Tasneem Manjra of Caravan: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More Sustainable
An Interview With Jason Hartman
Be clear with your children and any children you teach/mentor what the state of our environment is — we are teetering on the edge of climate catastrophe. There is no sugar coating that. I do speak to my Girl Scout Troop about the planet, and integrate planet consciousness into our meetings.
As part of our series about how companies are becoming more sustainable, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tasneem Manjra.
Tasneem Manjra is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Caravan. Prior to building Caravan’s Vendor Relationship platform, she held head of marketing roles at the Volvo Cars Venture Fund, Poynt, and drchrono. She is a mother of three young girls, a Girl Scout Troop Leader, a gardening enthusiast, and an avid advocate for planet Earth. Tasneem holds a BSc from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My career path was anything but typical. I went to school with the intention of becoming a doctor, but it was evident early that I was inept in the sciences. After college, I was lucky enough to get into my first startup, and really enjoyed building products and marketing, and the rest is history.
What is the mission of your company? What problems are you aiming to solve?
My company is focused on improving the relationship between companies and their vendors. Caravan is a vendor relationship platform. It does for companies and vendors what CRM does for companies and their end customers.
We are trying to solve for a few things:
- Reduce negotiation time from days/weeks to minutes thanks to our negotiation tool
- Measure vendor impact and performance via our vendor report cards
- Memorialize vendor data so that it’s not lost to turnover, back of the napkin notes, or locally saved spreadsheets
- Make vendor data accessible and actionable thanks to easy-to-use analytics
Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?
I feel extremely passionate about enabling companies to reshore and/or buy local; the fewer miles goods have to travel, the less emissions and pollution is created. Additionally, we want companies to buy goods and services from environmentally sound companies. We actively talk to our clients about not just using price to assess their vendor choices; we urge them to think about value, which we define as performance over cost. Our tools support this type of decision making; we allow companies to tag and find their vendors based on whatever qualities are important to them (e.g. low emissions factory, made in USA, made in Canada, solar powered factory, etc). Additionally, our report card tools allow companies to set up a rubric based on sustainability; companies can grade their vendors on materials usage, distance from factory, vendor manufacturing processes, etc.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
We see examples of companies like Patagonia who really live by their green mission; their customers are loyal, they don’t have to compete on price, and the more they reject traditional consumerism, the more their sales grow.
One example we have seen in our own customer base, is we have a manufacturer who is actively trying to engage suppliers that are local, even though most of their competitors source overseas. In fact, they adopted our platform to help them achieve a greener footprint (and a lower bottom line). They produce a component which reduces emissions, and they are passionate about ensuring that their own supply chain is green. They have grown exponentially, their product quality is extremely high and unique, and they have been able to successfully source locally.
The youth led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion what are 5 things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement? Please give a story or an example for each.
- Be clear with your children and any children you teach/mentor what the state of our environment is — we are teetering on the edge of climate catastrophe. There is no sugar coating that. I do speak to my Girl Scout Troop about the planet, and integrate planet consciousness into our meetings.
- Teach your children and the children around you that novelty goods and extra stuff is not only not necessary, but requires resources to create, and ultimately ends up in a landfill.. I personally do not have goodie bags for children at my kids’ parties nor do I buy my children one-time or poor quality toys (this also includes clothing or tchotchkes for a single event).
- Show kids that consumption must be responsible and conscious. For my children, I don’t constantly buy clothes, toys, and shoes. I consciously buy what we need, and ensure that the quality is such that we can keep passing it on. I communicate with them about this ideology when they ask for things — we discuss needs vs. wants, and the impact our behavior has on the planet. I also tell them they can donate what they would have spent on the thing they wanted to children or families in need; nine out of ten times, they opt to give and not get.
- Model good behavior. Show your children that you can make things at home and reduce waste; I avoid food delivery from vendors that use plastic or foam, I try to make food when I can, and I only order absolute necessities from Amazon (no more daily box drops at our home!). We actively comb our home together for things we can give away, and we don’t replace them with more stuff unless we have to.
- Set guidelines for the planet. These are rules that you abid by, pretty much, no matter what. In our home; we don’t drive aimlessly, we don’t buy plastic water bottles, we don’t buy individually packaged goods, we recycle, we don’t waste water, and we don’t waste food. My kids are now building on top of these guidelines to make sure we’re even more green.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Slow and steady wins the race. In the context of a startup or even just establishing yourself early in your career, many of us are eager to accomplish an extraordinary amount of milestones in a short period of time. I noticed that my colleagues who took a bit more of a measured approach seemed happier (and avoided burnout) along their career path, and did just as well as those who raced.
- Develop your colleagues. We can be so heads down in our own work that sometimes we miss opportunities to develop our colleagues, especially our juniors. Helping others to thrive and build their skills makes for a better workplace for everyone.
- You don’t need a mentor. A 1:1 mentor relationship is really valuable for some, but I have personally found that having a small group of trusted individuals you can consult has been really helpful. I found that I was able to get broader expertise and critical sponsorship as a result.
- There is life outside of work. There’s a huge push behind self-care these days, but that’s not what I’m advocating. Yes, a spa day when you’re on the cusp of burn out is great, but I’m suggesting something a touch different. Develop your skills and interests outside of your job; take a fitness class regularly, invest time in a hobby or just make time to see friends. Ensure that you maintain work-life balance from the start.
- Define success on your own terms. Success means something different to everyone; the more honest you are with yourself about what success means to you (not to society, your friends, your family, or even your old ideas of success), the easier it is for you to map out your career path and work towards your goals.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am extremely grateful to my first startup CEO. He really took the time to give me advice, offer valuable feedback, and provide me with opportunities to grow. I came in as a very green analyst and I left having inked deals with the likes of Microsoft. He imbued me with a sense of confidence and a solid skill set in marketing, product, and business development.
You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would love to inspire people, on a large scale, to embrace a green lifestyle. I think it would accomplish a few things:
- Inspire a more selfless mindset
- Reduce emissions and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic environmental events
- Encourage people to help and inspire one another to achieve a common goal
Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
This quote is a reminder to pursue opportunity, take a few risks, and really “live” your life. Fear of failure is such a huge hindrance to our success, and this quote is a reminder to take a few leaps.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
You can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmanjra
This was so inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Tasneem Manjra of Caravan: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.