The Mumbai Collective

It has been a patient wait for Mumbai but to be honest, worth it. We strongly believe in not rushing things and allowing ideas to manifest. As custodians of the member interest, we adopt a very conservative attitude towards setting up collectives and ensure that the members’ interests are protected at every step. On the same note, we have been involved with thorough due diligence of the site and are currently in a structuring exercise for The Mumbai Collective.

The seed community has not only been patient but has also played an advisor and critique of the different approaches we considered. This underlines the beauty of a collective and we are mindful of the trust that has been placed in us. Expect the official launch of the collective in Dec 2022.

With the site finalised and the seed community buying into the switch, it is full steam ahead on this one. We are currently engaged in a structuring exercise to formulate the mechanism for the members to participate in the collective and map out the rules and controls of the collective. In addition, we will be starting a contour survey and studies as soon as the structure is finalised. We have also introduced some new options for participation in the collective. Membership options are now 1.25 acres, 3 acres and 5 acres. More details are available on the website.

In our previous newsletter we had announced that we were looking for new places in the Pali- Khopoli area. We are happy to announce that we have zeroed in on a beautiful location just about 75Km from Vashi. It’s a nice stretch of undulating land with a terrain difference of close to a 70m between the highest and lowest point and has some amazing vantage points. We love working with mixed contours as it gives us so many different opportunities to explore. The members and us are all excited about this and we can’t wait to do our first farm visit with our members.

As they say, all good things take time. The city’s incessant rains of the last few weeks have slowed down the patchwork acquisition process at the Mumbai Collective. However, a contiguous 40-acre piece is most likely to be a reality by mid-August.

While a due diligence of the preferred site is already in progress, backup sites are also being negotiated on. Watch this space for more updates.

The seed community is now closed. In a brilliant show of faith in brand Beforest, 25 early adopters have come onboard the Mumbai Collective and taken their first steps towards sustainable living. In a kick-off meetup held in Mumbai, we met up with our members where we walked them through the next steps including structure creation, asset transfer, payment schedules, and more. The meeting was well attended and super exciting as we were meeting in person with our seed community for the first time. We will be activating our legal, on-ground and design partners for work on this collective.

The seed community now comprises of entrepreneurs, doctors, senior advocates, and businessmen. It gives us great pleasure when we realize that this has happened in spite of not really doing in-person meetings.

With the seed community for the Mumbai Collective reaching completion, we will now begin due diligence for the land. We plan to decide on the structure for the collective in April, after which the planning process can begin. We look forward to giving physical form to this idea.  

An introductory meet to welcome the new seed community members at the Mumbai Collective is planned in April. Can’t wait to get things started

There has been an Incredible amount of interest at the Mumbai Collective in February. With more than 100 conversations going on, we are expecting an early closure of Phase 1. 

Thanks to this progress, we have started with our structuring, due diligence and other steps that have to be carried out at the start of a collective. We are also planning parallel drone surveys and mapping activities.  

The seed community for the Mumbai Collective is almost done with only one slot left. Once the last slot is filled up, we can begin with the legal structuring, planning and studies.

We recently had our first interaction between our team at Beforest and the seed community members and were glad to see an overlap of vision between us so far.

The seed community is almost full at the Mumbai Collective. With just 3 slots pending, we are super excited about diving straight into execution. Over the past one month we have done several zoom meet-ups for the Mumbai Collective and the interest here has been amazing.

We were really keen to do a series of coffee meetups in Mumbai, but the third wave of COVID cases made us reconsider that. 

However, we will adapt to this situation and carry on with our virtual office, zoom sessions and interact with the 100s of folks who have expressed an interest in the Mumbai Collective.

The seed community is shaping up well. The last 6 open slots in the seed community are expected to close by the end of December. Post that, we would undertake a detailed land survey and eco system mapping (as we have done with all the other collectives so far). We  are also putting together a visual photo book of the collective landscape to help prospective members in their decision making. Fingers crossed on this one. We are definitely excited about having a collective near Mumbai.