Rajat Sethi

2013 - 2015

Alumni

Legatum Fellow

From:

India

Sector:

Consumer Goods

Location:

India

Degree:

MBA, Sloan School of Management

Rajat Sethi’s business, Coolify, is a micro cold-storage-based business solution to problems in the back end of fruit and vegetable supply chains in India. Losses in this chain—which constitutes harvesting, storage, processing, transportation and marketing—are a critical bottleneck for global food security.

Intrigued by the large amounts (40–50%) of losses incurred in the post-harvest agricultural supply chains of most poor tropical countries because of the high ambient temperatures and the lack of cold storage facilities, Rajat envisions decentralizing the market by setting up inexpensive modular units with optimal insulation close to fruit and vegetable harvest points. Coolify’s model will use modern VIP technology with extraordinary insulation levels, thereby minimizing the capital expenditure and operational energy costs.

Rajat’s interest lies in working as a social entrepreneur at the intersection of Technology, Policy and Tech-aided Development in sectors spanning Rural Infrastructure, Clean Energy and Agribusiness. He has considerable experience in this area: as an undergraduate he developed an ultra-cheap rural Internet paradigm called KRANTI (Kiosks in Rural Areas for Network & Telecom Infrastructure), which was not only appreciated by academicians but was also successfully deployed. After graduation, he with some friends started a solar company called Exergy to design and install mega-watt sized Solar PV power plants.

Rajat is currently pursuing a 3-year Joint Program: an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an MPA at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. His undergraduate degree is in Science and Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Kharagpur.

http://www.coolify.in/