Kunal Prasad, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO), CropIn, is on a mission to enable 20 million farmers digitally around the world by 2022. His company’s core focus is to leverage technology to build a collaborative platform that will bring all the stakeholders in the agribusiness, including farmers, together.
Prasad has over a decade of experience in the technical and management arena, with substantial expertise in sales and business development, project management, product and customer experience. Prior to founding CropIn, he was working at Tata Motors in its sales and marketing division. In his role at CropIn, Prasad constantly strives to drive customer excellence. He has helped his team reach out to over 1.6 million farmers in 25 countries and has guided them in solving critical challenges, such as improving farm productivity, climate resilience, sustainability and food security.
He recounts his company’s collaboration with World Bank on a project in 2017 as an enriching and memorable experience. Under the project, CropIn helped farmers in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh follow sustainable practices in face of climate change. “The regions given to us were unique. Understanding the climate-related challenges and other issues that small and large-scale farmers experience was a good learning. Another unique factor was that the project was largely driven by women entrepreneurs in rural areas.”
Commenting on upcoming telecom trends, he says, “The sector is going through a revolution. With Jio bringing world-class telecom infrastructure to India, data services have become more accessible and affordable. Data services have penetrated those segments of the Indian market that earlier were out of the internet ambit. Using the internet, service providers like CropIn can bring innovative services to connect and benefit rural stakeholders.” On his management style, Prasad says, “At CropIn, we help people take up responsibility so that they can emerge as leaders.” He also stresses on inculcating a culture of innovation, where each employee is encouraged to bring in cutting-edge technology to work. Prasad has a degree in mechanical engineering from BIT Mesra and an MBA from Great Lakes Institute of Management. He spends his spare time with family, whom he considers his biggest support system. “My brother has always had a positive influence on me. He was my mentor growing up.” Prasad also has a younger sister, who is following his example as a budding entrepreneur.