Rhea Mazumdar Singhal is the Founder and CEO of Ecoware, India’s first and largest sustainable packaging company. Rhea was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar, the highest civilian honor for women by the President of India. Rhea is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2018) and an Asia 21 Young Leader (2019). Rhea is an invited member of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) National Committee on Women Empowerment and CII India CEO Forum on Air Pollution. Prior to founding Ecoware, Rhea was a senior sales executive at Pfizer Inc. Rhea has attended the University of Bristol, Oxford, and Harvard University. Rhea is a vocal spokesperson for sustainability and climate change and urges the private sector to shoulder more responsibility. 

From the UK, Rhea moved to India where she founded Ecoware with the sole aim of solving India’s plastic menace. Ecoware disrupted the food packaging industry by introducing a fully compostable alternative to plastic. Ecoware is made from the waste of agricultural crops that would otherwise be burnt, thus contributing to debilitating air pollution. One of Rhea’s greatest successes has been persuading the Indian Railways, the largest foodservice operator in India, to switch to Ecoware biodegradable trays. The efforts of Rhea and the business model of Ecoware have now been validated by the global movement against single-use plastic and regulations to better consumer behavior.

Rhea has been featured in major national and international publications and has appeared as a speaker at events such as Dreamforce (annual product event of Salesforce), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,  the Good Day (sustainability summit of Engie), Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship (by National Commission for Women in India), India Today Youth Summit & the United Nations Foundation.