Why this series
Business faces rising climate, nature and supply-chain exposure. Could place-based collaboration - by river basin or bioregion - lower risk, strengthen compliance and build resilient supply?
What this interview covers
Our second Q&A brings a brand operator’s lens. Prama Bhardwaj - founder of Mantis World and Chair of Gerana’s Advisory Group - explores Why Place Matters: how a company decides why to act, what credible collaboration looks like, and how to balance ambition with practical delivery.
Read on for a grounded view of landscape action from a brand perspective.
Prama: “Looking after landscapes is looking after supply.”
Q: For readers new to your work - where does your drive come from?
Prama: I grew up between Kenya and India and moved to the UK when I was eight, so I’ve always felt a mix of all three. My family worked in textiles - my grandfather trained as a Hindu pundit but went into business, and my father expanded that across Africa - so making things, and the people behind them, were part of my everyday life.
As a teenager I became vegetarian and active in animal rights, which set my values early. I studied Economics and Development, worked briefly at the UN in Geneva, then joined my father’s T-shirt business in Tanzania. There I saw first-hand how business, done well, can change lives. That inspired me to found Mantis World - to make ethics and sustainability the baseline, not the add-on.
Q: You’ve seen the fashion sector change over nearly 30 years. What feels different now?
Prama: There’s a stronger realisation that profit alone isn’t enough. Transparency is central - people want to know where things come from and how they’re made. There’s more competition, and yes, some greenwashing, but most intentions are good. Careful scrutiny of the supply chain drives change.
Q: When you talk about a “landscape approach”, what do you mean - simply?
Prama: It’s looking at a place as a whole - not just a single supply chain. You consider everything that makes that place function: people, nature, water, soil, politics and bring everyone together: communities, businesses, government, and even nature itself. Every landscape is unique, so solutions must come from there.
Q: What attracted you to the landscape approach and what did it mean for your business?
Prama: For years I focused on organic cotton - improving the fibre, certification, and transparency. But visiting the landscapes where it grows showed me how everything is connected: other crops, biodiversity, livestock, water, communities, and education.
We’d been working in a silo, improving one crop while the wider system struggled. The landscape approach revealed the full picture: resilient cotton depends on resilient landscapes. For any business, that’s the “aha” moment - you can’t secure supply if the place it depends on is breaking down.
Q: Landscape action often competes with other priorities. Why choose it and how would you pick a “priority” place?
Prama: For a mission-led brand like Mantis, landscape work only makes sense collectively - that’s how you get scale and speed. We focus on places that matter to our supply, show a clear risk or opportunity (water, climate, biodiversity, regulation), and have readiness to collaborate - local stewards, peers, implementers, and respect for Indigenous and local communities.
It also needs to be executable and financeable: usable data, traceability, and a path to co-funding so buyers aren’t carrying the full cost. Compared with other investments, a landscape approach de-risks the whole basket and makes future compliance easier.
Q: If you had to explain this to a Finance Director, what’s the one line?
Prama: Long-term risk management. Ignoring sourcing landscapes may work for a year or two, but eventually the supply chain will fail. Looking after landscapes is looking after supply.
Q: How do you bring in people outside your value chain - like water users or wildlife groups?
Prama: By finding common ground. Outside the supplier–customer dynamic, you talk as equals. We all care about similar things: healthy water, stable communities, resilient land. Good connectors and clear communication help reach beyond the vertical.
Q: Consumers love a good “made in X” story, but wallets often decide. What shifts that?
Prama: Risk often triggers action more than inspiration. Regulation helps - once you know, you can’t unknow. But positive stories still matter: they motivate teams, build pride, and nurture regenerative mindsets - which is where real change begins.
Q: If you had a magic wand - one change?
Prama: Equity. Shift the power dynamic. If resources and decision-making were more fairly shared, everything else would get easier.
Q: What makes you most optimistic right now - and what are you staying realistic about?
Prama:
Optimistic - people are really waking up to the reality that collaboration and cooperation are needed in this interconnected world and that we all rely on nature. I have personally seen some staggeringly brilliant minds at work so I am convinced the solutions are already here we just need to figure out how to use them.
Realistic - Change takes time. Financial models, power structures, and mindsets don’t shift overnight. But if we stay curious, transparent, and work collectively at the level of place, real progress is not only possible - it’s already beginning.
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