Paul Basil

Founder and CEO
Villgro Innovations
Foundation

Paul Basil is founder and CEO of Villgro (formerly known as Rural Innovations Network), an organization committed to commercializing rural innovations that benefit rural consumers and contribute to sustainable wealth creation. Over the last eight years, Paul has worked with hundreds of innovators and innovations. Among his achievements, he co-founded the Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program for Innovators in collaboration with IIT-Madras, and also co-founded Villgro Store (Samruddhi), a unique rural retail chain for innovative products that markets innovations to and for the rural poor.
Paul was one of the founding team members of the marketing department in the Kerala Horticulture Development Programme, a joint initative of the EU and the government of Kerala. He has also worked with the tree grower project of the National Dairy Development Board. By training, he is a mechanical engineer and has a postgraduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India.