Empowering Rural Farmers Sustainably

Challenge

In many rural areas, agricultural biomass is burned due to its low economic value and the high cost of collection and transport. Takachar a spin out from Massachisset Institute of Technology (MIT), developed a novel technology that enables decentralized conversion of this biomass into valuable products such as activated carbon, solid fuels, and specialty carbon-based chemicals. The challenge lay in evaluating this innovation’s commercial potential and building a scalable path to market.

Solution

I led the commercialization strategy for Takachar’s biomass conversion technology by combining technical evaluation, business planning, and program execution:

• Technology Assessment: Conducted technical due diligence, market sizing, and competitive analysis. Defined the value proposition for emerging markets like India

  
  

• Business Strategy: Created business plans, evaluated revenue models, and developed go-to-market strategies based on customer and market research

  
  

• Program Execution: Built a proof of concept, led prototype development, and coordinated IP management. Monitored KPIs and refined the strategy accordingly

  
  

• Stakeholder Engagement: Presented to investors and partners, built strategic relationships, and communicated the product vision across audiences

Approach

• Lean, agile product development

• Customer discovery and validation early in the cycle

• Competitive benchmarking and market prioritization

Impact

• Secured early-stage funding of $100K for Takachar’s commercialization in US

• Laid the groundwork for product-market fit in a high-impact, underserved sector

• Selected for the MassChallenge Accelerator 2018 cohort (shortlisted among 1000+ applicants across the globe)