Richa Pant from Harmony Inc. is the bridge between corporates, social enterprises and not for profits

Richa Pant, with an in-depth experience of working with large corporates in driving their CSR strategies in the new Bharat, is a grassroots executor and a planner who has delivered successes through-out a career. A visionary, in her own right, Richa has worked with the likes of L&T Financial Services, Tata Communications, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals to name a few. In her new avatar she is the founder of Harmony Inc., a Sustainability (ESG) and CSR advisory services organisation.

In this conversation at the Impact[X] Studio, Richa talks about her experiences and achievements whilst designing sustainability strategies for large corporates, not for profits and social enterprises. With keen leanings on SDG5 – Women Empowerment, SDG12 – Climate Change and SDG13 – Responsible Production and Consumption, Richa is driving Harmony Inc. in these directions. Some of the key takeaways from this conversation are as follows:

1. Corporates should now realise that building for sustainability through socially responsible initiatives is not a choice and cannot be driven by mere CSR obligations. It is the need of the hour as profitability can positively be harmonised with social consciousness and sustainability built into a brand. Customers and or value chains appreciate sustainability as one of the key driving forces in their buying decisions downstream.

2. Large corporates have had global customers and were asking about ESG and Sustainability Initiatives, however, in recent years sustainability is more widespread and deeply assimilated into the psyche of the India Inc.

3. Corporates can be motivated and ushered into buying from sustainable sources to fulfil their varied demands if the right dialogue and products and services discovery is enabled. Harmony Inc. sits at the cusp of that. Collaborative projects can drive adoption and belongingness to Sustainability initiatives. Startups and Corporates can look to become supply chain partners if their is the correct discovery of the opportunity.

4. Regulator asking India Inc. to report on CSR initiatives and investors asking for sustainability initiatives in order to drive Shareholder value has prompted a mass movement by corporates in this direction.

5. The consideration of the bottom – line of the buyer and seller is what is very important in making Social Enterprises and Corporates collaborations sustainable. Market dynamics as well as a sustainability mindset can create measurable enhancement to shareholder value as well as profitability.

To know more about Harmony Inc. and work with them in designing and executing on sustainability initiatives : www.harmonyinc.co