Dharma Life is a social enterprise that creates sustainable livelihoods by training entrepreneurs to provide rural customers in India with life-improving and affordable products.

Dharma Life is a social enterprise driving sustainable growth in rural India by creating a network of entrepreneurs and building a market demand for their affordable products. Dharma Life focuses on numerous development sectors, including health, water supply, sanitation, education, clean energy and indoor air pollution. To achieve its goals, Dharma Life has trained more than 5,000 villagers in entrepreneurial thinking, customer orientation and financial planning.

Dharma Life believes that every individual has the potential to grow and, if given a purpose, can progress in life.

Gaurav Mehta – Founder and CEO, Dharma Life

Importantly, Dharma Life activates demand by raising awareness about the socio-economic value of their endorsed products among rural customers, while ensuring a sustainable value chain by working with manufacturers, distributors, local retailers and other stakeholders. Dharma Life reports to have positively impacted the lives of over 2.5 million people through its awareness activities and aims to increase this figure to 50 million by 2020.

Why you should care

Problems related to indoor air pollution, malnutrition and lack of access to affordable energy are widespread in India. In an attempt to provide remote communities with life-improving products, Dharma Life focuses on a selection of relevant development challenges with known solutions to create socially positive impact in rural villages. To achieve this, Dharma Life trains entrepreneurs and promotes the adoption of socially beneficial products.

How the Global Goals are addressed

Good Health and Well-Being

The company encourages rural households to use better cook stoves, reducing smoke by 80%, lowering indoor air pollution. It also provides iron-fortified drinks to children, improving their health.

SDG5

Gender Equality

The company has focused on training women entrepreneurs, and have trained >1,200 women to run businesses in their communities. They also aim to train 50% female entrepreneurs in their network.

Affordable and Clean Energy

Dharma Life provides access to clean lighting solutions in areas with limited access to grid electricity or clean energy. They claim to have sold more than 76,000 solar lamps directly to rural consumers.

Decent Work and Economic Growth

With a network of more than 3,500 village entrepreneurs across six states in India, Dharma Life is helping to create sustainable and progressive jobs at the grassroots level.

Climate Action

According to Dharma Life, the efficient energy and cooking products that it’s networks have sold have prevented over 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.