Preeyam Budhia
President-Business Development of Patton Group ,
South Asia
On a visit to her childhood nanny’s rural village in India, Preeyam Budhia, President Business Development of Patton Group, witness the women in the village walk four hours every day to retrieve water.
In rural India, approximately one out of five people don’t have access to potable water. Women and children walk two to 10 kilometers daily and carry multiple, heavy 18-liter buckets on their heads and backs.
Budhia knew there had to be a better way — a sustainable solution.
After returning home to her family business, the 40-plus-year-old environmentally friendly manufacturing and exporting house, Budhia designed Water-on-Wheels, a rolling water tank with a 90-liter water capacity to help the women and children of India. Not only did her creation improve water hygiene, reduce the risk of neck and spinal injuries and save time, it also increased the number of men helping with water retrieval.
More than 2 million lives have been touched by her innovation, giving women time to start microbusinesses and children time to focus on education.
That same year, Budhia began a water conservation initiative at Patton Group with her Rainwater Harvesting project. She partnered with government groups and local businesses to install 30,000-liter capacity rainwater harvesting projects – 52 of them – across Darjeeling, Bardhaman, the Sunderbans and Kolkata, improving the lives of more than 100,000 people.
During the pandemic, Budhia and Patton Group also developed contactless hand washing stations. More than 1,700 units with 500-liter water tanks (750 hand washes) were erected across India.
But water isn’t Budhia’s only focus. She also is Co-founder of Café ICanFlyy, a restaurant that employs and empowers the specially-abled; head of new initiatives at Caring Mind – an institute for mental health; and director of Addlife Fitness and Health Spa.
For her efforts and work, Budhia has a long list of awards including the 2020 FBN NxG Lombard Odier People’s Choice Award for “Embracing Green” and the Young Entrepreneur Award from Aparajita Awards in 2016.