‘The Paal’ wins the Mittal Institute’s 2025 Seed for Change award

Manali Jain and Shivam Johri’s platform turns livestock into an investable asset to improve small women farmers’ livelihoods

By Arun Kumar

‘The Paal,’ a platform built by two Indian students at Harvard, Manali Jain and Shivam Johri, has won the Mittal Institute’s 2025 Seed for Change competition’s $30,000 grand prize.

The runner-up, Games for Ed, created by Mridula Chalamalasetti with Meha Wadher and Abhijith Giridhar, aims to enhance student engagement through game-based experiential learning, won $5,000.

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The Mittal Institute’s annual Seed for Change (SFC) competition awards funding to bold, creative ideas developed by Harvard students with the potential to drive meaningful impact in India, according to a media release.

Jain, a student at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS, and her team partner Johri are the visionaries behind The Paal, a platform that is turning livestock into an investable asset class to improve livelihoods for smallholder women farmers).

“Out of 100 million farmers in India, two-thirds rely on livestock for their livelihood—most of them small and marginal farmers with limited access to land. Of these, 70% are women,” write Jain and Johri.

“These farmers face a range of challenges, including financial constraints, limited access to livestock management resources, and gender-based barriers that hinder their ability to sustain or grow their businesses.

“The Paal aims to transform livestock ownership through an innovative model that de-risks the process for farmers by channeling retail investments and tapping into the momentum of India’s growing economy. The model is designed to improve the incomes of smallholder women farmers, often excluded from India’s growth story, by equipping them with the tools and support they need to thrive.

“We aim to unlock capital to fuel growth in India’s rural markets and we want to do in a way that takes a holistic farm level shift where cow does not just become a livelihood opportunity but an important asset class, which changes the livelihoods of those who manage it day and night.”

Shivam and Manali first connected during their undergraduate studies at Shri Ram College of Commerce in New Delhi. They decided to work together on this idea last year after witnessing these challenges on the ground while visiting their village. Since then, they have engaged with multiple stakeholders to deepen their understanding and refine the problem.

“I know the idea we’re building has a lot of economic potential at every level for stakeholders in the value chain,” Jain and Johri say. “Even if we reach one percent of India’s 100 million farmers, the impact will be massive.”

Runner-up Games for Ed, created by Harvard Graduate School of Education student Chalamalasetti with Wadher and Giridhar, develops custom curriculum-aligned games and thematic mega-games, focusing on diverse topics like sustainability and global trade.

By partnering with schools, it supports teachers with training and resources, ensuring accessibility for low-income institutions through a revenue-sharing model. With this approach, Games For Ed seeks to integrate playful learning into mainstream education.

Photo: clockwise from left: HKS student Manali Jain; one of the livestock; a newborn calf, part of The Paal herd.