Good Business Lab is a not-for-profit labor innovation organization. We use rigorous research methods to find a common ground between worker wellbeing and business interests. We believe that building the business case to support better conditions for workers is the most sustainable way to transform labor markets and enable all workers to live dignified lives.
Our founding team brings together two US-based academics from the University of Michigan, and the head of Organizational Development at Shahi Exports, India’s largest exporter of garments.
We are registered as a Section 8 company under the Indian Companies Act.
Our mission is to lead businesses to improve the lives of all workers. We do this by identifying workers’ needs, designing solutions, testing for wellbeing impact and financial returns, and driving the adoption of proven solutions.
We work across the journey of employment—from freeing up rural women to take up paid work and maximizing vocational skills, improving the quality of available jobs for low-income workers, to improving physical and mental health outcomes for workers through workplace health interventions.
We work responsibly and believe in communication, a lot. We are flexible, respectful, and approachable. We believe in collaboration over competition.
Economists Anant Nyshadham and Achyuta Adhvaryu started evaluating the impact of P.A.C.E, a skills programme for women garment workers at The Gap Inc. The Nobel Prize winning method of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) became a way to assess the training program's impact on the wellbeing of women workers and on the firm's bottom line.
P.A.C.E program's results of enhanced worker wellbeing and a substantial return on investment motivated us to develop interventions geared towards worker wellbeing. We kicked off with projects such as STITCH, SRH, Lighting on the Factory Floor and Worker Voice.
We expanded to Latin America with interventions focused on Automobile and Food Service Sectors. We also launched our work in the United States with cutting-edge research on AI technology and how it can be leveraged to support potential workers across a range of industries.
We developed the ROI tool for UNFPA to enable the private sector to understand the potential impact of implementing health-related programs for the women workforce. We were awarded the Zendesk Tech for Good award and were one of five winners of the Future of Work India and Indonesia challenge by MIT Solve.
We secured funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to advance our efforts in promoting gender equality. Presently, we're developing interventions in various sectors including private healthcare, automobile, development, garment, gig economy, and fast food. We've also forged strong partnerships with over 60+ steady collaborators.
Ach has a PhD in economics from Yale. He leads innovation for GBL and serves as a principal investigator on research projects. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan.
Anant holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the CEO at GBL & the head of Organizational Development at Shahi Exports, a company started by his grandmother which is now India’s largest apparel exporter.
Anant holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale. He helps to set overall strategy and often serves as a Principal investigator on research projects. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan.
