Parag Agarwal

Parag Agarwal (born August 01, 1970) is an Indian social entrepreneur, technology enthusiast, and a compassionate human being whose only mission is to give relief to people and make their lives easy by solving Grand Societal Challenges by harnessing technology, believing that all human beings must have access to their basic needs. He is the founder of JanaJal, Asia’s largest dedicated technology-enabled safe water services company which plays a vital role in the availability and accessibility of safe drinking water and minimizing the prevalence of water-borne diseases among under-served communities.

Early Life and Education

Agarwal was born in Pune, India.

He completed his Bachelor’s in Commerce from Pune University in 1991. He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate for social work and impact from National American University.

Career

Agarwal is known for his role as a technology evangelist and innovation in building services-based solutions for the betterment of underprivileged communities for over thirty years. He is a compassionate entrepreneur who has created hundreds of jobs in the past ten years to facilitate youth and even those who do not meet the requisite educational qualification and desired criteria.

Agarwal started executing his vision in 1994 when he introduced E-mail in India through dial-up connections to facilitate communication through electronic mode. One of his major benefactions is the introduction of Silo bags in India which is a scientific bulk wheat storage system to overcome the decay of wheat. This technology was previously widespread in countries like Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, and Ukraine.

JanaJal – Safe Water for All

In 2013, Agarwal founded JanaJal, a community-oriented organization, built with a vision to provide safe water services through leveraging technology and to minimize the spread of waterborne diseases. A consolidated technology-enabled service model was designed to revive, operate and manage existing decentralized water treatment plants installed all over India. During the first six years since its inception, JanaJal built one of the widest cluster operations of water ATMs in India. Subsequently, he played an instrumental role in trying to address the need for increased accessibility by consumers towards safe water by envisioning and developing JanaJal WOW (Water on Wheels) an IOT controlled, custom-built, clean fuel-powered three-wheeler aimed at offering a globally unique last-mile delivery model of safe water distribution to the doorstep of households for a fraction of the price of expensive packaged water. This has galvanized the water sector which for decades has been a victim of under-utilization of capacity leading to losses. It will lead to a global scale rollout as this solution has been proven to be successful in solving the availability, accessibility, feasibility, viability, and profitability gap prevalent in the water sector in an equitable manner.

Agarwal developed a financially and environmentally sustainable business model compliant with SDG 6 of the UN sustainable goals to save water through efficient water treatment and disposal processes. This social enterprise also reduces the emission of carbon dioxide during the water treatment processes, alleviating the need of boiling the water through the burning of fossil fuels, wood, gas, etc., and the use of CNG vehicles.

JanaJal WOW (Water on Wheels), an initiative by JanaJal ensures effective and immediate delivery of safe water at the doorstep of households by the use of technology-managed, GPS-monitored, and clean fuel powered three-wheelers (electric vehicles and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) operated in a highly cost-effective and reliable manner. This initiative also empowers women by encouraging them to utilize their time for other gainful employment opportunities.

JanaJal WOW was first showcased as an innovation by the Government of India under the Jal Shakti Ministry (Integrated Water Resource Ministry) during India Water Week 2019 and subsequently selected as an innovative technology to provide decentralized distribution of safe water to communities across urban, semi-urban and rural areas of India. JanaJal WOW is poised to play a vital role in Har Ghar Jal, the Government of India’s mission of providing access to safe water to every Indian by 2024.

Awards and Recognitions

Agarwal has been honored with several accolades which include:

• Brand of the Year, 2020

• Global Corporate Sustainability Award in the Emerging Markets category in Taiwan, 2019

• Flourish Prize 2019, Fowler Center, USA for contribution to SDG6, UN & Business as an Agent of World Benefit & AIM2Flourish, IIT, Mumbai, 2019

• Times Network Strategy Award, 2019

• Business Excellence and Innovative Best Practices- Academia Award from NDIM, 2019

• Young Lions Competition for Marketing after ITC & Nestle, 2019

• Extraordinaire Brand, 2018

• Babasaheb National Award, 2018

• Young Lions Competition for Marketing after ITC & Unilever, 2018

• Tech Icon, Safaigiri Awards, 2018

• Best CSR of the Year, TAVF 2018

• India’s Top 20 Social Enterprises, Shared Value Summit, 2017

• India's Greatest Brands & Leaders, 2017

• World Business Leader, World Confederation of Businesses, 2017

• EBA Socrates Award, Best Regional Enterprise & Manager, 2017

• Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award, Social Enterprises, 2017

• Outstanding Community Water Plants - Jaldaan, 2017

• Innovation of the Year, 2016

• Best Community Programme Leadership, 2016

• Best Entrepreneur of the Year, 2016

• National Responsible Business Award for Environment Sustainability, 2015