET