Manish Advani: Mahindra man readily works towards galvanising coconut’s status

Manish Advani: Mahindra man readily works towards galvanising coconut’s status

Jescilia KarayamparambilUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 12:50 AM IST
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Mumbai: What started as an activity to help his wife at household chores, has now continued as a journey for Mahindra SSG’s Manish Advani. When you speak to him, he puts the whole journey around coconut in a very colourful manner.

Recalling his plan, he says, “There is a growing demand among corporates to humanise their brand. But getting involved in CSR at individual level, means a lot for a person as a whole.” And working with coconut shell at individual level for Advani was far more enriching than expected. He goes on to share, “I have already given away 3,000 coconut plants.” While some of his activities have been supported by Mahindra (where he is head of marketing and PR), there are some other activities that have been self-funded, he shares.

He has partnered with Club Mahindra, for a weekend arrangement. This agreement involves Club Mahindra providing Advani with a space in their premise. Here he teaches kids/teenagers and adults to come and learn from him about the uses of coconut shell and ways to increase its shelf life. In one go, Advani has managed to train 2,600 kids and he hopes to work with as many people as possible— be it small or large groups.

He conducts painting and other craft workshops that revolve around coconut. Advani managed to get Johnson and Johnson interested in this workshop that he conducts.

“It started with planting of coconut plant and now this has evolved to other activities,” he stresses. As he picturises coconut as a hero in the sustainable scheme of things, he continues, “I had self-funded the project to design a model of budget homes with coconut shells at the Somaiya campus.” He hopes to make one such house in the future. This TEDx speaker is also trying to promote the idea of mulching. “We can solve issues of soil erosion and it will bring down cost of farming if we load them with coconut mulches.” He adds there is a need for crusher to make mulches and it will help drought-ridden agricultural regions of the country to grow more crops with less water consumption.

Yet another sustainable project that is close to his heart is getting green homes in India. “In India, we follow western countries’ model. This way we end up spending more on green buildings but I think we have to customise these models based on Indian needs.”

Being an active TEDx speaker and known figure among other corporates, Advani build a bridge and is working with companies like L&T. He reveals that he is trying to build a model where leaders and millennials can join hands to work together and bring about the needed change. For this he is only looking at working with executives of teir II cities.

All charged up about his activities with students, Advani explains, their energy keeps you going and pushes you to do better. “Students take me to spaces which otherwise might have been missed.” He considers working with students as critical for growth.

Apart from dealing with work crisis (if there is any); exploring opportunities related to coconut; and interacting with students, he is now getting involved in various sessions where he invites speakers from diverse background and talk about things that appeal them.

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