Aarti Shah

Business adviser, Business leader, Business mentor, Change agent, Idea generator, Startup

I specialise in guiding $15-100 million+ businesses in high and middle-income countries towards achieving environmental, climate and social impact. Adept in resource-constrained situations, I particularly focus on bringing research out of the valley of death and into the hands of corporates. As a former senior executive at Thomson Reuters (then a $12.5 billion company), responsible for businesses across developed and emerging markets, I have led profitable routes to market for technology solutions in the financial and professional services. I excel in south-south co-operation and reverse engineering. As well as the biomass gasification pilot (described below), I am fundraising for various projects in biochar and enhanced weathering, biomass supply chain automation and integrated pest management. Selected Achievements: - Successfully led the competitive bid for, and managing the implementation of, a multi-million dollar UNIDO Accelerate-to-Demonstrate Facility-funded biomass gasification plant in a Kenyan tea factory. This follows a successful Innovate UK-funded biomass gasification feasibility study, where I developed a financial, environmental and social model and disrupted business processes. - Advised on Thomson Reuters’ board-approved emerging markets strategies (multi-million dollar budgets), and led execution. - Produced a podcast on sustainability, and secured sponsorship.

Contributing to board-approved strategies, and ensuring their execution. Evaluating research that would otherwise fall into the valley of death. Proving the research. Bringing it to commercialisation. Setting it up for scale. Securing internal/external finance.

Using nature-based solutions, including biomass gasification for energy and biochar, enhanced weathering, and integrated pest management, to enable industrialisation, re-building of soils and the production of healthier food and textiles, all with a digital backbone.

Client Centricity, Getting Things Done, Influencing Others, Innovation, Regeneration, Strategic Visionary Leadership, Sustainability

This is the start of my TED story!

Turning fledgling opportunities into actual businesses. Taking science from peer-reviewed papers and interminable evidence-building into a commercially viable venture.