DBS Bank India said today that it has partnered with Social Alpha, a prominent innovation curation and venture development platform for tech start-ups, to solve the worldwide issue of food waste by developing sustainable solutions. DBS' commitment to supporting entrepreneurial initiatives to address productivity and supply chain efficiency concerns that contribute to food waste and value erosion in the food and agri industry is strengthened by this relationship.
Nearly 40% of food produced in India is lost before it reaches the markets, and much more is wasted at the retailer level, reducing nutritional security and reducing farmer income. Furthermore, home food waste is predicted to be 50 kg per capita of the household, totaling 68 million tonnes per year.
DBS presents Techtonic Innovations Towards Zero Food Waste, a two-year initiative that discovers creative and scalable solutions by entrepreneurs to help minimise quantitative and qualitative food loss and waste across food systems and agri-food value chains. Selected start-ups will get grant funding to help them build their product and marketing plan, as well as branding assistance, grassroots alliances, and the opportunity to pitch for seed financing.
Shoma Narayanan, Managing Director – Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank India, stated of the partnership, "Every year, around a third of the world's food is lost or squandered. This much is sufficient to feed three billion people. DBS is dedicated to changing the way people think about food production and consumption, and our collaboration with Social Alpha is a critical step in finding long-term solutions to the problem of food waste."
Food loss and waste must be reduced by innovation across the whole food value chain, which will have a beneficial impact on livelihood, economics, and climate. Supporting socially beneficial technologies with financial resources can help to considerably accelerate progress in the direction of a better future.
Towards a Zero-Food-Waste Future
DBS thinks that companies can have a role in assisting in the solution of problems such as food waste. In 2020, as part of the bank's commitment to a sustainable and climate-resilient future, they launched a regional initiative to galvanise different stakeholders to take action toward zero food waste, resulting in collective effect. As of 2021, this DBS-led effort had created over 600,000 kg of food impact across Asia (including decreased food waste, repurposed food, and food redistribution).
