About Us

Vision

eCoexist believes in the loving coexistence of all living beings on this earth. We believe that human life can be fulfilling only if it respects, loves and protects nature.

Mission

eCoexist promotes eco-sensitive products and lifestyles through socially sensitive means. All our products are non-polluting and provide an income to underprivileged groups.

Our Name

Humanity coexists with millions of other species of life on this magnificent planet. We are not merely companions but deeply dependent on each other. Our well being is integrally interconnected with the health of all other life forms. The word eCoexist was coined to recognise that it is not merely co-existence but an ecological coexistence that keeps us alive. This is the awareness that eCoexist aims to revive in modern society.

What is a Social Enterprise?

The concept of social enterprises is still relatively new in India. eCoexist Products was formed in 2006, as a social enterprise because it aimed to address all the three aspects of People, Planet and Profit in its work. This triple bottomline required it to work as a non profit, taking on campaigns and doing education, as well as a commercial entity to create livelihoods and generate income for the underprivileged.

As per Wikipedia, a social enterprise is an organisation that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being—this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for external shareholders. What differentiates social enterprises from other organizations is that their social mission is as core to their success as any potential profit.

The Journey

eCoexist came into being in 2006, when our founder, Manisha Gutman, wanted to take forward the environmental work she had begun in the Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, into an entrepreneurial model. Our first product , the natural Holi colours , began as part of the Safe Festivals campaign and the colours were developed along with another Kalpavriksh member, Sunita Rao. As the colours required a business entity to make them a mainstream product, Manisha stepped forward to create eCoexist. Over the next eight years, eCoexist Products and Vanastree, developed the colours and created a substantial income flow for the women of Vanastree.

In 2007, Lolita Gupta, joined Manisha in her efforts and offered six years of selfless and committed work to this vision. In 2013, eCoexist Products transformed into eCoexist Enterprises, a partnership jointly owned by Manisha Gutman, Lolita Gupta and Natalie Leek. This decision was the stepping stone into the growth of an organisation that believes in creating joint ownership and sharing of profit. As our environmental and social work grew and began to gain recognition, in 2017, we also set up the eCoexist Foundation. This is a purely non-profit entity to take our environmental and social work to a larger scale and to enable funders and investors to participate in our vision. We also expanded to include a Board of Advisors that inform and revise the strategies of the company.

Partners

eCoexist works with a variety of partners from all sections of society. We work with corporates, other ecoproduct companies, NGOs, the government, media groups, malls and citizens action groups. We believe in building bridges and holding dialogues across sectors to understand each other concerns and come together to achieve the vision of an ecologically conscious society. We also work with several educational institutions in India and abroad.

BNHS
Emcure
Swinburne
Forbes Marshall
Oikos
University of Birmingham
Franklin University
A Hundred Hands
Andaman Nicobar Environment Team
Centre for Environment Education
Toxics Link
Thermax
Radio Mirchi
Maher Ashram
DLRC
Mahindra
Teach For India
Anjuman I Islam
Wellpaper
Green Tara Foundation
Surajya
Warsaa
Srishti
Sangam
Monalisa Kalagram

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