Auspice Social - Company of the Year - Food & Beverage

Company: Auspice Social
Company Division/Group: Auspice Social Networks (OPC) Private Limited
Company Description: Auspice Social is a purpose driven social enterprise perusing meaningful profits. All Auspice products are cleaned, sorted, packaged and labeled by persons with Autism under the supervision of a experienced caregiver. By purchasing one of these products, you are providing an opportunity for gainful employment to someone with Autism and strengthen their ability to contribute to the society.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Food & Beverage - Small

Nomination Title: Auspice Social

Prakriti AgroTech is a purpose driven social enterprise perusing meaningful profits. They produce 35 varieties of naturally dried culinary herbs, spices and seasonings. Their products are handcrafted and are free from any artificial additives, colors, preservatives, essence or MSG. They are a ISO 22000:2005 certified company.

All their products are processed, cleaned, sorted, packaged and labeled by persons with autism under the supervision of a qualified and experienced caregiver. They do not deploy any non autistic staff for the food processing activities.

Many companies support and adopt social causes under their CSR programs. We appreciate their efforts to make a better world. But, hardly anyone places a social issue at the core of their existence. At Prakriti AgroTech, we do.

Unlike most others approaches involving the disabled, these products are not created for the disabled but created by persons with disabilities for the society at large. It is a simple product with potentially profound impact on spreading the awareness about possibilities for autism.

Acceptance of this nomination will give voice to aspirations of 75 million Autistic people around the world and their families

In April 2019, Prakriti AgroTech and Action for Autism conducted a pilot project to evaluate the abilities of Autistic persons to engage in food processing activities. We selected a small group of 12 interns, aged between 15 and 45 - all of them with Autism. They were engaged in cleaning, sorting, packaging and labeling of herbs and spices.

We started with virtually no tools - a weighing machine and bare necessitates - disposable hand gloves, face mask, head caps and aprons and a few kilograms of Oregano. Within a fortnight, our interns were able to produce 200 units of finished goods per day.

The high point of the whole exercise was a sense of joy and accomplishment among all interns.

In order to truly appreciate the effort that the group autistic persons have put in, imagine:

• They each have a difficulty, in gross or fine motor skills, sensitivity to smell, touch, or remaining focused on a task for long duration.
• Let’s say each person has 20% change of completing the tasks required a finished product. Then mathematics will tell you that the probability of all of them working together and producing something of value is close to ZERO.
• And yet, they could jointly, working as a team achieve a productivity of 200 units in a single day.

You have to step into their shoes to understand what they have made possible. They have really challenged the impossible.

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects nearly 1% of world’s population. What causes Autism is still not known and there is no cure for Autism. It is a lifelong condition that affects the way that a person interacts with and experiences the world around them.

The vast majority, 84%, of adults with Autism are either unemployed or underemployed, despite their ability, desire, and willingness to engage in meaningful work. The difficulties associated with Autism can make it even harder to keep a job.

Autistic people are an intrinsic part of our society and need understanding, support and opportunities. We believe, the best and most effective way to improve lives of autistic adults is to provide more employment access for them and help them to become productive. Persons with Autism can make productive employees with the right support and training.

Through their work they are providing opportunity for skill development, economic participation and financial inclusion to adults with autism.