What drives our team is a passion for what we do, a devotion for changing this world. And Swati is a perfect example of this.
Swati joined our team in India a year ago. Since then, she has become a true advocate for biogas, proactively looking for opportunities to change the way things are done.
Swati comes from agriculture, a statement that works on many levels. Growing up on a farm, she found a passion that resulted in an agriculture MBA. Before finding Sistema.bio, she worked as a junior research associate in sugarcane consultancy, a job that introduced her to innovative farming technologies. From the start of her career, Swati dedicated herself to the improvement of farming conditions, sharing with farmers the best agronomic practices for increased productivity and sustainability. She was the perfect person to have on our team.
When we decided to work with clean energy, we did it out of knowledge of how much of a shift it could represent, how much it could transform not only people’s lives but the future of the planet, too. As a farmer herself, Swati knows the importance of making the most out of resources —water, seeds, soil. This is why she so fervently believes in the biodigester solution: because biodigesters turn what was once nothing but waste, nothing but a problem, into new and magnificent resources. To her, this is the base of sustainability.
Swati is our customer care executive for the Maharashtra office. She is in charge of responding to user inquiries, recording complaints, and supporting her team in solving all issues, technical or otherwise. Her day starts by talking with farmers, a task that she loves and appreciates. “I like interacting with farmers, understanding their needs and requirements,” she tells us. And that is really the basis upon which her valuable work stands: understanding farmers, connecting with them to find the best way to serve them.
Swati’s position at Sistema.bio allows her to know each user’s full history, getting to know them from the moment they learn about biogas. She interacts in all stages of the process, working closely with her team in matters of sales, installations, and maintenance. And she demonstrates her devotion to agriculture and sustainability in everything she does, always taking things one step further.
“So many things have happened in just one year”, she tells us. And it’s true: Swati’s commitment to the biodigester solution has led to her involvement in so many different areas of our work that it would be impossible to choose a single example to describe her work. But we shall try, hoping only to do some justice to all the things she brings to our table.
When she first joined the team, Swati interacted with farmers exclusively on the phone. Since she wanted to better understand the challenges both the farmers and her team members faced, she decided she should go to the field and experience the process firsthand. She ended up selling a system with the support of her colleagues. Added to her work on sale leads, this achievement earned her a salesperson of the month certificate in October 2019 —still in her probationary period, Swati managed to earn a certificate in sales, which wasn’t even her area of work!
This is exactly the amount of devotion she puts into her work, always working hand in hand with her colleagues to make sure that we provide the best possible service —after all, we are working to solve some of humanity’s biggest problems. There is so much to be done, and so many people to work with! For us, it’s all about teamwork. And Swati agrees.
Swati’s drive doesn’t come only from an outstanding work ethic; it comes from a genuine passion for environmental and social impact. All in all, she understands that everything we do matters.
More than anything else, Swati believes that what we do in Sistema.bio is important because of the tools we provide. For her, there is more than one level of impact to be found in each biodigester. In a world where global, generalized capitalism has made it so difficult for individuals to participate in change-making, it is essential to come up with tools and technologies that provide everyone with opportunities for impact. And that is exactly what we do.
In this matter, Swati reminds us that recognizing women’s roles in our societies is essential. She also invites us to take a second look at how we view the role of female farmers in agriculture: “Women play a very crucial role in agricultural activities. About 80% of the fieldwork in agriculture, from sowing to harvesting, post-harvest management, and dairy management is done by female farmers,” she tells us.
Female farmers (and, in many cases, female workers in general) constitute a very big portion of the agricultural workforce —and yet their efforts continue to go unrecognized. Swati constantly reminds us, no true change can be made without including a gender perspective to our work. “[Farming] tasks are laborious, and since women are unaware of the latest technical know-how, their outputs and productivity are low. There is a huge need now to make their efforts worthwhile by providing them with more technology and knowledge,” Swati says.
In order to build a truly resilient and sustainable world, we must make sure tools and opportunities are given equally. Because only then will we make sure to harvest the potential of every single human being.
This is why we focus on agriculture, and specifically on small farmers: to solve the world’s biggest problems, we must focus on the biggest fields, the widest areas of impact. So many of today’s problems unite in agriculture: food security, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, poverty, biodiversity, waste management, climate change, gender equality. Working in such a diverse range of problems, it is essential that we have a diverse set of skills at our disposal. All members of our team have been instrumental in providing said diversity, but women have played an especially important role in widening our horizons. Women like Swati who continue to keep us honest and invite us to go one step further.
Our team works so well because it is made up of fierce, innovative thinkers like Swati. It is a team made up of environmental activists, a mindset and a practice that contains many different levels of action and impact. For Swati, environmental activism is the source from which all changes stem. “Environmental activism has led to the increased awareness of the various issues concerning the effect human activities have on the environment. But activism has also played a major role in producing legislation design to help preserve and protect the health of the environment,” she tells us. And that is what we want, most of all: to find long-term solutions, to drive a true change, one that comes from the core and impacts all ways of life. Sustainability is essential to making this change happen —and to make sure it lasts.
Sistema.bio would be nothing without our team. Yes, we stand by our products and their potential for impact, but we believe the true value we have as a company is the people that make us, those who come in day to day and bring everything they have to the table.
Team members like Swati remind us that there is yet so much to be done and that the only way to do it is by joining hands, hearts, and minds. This is truly a team of kindred spirits, and we are so grateful to have found each other. For what unites us is a common purpose: to build a better, more sustainable, resilient and resourceful world. To give back all that this planet has given us.
Text by Elena Coll | Art by Brianda Suárez | Edited by Montserrat Cortez & Xunaxi Cruz
