FLOURISH
Nourishing Auroville’s Economy
Flourish cofounders Helen and Manjula show how they explored the capacity of Auroville’s projects to flourish. This included visiting almost 50 different units, to understand their interest and capacity to scale up their reach and impact and what support they need. Watch the other clips to see some of the units they met during this time!
Contact us to share your skills with Flourish!
Auroville has been called “The city the Earth needs.” A multicultural hub for innovation and experimentation, many of the world’s biggest challenges are addressed in Auroville on a microscale. Cutting edge work is happening in the fields of reforestation, water management, waste innovation, arts and culture, health and wellness, sustainability, green building, education, and more.
Flourish is a unique project developed by Auroville International USA to support projects in Auroville that want to scale their work globally, while generating income to support Auroville’s work. We started collaborating with Aurovilians Helen and Manjula to conduct research into the Auroville economy and the opportunities and limitations for these kinds of projects. The first year of research is summarized in a report available at the bottom of this page.
FLOURISH enters phase 2
In 2022, Flourish shifted from desk research and interviews to practical research, looking into what interventions might support projects looking to scale outside of Auroville and what type of model is required to support this going forward. A new service unit ‘Flourish’ has been created in Auroville to take this work forward and the core team of Helen and Manjula has expanded to include Manas and Mukta. Flourish has also recruited an Advisory Board and a Technical Team, which helps to assess the needs of the projects and source the support to meet those needs.
They are experimenting with a small number of projects to enable them to understand what support is critical to the growth of Auroville’s ideas and economy. They are currently building a group of local experts to support them in areas like strategy, business modeling, leadership, communications, human resources, organisational development, finance and administration. The lessons learned in these experiments will inform future efforts to unlock the potential of Auroville’s aspiring projects.
FLOURISH
Case Studies and Updates 2022
Learning from Experience
A peer ‘fishbowl’ session was designed to help one of the units Flourish is supporting learn from the experiences of those who have successfully built enterprises for Auroville. The unit, Hemplanet, was presented as a case study to a group of Auroville’s entrepreneurs who shared their thoughts on what they saw as the key opportunities and challenges, and how they would move forward. Hemplanet’s executives were able to listen to these inputs and found the session to be ‘enormously helpful’
The learnings from this session helped Flourish and the Hemplanet team agree on a path forward which includes – as initial steps – market research to identify key opportunities and strategic planning to develop a business model. This would be accompanied by business coaching for the team to help them navigate the process.
Flourish provided a series of organisational development sessions for one of the units they are working with, Treecare. The intention of these sessions was for the team to explore their journey to date, their culture and values, and how they can hold on to these while making the changes needed to scale their work and impact.
The sessions were facilitated by an Aurovilian with expertise and experience supporting organisations to develop and grow. It helped the team to identify team roles, additional skills needed and scenarios for growth.
Building financial acumen
During their research Manjula and Helen found that many of those running units in Auroville do so because they are passionate about an idea, cause or product. Whilst a few unit executives have a background in business for most this is a part of the Auroville ‘adventure’.
Flourish is therefore working to build financial acumen in Auroville by designing a course on ‘finance for non-finance people’. The intention is that this will enable those managing projects to make informed decisions with regards to finance. The course will be targeted at the units Flourish is working with, however the intention is to open this pilot session more widely so other projects in Auroville can benefit too.
FLOURISH Presents at Auroville Radio
September 2021
In 2021, Helen and Manjula were invited to present Flourish at Auroville Radio. They went over the foundations of the project, the development phase, second phase and case studies.
The presentation was received with enthusiasm, and the research and assessment methods were introduced as tools for all units to use in furthering their growth.
Audio for the Flourish presentation, September 2021:
Learn More About Auroville’s Capacity to Flourish
As part of their initial research, Flourish created videos to showcase the potential of Auroville’s units to flourish and grow. These include several of the units that the team are currently working with.
Hemp Planet’s current products span the range of food to textiles, and Hemp Planet’s workshops have also developed hemp paper and building materials. Their goal is to supply all of Auroville’s existing production units with hemp materials to increase production sustainability.
Visit AVI Social Enterprise for more Auroville innovation
Eco Femme is a women-led, Auroville based, social enterprise founded by Jessamyn and Kathy in 2010. Their work creates “environmental and social changes through revitalizing menstrual practices that are healthy and environmentally sustainable.” Eco Femme does women’s outreach projects
FLOURISH
Reports And Support
SUPPORT FLOURISH
CONTRIBUTE YOUR SKILLS TO FLOURISH
The units Flourish is working with will need help with many areas, from finance, sales, marketing and communications to business modelling, organizational development, coaching and market research. While many of these skills can be found within Auroville it would be great to have more people we can reach out to when needed. If you have any skills you would be happy to offer to Flourish’s units please contact us at info@aviusa.org, with Subject Line: Flourish.