Anshu Gupta
About
Founder of Goonj, a non-profit organization based in Delhi which undertakes Disaster Relief, Humanitarian Aid & Community Development across 23 states in India, Anshu Gupta is considered one of India's top social entrepreneurs.
After working in the corporate sector for a while, Anshu started Goonj in 1990 along with his wife to work on the basic need of clothing. Through Goonj, he has created a mass movement for recycle & reuse of tons of waste material by transferring it from the cities to the villages, as a resource for rural development.
The initiative ‘Cloth for Work’ by Goonj aims at building an economic bridge between cities & villages, by sharing surplus of one’s prosperity to address the lack of resources of another.
Anshu made the masses his prime focus – not only as givers and receivers of material but also as the prime source of money, skills and services. He also structured imaginative solutions with urban surplus, to some basic but neglected needs outside the radar of the development sector and the civil society.
Awards and Accomplishments
Awards and Accomplishments
Anshu Gupta , an Ashoka Changemaker with the Ashoka Fellowship since 2004, received the ‘World Bank’s Development Marketplace Award’, ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ by Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012, & the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015.
He was also listed as one of ‘India’s Top Social Entrepreneurs’ by Forbes Magazine & Fast Company, an American business magazine.
Why Anshu Gupta?
A powerful and inspiring speaker, Anshu addresses many national & international forums to bring clothing on the development agenda & to motivate the youth to take action. He also speaks on topics like innovation, leadership, village development & social entrepreneurship. Through his NGO Goonj, he replenishes urban waste to a useful resource, transforming rural India in a way that has never been done before.
