Transform, an impact accelerator led by Unilever, the UK Government and EY, has announced grants of up to Tk 10 million each for two Bangladeshi SMEs.
The grants were awarded to Deshifarmer and Techno Plastic Solutions, which were selected from over 50 applicants for their innovative solutions promoting climate resilience, says a statement on Tuesday.
Deshifarmer is an agri-tech platform set up to support smallholder farmers struggling to access the market and facing high levels of food waste.
Its end-to-end solutions connect farmers directly to consumers, cutting out intermediaries and increasing farmers' income, while ensuring safe, traceable food products for consumers.
Transform's support will be pivotal in scaling the enterprise's initiatives, promoting climate-smart agriculture on a larger scale and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Deshifarmer aims to benefit 3,000 farmers and 20,000 consumers in its first year of working with Transform.
Techno Plastic Solution tackles ocean plastic pollution by increasing collection infrastructure in coastal communities and empowering its members with training and efficient collection equipment.
With Transform's help, the enterprise will be launching a pilot programme in Kuakata to specifically target discarded fishing nets and PET bottles. It is projected to collect as much as 100 tonnes of monthly plastic waste.
Launched in October 2023, the Bangladesh Climate Challenge is an initiative aimed at identifying and supporting enterprises working on climate resilience.
In addition to grant funding, Transform supports visionary enterprises to scale their solutions through a combination of business insights, practical experiences, resources and networks.
This is the first time that Unilever, the UK Government and EY have worked together locally in Bangladesh to find and select entrepreneurs for the programme. It follows similar initiatives that Transform recently ran in India and East Africa.
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