Aruna Rangachar Pohl

Agnostic, Brainstormer, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Explorer, Foodie, Global soul, Idea generator, Social entrepreneur

Aruna is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), has 30 years of varied entrepreneurial and senior management experience in the food, agriculture and retail sector. She has set up businesses for processing and exporting spice oils and oleoresins and other food ingredients, a food laboratory, organic and imported foods marketing and distribution channels. She was consultant to Agri-products export promotion body of Germany and reputed multinational companies internationally. She has won the “Outstanding Women Entrepreneur” award for 2002, presented by the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. Transitioning to development sector in 2011, she was National Director, Cheshire Disability Trust implementing livelihood programs for persons with disability. Since 2013, she is developing organizational capabilities of India Foundation for Humanistic Development (IFHD), to design and implement core programmes in greening economies, sustainable consumption and production, developing capacities of small farmer producers and communities on sustainable agriculture, green enterprises and biodiversity conservation in rural India. Aruna was also a governing Board member of Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN), a pan-India knowledge network of CSOs, practitioners, researchers and Government representatives. Aruna is listed globally among the 50 Most Impactful Green Leaders by the World CSR & World Sustainability Organisation in 2017 and awarded for her impactful work with small farmers in 2018 by Indo-Arab Chamber of Commerce. IFHD – India Foundation for Humanistic Development, a section 8 not-for-profit company, works pan-India with the vision To rejuvenate productive landscapes equitably and sustainably. IFHD believes in a Green Society where citizens and institutions support the emergence of vibrant communities and sustainable economies, stimulate and create ecosystems for green innovations to flourish. IFHD was recently recognized as among top global Food Systems Gamechangers 2021 by Rockefeller Foundation, UN Food Systems & Thought for Food.

stories of change, dogs, elephants, giraffe, horses, blue skies and sunny days, knitting, food culture, re-purposing things, kitchen gardens,

people-to-people movement for a sustainable planet, based on conscious choices in daily life.

...serendipitous and miraculous

problem solving, out-of-box thinking, visioning, tongue-in-cheek humour, keeping friends, knowing a good wine, adventurous about food as long as it is vegetarian, intrepid travelling, reading, writing, remembering stuff that interests me, "hygge"-finding comforable conviviality, knitting,