Manik Thapar

Biography

Manik Thapar is one of the pioneers of waste management industry in India. His work has been published extensively in the media in India and abroad and is known for his unique business model in the field of waste management. Manik Thapar is a Canadian Citizen with Indian origin. Having done his MBA from The De Vos School of Management, Michigan, he moved to India in 2005. Inspired by the idea of setting up a waste management company in India, which came from a school project; Manik at the age of 23 decided to enter the challenging industry despite initial difficulties and opposition from friends and family. His efforts bore fruit as people started acknowledging his work and in just three years he became a true youth icon. Currently, EcoWise is collecting, treating and disposing around 80 tons of waste on a daily basis through composting and recycling methods. Last year, his company managed to divert 8640 tons of waste from ending up in landfill site out of which 5616 tons was composted and 3024 tons was recycled. Manik’s long-term vision for the company is to generate electricity from waste and to divert 100 per cent of the waste collected from ending up in landfill site by 2020. 

Research Interest

New Idea Generation and Implementation, Strategy development for the BOP and Unorganized Sector (Transportation and Waste Management).