SMILY Academy
Seeds of eco-business: SMILY brings innovative projects to Assam to germinate thanks to the indigenous people
Seeds of eco-business: SMILY brings innovative projects to Assam to germinate thanks to the indigenous people
From March 20 to 26, 30 talents from all over the world will reach Assam, the home of The Forest Man of India, to learn from the very indigenous people how to germinate the seeds of sustainability: 20 innovative projects to meet the challenges of the future, leaving aside the egocentric approach to learn the indigenous factor, the perspective of the ancestral humanity that today holds and protects 85 percent of the world's biodiversity while numerically representing only 5 percent of the world's population
A new conception of the future embraced by Smily Academy, which leads projects to develop in a regenerative matrix made up of indigenous wisdom, technology as a leverage of sustainability, GenZ as the custodian of a new entrepreneurial culture, and steadfast values of countless smilers, partners in the project
Milan, March 15, 2024 - From March 20 to 26, the 30 talents selected by Smily Academy will be in Assam, with 20 project works to be developed in the fertile soil where Jadav Molai Payeng, known as The Forest Man of India, planted a forest as big as 13 soccer fields in 40 years. A new human consciousness to be nurtured by learning from indigenous people, to be made fruitful through the regenerative matrix of the 3Ps of the UN 2030 Agenda: people, planet and prosperity, with indigenous wisdom and insights as custodians of Mother Earth, with technology as a leverage of sustainability and competitiveness, via the values and needs of the smilers, the GenZ members who have set out with their projects, custodians of a new entrepreneurial culture, and the many partners who have already "adopted" those projects.
"A seed can be planted in any ecosystem, but for it to germinate and grow it needs specific factors: the soil, temperature, rainfall, amount of solar radiation, and growing season determine its path from seed to plant, only certain combinations fit the uniqueness of a particular seed. Our job as human beings is to know those combinations, to care for the seeds we choose to plant and to work for them to grow developing their full potential." Recalls Jadav Molai Payeng, The Forest Man of India, co-founder of Smily Academy. "While I was planting the Molai forest, I realized that not all plants are suitable for our land, which has a very particular productivity index. With dedication and care I have carried out many attempts for 30 years: love for the future is the strongest factor, the one that from a seed makes it possible to come to a forest."
Along with Rituraj Phukan, Claudia Laricchia, Munmuni Payeng and Matteo Salerno, Jadav Molai Payeng is among the founders of the Smily project, as well as the founder of the Indigenous People's Forum, for which Claudia Laricchia is the first Western person to lead strategic international cooperation.
"The time has come to learn from indigenous people and engage them as key players in sustainability, in its 4 dimensions. They are, in fact, that part of humanity that, in a Planet devastated by the climate crisis 5 years and 100 days away from collapse, is most affected by it, even though they are not responsible for it. The indigenous factor is distinguished from the generic human factor by a human and entrepreneurial culture, a mentality, a consciousness, an inner dimension devoted to recovering human nature, which is nature, reconnecting man with the environment of which he is part, through Smily's 4S: Soul, Society, Soil, Smile." Declares Claudia Laricchia, president and co-founder of Smily Academy. "This is the regenerative soil in which we must plant the seeds of our awareness, innovative projects that can truly impact the fate of the Planet. As Jadav Molai Payeng reminded us, it is up to us to understand those combinations that can allow a seed to grow: the climate crisis is forcing us to revise all our parameters, and if we do not want to continue investing in sterile projects, perhaps harmful to ourselves and our future, we must develop our planning on soil that has proven to be fertile, consisting also of indigenous wisdom."
The 20 projects will form an international exchange network, in the spirit of giving and contamination between East and West; they are divided into the four categories identified in FAO's strategic framework for 2022-2030: better food, better production, better environment and better life; and will involve Smilyers: experts, institutions, activists, scholars, young entrepreneurs and artists for a holistic approach to problems and solutions. 20 seeds to be planted in Assam's regenerative soil, to be contaminated with indigenous experiences, technology, and the vision of the future that characterizes the Smily project, so that they can develop and grow robustly, identifying a new paradigm of enterprise entrusted to the next generation.
Each of these has been adopted by one or more partners, also Smilers, who have believed in the project from the beginning by actively spending to support this future design.
In the area of better food, Giorgia Draisci will bring to Assam the project Connecting Dots: Digital Transformation and Indigenous factor for feeding the Planet, an indigenous hub that leverages a digital platform to connect tribes with each other and the world, while Nicolò Sancassani will leave with the project One Health: Assamese seeds for holistic nutrition, focusing on Assam's thousand different species of medicinal plants, to also promote sustainable tourism.
As part of better Production InnoNature: purpose-driven cutting edge technologies to lead a smily future, a project by Utsav Soni, will implant purpose-driven innovation in all eco-enterprises in order to enhance their social and environmental impact, while Devikha Mohan, Claudia Laricchia and Rosee Devi Phukan will work on Women empowenment, aiming to address the challenges of Kaziranga Haat women's cooperatives in Assam and in particular to promote their exceptional handmade weaving work globally through an e-commerce and branding strategy. Munmuni Payeng, an award-winning environmentalist and Mising community leader from Assam, will instead bring Humans for Nature: indigenous approach to entrepreneurship.
The better environment section includes the InfiniTea project, by Matteo Salerno. It's aimed at studying, mapping and exporting Assamese tea excellence from Jorhat, the tea capital: a product for approaching a systemic experience of the indigenous factor. Tuingamla Angkang and Chinmoyee Rajkumari will bring Circular economy and waste management: eco-bridge with India and From food waste to fertilizers, to create a circular economy bridge between East and West, exchanging best practices and improving nature-based solutions. Rituraj Phukan, Chiara Maero and Mathias Kpetehoto will address 5 million trees: how to tackle drought and lead on climate, to find technological solutions to the challenges of drought, which have already been addressed in these years of planting more than 5 million trees in Assam, Mathias will then bring his experience in water management.
On the better life side, a photo exhibition by Roberta Bonacossa: Photo exhibition: "The Indigenous factor," exploiting art as the most effective language for dissemination, with the aim of turning knowledge of the 97 indigenous communities of Assam into action. Nadia Paleari and Kuldeep Phukan propose Identity is sustainability. Italian Smily hub in marginal areas, in Italian NEST (Nuovo Ecosistema di Sviluppo Territoriale), for an inclusive and innovative social impact methodology that brings marginal areas to the center of regenerative development models. Luca di Bari will design the Forest Man Museum through an ecosystem architecture made of digital connections and phigital events, with the project The Forest Man Museum: a symphonic art orchestra in the Molai Forest. Andrea Grieco and Roberto Rampi choose to bring Global Advocacy Movement for Climate Justice, to design, in communities, cultivation tools that frame climate justice in the context of human rights, but also in the context of eco-business opportunities.
Anusha Murthy and Elizabeth Yorke will publish a book on the Smily Experience, telling the stories of key stakeholders, as part of The future is Smily: a conscious humans journey. The Book of the XP. Max and Fabiola Bartoli together with Jair Ravelo will address Sports, wellness and the indigenous factor: what connections and initiatives? Smily XP documentary, also organizing the first Fireball match in the Molai forest, an iconic sport perfect for showing values and team spirit.
A final project then embodies the spirit of trust with which the indigenous factor is approached: it is in fact a project work proposed by an indigenous man from Assam who does not use digital means of communication, and who will therefore make his story and innovative proposal known directly in Assam. Despite this the project has already been "adopted" by one of the smilers: the FAO's World farmer market coalition.
But the smilers do not end there, as each of these projects will be supported by Smily's many partners, who provide logistical, communication, strategic or economic support and engage in cocreation work; among them: G7 Official engagement group Women7, Al Gore's The Climate Reality Project India and South Asia, UNDP CoFSA, United Nations Development Program Conscious Food Systems Alliance, FAO's World Food Farmer Markets Coalition, NNedPRO Cambridge, ITIR Institute of Transformative Innovation and Research of the University of Studies of Pavia, EIIS European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability, Sumus Italia, Dot Academy, Food for Mind, The Music of the Plants, GammaDonna, B Women Italy, Way2Global, Cucina Diffusa SoLunch, Fiordelisi, ANGI Italian National Association of Young Innovators, Fireball Federation, Panbaree Manchaans, M&M Industries, Cikod, Center of Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development, The Forest Man Foundation, NGO Indigenous People's Climate Justice Forum, Innovator Mag, The Map Report, Fortune Italia, Edible Issue, Edible Planet Ventures, Mirandola Comunicazione, Mahabahu Magazine, UP TV, NovaLab.
It is still possible to become a smiler and "adopt" some projects, to do so please write to smily@mirandola.net. While to support Smily from this link you can access crowdfunding.
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SMILY Academy
SMILY Academy, an acronym for Sustainable Mindset and Inner Level for Youth, is the world's first indigenous accelerator aimed at creating sustainable youth enterprises from a new approach based on consciousness and human-nature reconnection. Founded by indigenous peoples and specifically by The Forest Man Foundation and the World Indigenous Peoples Forum NGO on Climate Justice, SMILY has 3 branches in emerging countries, Brazil in the Amazon Rainforest; Ghana, Africa; and Assam, India.
The Forum is based in Assam, India, the most iconic place for biodiversity, wildlife and health, with its over 100 medicinal plants; 97 indigenous communities; and the world's top 10 biodiversity parks in Kaziranga. The Forum represents hundreds of thousands of indigenous and local communities around the world. These are 97 communities with more than 20 million people in northern Assam alone, and according to IPLC constituency of the UN. Altogether, we are talking about 5 percent of the world's population who protect 85 percent of the world's biodiversity and live on an average of $5 a day.
Mirandola Comunicazione - Press office of SMILY ACADEMY
Raffaele Castagno: raffaele@mirandola.net | 3381905078
Iacopo Mancini: iacopo.mancini@mirandola.net | +39 376 008 1513
Caricato il 01/03/2024
