Shriti Pandey's journey into entrepreneurship began with a decision to walk away from a comfortable path. After completing a master's degree in construction management at New York University, she worked with a project-management consultancy in New York. But instead of continuing along the same route, she returned to India and joined the SBI Youth for India rural development programme.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Company | Strawcture Eco (Founder) |
| Education | Master's in Construction Management, New York University |
| Product | AgriBioPanels — building materials from agricultural residue |
| Raw materials | Paddy straw, wheat straw, bagasse |
| Applications | Walls, ceilings, interior and structural uses |
| Problem addressed | Crop burning + carbon-intensive construction materials |
From rural India to Strawcture Eco
That decision changed the direction of her career. While working in a village in Madhya Pradesh, Shriti witnessed crop residue being burned after harvest. The problem was familiar in headlines, but experiencing it directly made the issue much harder to ignore. Her earlier exposure to sustainable materials gave her a possible direction: what if agricultural waste could become a construction resource rather than something that had to be burnt?
That question eventually led to Strawcture Eco, founded to develop building materials from agricultural residue. The company works with compressed agri-fibre technology, turning materials such as paddy straw, wheat straw and bagasse into panels that can be used in construction. The idea behind Strawcture is not simply to create another green product — it addresses two problems at once: agricultural waste that is often burned, and a construction industry that depends heavily on carbon-intensive materials.
Its AgriBioPanels are designed for applications including walls, ceilings and other interior or structural uses, offering an alternative to more conventional materials. Shriti's approach has always been closely tied to field experience, shaping a business model built around sustainability without losing sight of cost, usability and scale.