NABSAMRUDDHI’s visit to WASH Innovation Hub of ASCI and exposure visit to Climate Smart WASH MSME projects

NABSAMRUDDHI’s core team comprising Bonani Roychoudhury, MD, L S Naveen Kumar, CFO and Rajitha Reddy, AVP visited the WASH Innovation Hub ( WIH) at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad on 12 January 2024 and held focused discussions with Professor V Srinivas Chary, CEO and his team on the scope and opportunities in financing Climate smart WASH MSMEs accelerated by the hub. Detailed presentations were made by the WIH team on the various initiatives being taken by them with grant support from Water.org, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others and the possibilities for collaborative action with NABSAMRUDDHI were flagged. The team was also given a demonstration of the international standards being followed in the realm of water and sanitation and the testing support being provided to WASH MSMEs by the Environmental Surveillance lab set up at the hub.

This was followed by an insightful exposure visit on 13 January 2024 by the entire Operations team of Nabsamruddhi to three climate smart WASH projects being implemented by MSMEs supported by the hub. These included the innovative Loocafe projects being implemented by Ixora with a captive revenue model, climate smart FSTP by Banka Bio and a wetlands based FSTP being implemented by Bluedrop, following circular economy principle. The visits provided clarity and understanding to the team which will further support the financing of such projects either directly or through its impact focused FI partners under Nabsamruddhi’s Climate Ready WASH Funding initiative.