Any Change Requires Strong Leadership: S.D. Shibulal at EduMentum's eSpire 2020

Mr. S.D. Shibulal, Co-founder Infosys and Permanent Trustee, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives, emphasized on the need to enable leadership in order to bring change in the K12 education space in India. Mr. Shibulal was speaking at EduMentum's graduation ceremony eSpire 2020, which was a two-day event held virtually on August 7 & August 8, 2020. Highlighting the qualities a strong leader demonstrates, Mr. Shibulal said, "A leader is capable of making observations, identifying what needs to change, implementing the change, measuring impact, and creating a continuous cycle of improvement through which he can enable the system to improve. Leaders raise aspirations, they inspire, they are the changemakers. Incubators like EduMentum enable these leaders and changemakers to transform education in diverse geographies of India."

Eight organizations that formed the third cohort of Bengaluru-based incubation programme - EduMentum graduated on Saturday, August 8th, 2020. To celebrate the year-long journey towards systemic education transformation that these early-stage organizations have embarked on, social and philanthropic icons came together as part of the virtual two-day programme - eSpire 2020. Spread over August 7 and 8, 2020, the event also witnessed the launch of EduMentum's newest cohort comprising 9 organizations. The two-day conference culminated with Mrs. Kumari Shibulal, Founder and Chairperson, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives, announcing the graduating cohort of organizations and Mr. Shibulal welcoming the latest cohort comprising nine organizations who will begin their journey with the incubation program this year. The event also witnessed several experts joining the graduating organizations in panel discussions throughout the two days.

Congratulating the graduating organizations and welcoming the new cohort, Mrs. Kumari Shibulal said, "In the most trying times, these organizations have kept their chin up and continued to work towards education for every child - even in the remotest parts of the country. It is inspiring to see the commitment of these young social entrepreneurs in making social change. Any crisis provides an opportunity for new innovation, disruption, and thinking. In current times too, it will allow you (civil society organizations) to push forward the ideas that are dear to you. EduMentum is proud of its journey so far, and we hope that your dedication continues to solve for the massive inequity in education in India."

In her keynote address on day two of eSpire 2020, Rohini Nilekani, Founder - Chairperson, Arghyam and Co-founder EkStep, spoke about the need for education entrepreneurs now more than ever. She said, "Samaaj based organizations have to keep strengthening the very samaaj to solve all kinds of crisis. We have to become more resilient. Things will always go wrong but the efforts of individuals and groups will make this whole world brighter." She also shed light on how samaaj actors or the civil society organizations can work with sarkaar (the state), and bazaar (the market). "The three form a continuum. bazaar was created for samaaj to find goods and services. Sarkaar works to empower samaaj as well. Ultimately, they contribute to the growth of samaaj, the people who many of you (civil society organizations) represent. We as samaaj actors have the agency to create real change. The pandemic bears witness to the need for samaaj. Similarly, there are champions in sarkaar and bazaar who one can work with and who will be willing to work with you," she added.

The graduating batch of 2020 includes organizations like: Karunodaya Foundation (Bihar), Varitra Foundation (Haryana), Mera Gaon Meri Duniya (Uttar Pradesh), Samanta Foundation (Uttarakhand), rZamba (Ladakh), Lantern Edu Sports (Maharashtra), Vidhyalay Udhyam (Rajasthan) and Shiksharth Foundation (Chhattisgarh). For the year 2021, 9 new organizations have been selected out of 182 applicants to undergo the incubation program. These include: Kanavu (Tamil Nadu), Alag Soch (West Bengal), Gramothan (Odisha), Satirtha (Assam), Library for All (Manipur), GramUrja (Maharashtra), VOPA (Maharashtra), Pratibimb (Uttar Pradesh), CounSEL (Gujarat).

About The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives
Born out of a sense of responsibility to society, the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives has been actively supporting those in need through initiatives in education, healthcare and organic farming for the last 20 years, starting from 1999.

The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives started with focus on education, based on the simple belief that the founders - Mrs. Kumari Shibulal and Mr. S.D. Shibulal achieved what they did because of it. Our initiatives such as Vidyadhan, Ankur, The Samhita Academy, Vidyarakshak, ShikshaLokam, EduMentum etc. are based on the premise of uplifting the underserved communities and providing them with the opportunity to build a better future.

Mrs Kumari Shibulal is the Founder & Chairperson of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. Passionate about doing her bit for the underserved communities, her vision (and that of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives) is to spread knowledge and create an environment focussed on social change through a solution-oriented approach.

About EduMentum

EduMentum, an incubator for early stage non-profits in the education sector, is a Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiative in partnership with Mantra4Change. It aims to enable young change leaders to build robust contextual solutions to achieve systemic education transformation across India. As of now, EduMentum supports 32 organizations across 17 states and 1 Union Territory in India. The program aims to successfully incubate 50 organizations across different parts of the country by the year 2022.

Co-founder S.D. Shibulal's Family Sell Shares of Infosys Limited

Today, one of the Co-founders of Infosys, Mr. S.D. Shibulal announced that over the last three days (22nd - 24th July) his family members have sold a portion of (representing approximately 0.20% of the paid-up equity share capital) their holding in Infosys Ltd. on the stock exchanges.

Proceeds from the partial stake monetization will be utilized for a combination of philanthropic and investment activities.

The sale was executed by Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited as the Sole Broker.

The Founders, have served Infosys in various capacities, since its inception in 1981 until October 2014. Over the three decades, the Founders have nurtured the company transforming it into one of the professionally run companies in India with a global presence.

This press release is for information purposes only and is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any of the shares described herein. The shares have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"), or in any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements under the US Securities Act. There has not been and there will not be any public offering of the shares in the United States.

Infosys Co-Founder Launches Incubator For Education Startups

S. D. Shibulal, better known as Shibulal, who is former CEO and co-founder of Infosys, has launched EduMentum -- an incubator for early-stage startups working in the space of offline education transformation.

EduMentum is launched in partnership between his Advaith Foundation and Mantra4Change, a Bengaluru-based NGO.

The incubator platform will offer funding of Rs 7.5 lakh per annum to each selected organisation or startup along with a series of workshops for the incubatees.

Speaking on the launch of EduMentum, Shibulal said, "EduMentum is designed to promote social entrepreneurs who are working to transform the education ecosystem. EduMentum will encourage development and use of indigenous body of knowledge in the area of school education through ShikshaLokam."

ShikshaLokam is an education leadership platform under Advaith. The Advaith Foundation was set up by Kumari Shibulal and SD Shibulal to promote philanthropic ventures in the field of education and research.

The first cohort of the programme, which has five startups, started in September last year. The startups in this program include Loop Education Foundation, Vidhya Vidhai, Samarthya, Sanjhi Sikhiya and i-Saksham.

During the end of the programme, the startups get to pitch to potential investors. The programme aims to incubate 50 organisations across different parts of the country by 2022. The next batch will start in June.

The development was first reported in Economic Times.

Notably, EduMentum is second such initiative for startups by Shibulal as earlier, In 2014 Shibula co-founded Axilor Ventures, a venture capital service for young entrepreneurs.

To recall, in December last year, Paytm too had announced the launch of startup incubator called 'Build For India' initiative.

Last month, Ratan Tata, in his ₹900 million plan, has also announced that Tata Trusts will be setting up number of lab-style startup incubators across India.

Additionally, in this month, Haryana state government has also announced the plan to set up an startup incubator called ‘Global Start-up Village’, which will be India’s biggest startup hub and will be located in Gurugram in next couple of years.

Prior to that, Kejriwal govt in Delhi has also announced to launch startup incubator in lines of T-Hub.

9 Richest Indian Tech Billionaires

While being rich might not have been a priority for them, but it is for sure an excellent byproduct of being super successful that these 9 Indian tech honchos are currently enjoying.

Forbes recently announced its annual list of World's Billionaires, which is a well-known guide to the richest people on planet Earth. The list which has seen Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sitting comfortably at the numero uno position for several years now, saw 9 Indians making the cut this year.

Here are the Indians who made India shine on the Forbes World's Billionaires 2016 Annual list.

1) Azim Premji

Ranking on the list- 55
Net worth - $15 billion

The first Indian visible on the list. He is the man behind India's third-largest software exporter, Wipro. Premji Invest, his family office, has made strategic investment in some of the biggest companies like PolicyBazaar, Cyanogen, Snapdeal and Myntra, to name a few.

2) Shiv Nadar

Ranking on the list- 88

Net worth - $11.1 billion

Acquiring the 88th global position, the 2nd Indian on the list is Shiv Nadar, the founder and chairman of India's fourth-largest software services exporter, HCL. Nadar also doubles up as a philanthropist with his much famous Shiv Nadar Foundation.

3) NR Narayana Murthy

Ranking on the list- 959
Net worth - $1.9 billion

The 3rd Indian on the Forbes list is Narayana Murthy, the man who co-founded India's second-largest software services exporter, Infosys. He served as Infosys' CEO from the year 1981 to 2002 and as its chairman from the year 2002 to 2011. Apart from being the brains behind the conception of Infosys, Mr. Murthy has a private investment firm Catamaran Ventures, which has invested in companies like Coverfox, Hector Beverages, Innoviti and Yebhi etc. The firm has also launched a joint venture with e-commerce giant Amazon called Cloudtail, which has been acknowledged as the largest seller on Amazon India.

4) Kris Gopalakrishnan

Ranking on the list- 1121
Net worth - $1.6 billion

Following the footsteps of his Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy is, Kris Gopalakrishnan. The co-founder of Infosys served at the company as its chief executive for four years from the year 2007 to 2011. He has reportedly contributed a whopping amount of Rs 225 crore for the setting up of the Centre for Brain Research at the IISc in Bengaluru city.

5) Nandan Nilekani

Ranking on the list- 1121
Net worth - $1.6 billion

Another Infosys co-founder has made the cut. Nilekani who is currently the chairman of EkStep, was Infosys chief executive for five years from the year 2002 to 2007 and chairman of UIAI until March 2014. He's said to have backed companies like Juggernaut, Systemantics, Team Indus, Power2SME, Fortigo and Mubble, to name a few.

6) Binny Bansal

Ranking on the list- 1476
Net Worth- $1.2 billion

The sixth Indian making waves on the list is the co-founder of India's largest e-commerce company, Flipkart. Binny was recently appointed as Flipkart's chief executive in January this year after his co-founder Sachin Bansal gave up the position. As a CEO, he's overlooks all of the company's business areas and is responsible for taking care of its operations.

7) Sachin Bansal

Ranking on the list- 1476
Net Worth- $1.2 billion

Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce startup, gave up his role as the company's chief executive in January this year. Since then he's providing his services to the company as its executive chairman. Along with Binny Bansal, Sachin has made some major investments in startups with huge potential like InShorts, Ather Energy, Tinystep and Tracxn, to name a few.

8) K Dinesh

Ranking on the list- 1476
Net Worth- $1.2 billion

Another Infosys legend on the list, K Dinesh is the co-founder of the software company and was its board member from the year 1981 to 2011. In 2011, he decided to retire from Infosys as its head of quality, Information Systems and the Communication Design Group.

9) SD Shibulal

Ranking on the list- 1577
Net Worth- $1.1 billion

The last Indian on the list, Shibulal also owes his fortune to Infosys, India's second-largest software services exporter. A co-founder of the company, he worked as its chief executive for a period of three years from 2011 to 2014. Post that, he launched a startup incubator Axilor Ventures along with Kris Gopalakrishnan, another Infosys co-founder.

Infosys Co-Founders To Invest Upto $1Mn In India Startups

SD Shibulal and Kris GopalaKrishnan, the Infosys co-founders who recently passed their baton are back in the business. They have teamed together once gain to set up an incubator called Axilor Ventures. Through their incubator they wish to mentor and back early stage startups and invest upto $1 million in each startup they choose. Srinath Batni, an Infosys veteran, who had previously led the delivery operations at the company, has also joined hands with Shibulal and GopalKrishnan for Axilor.

Axilor ventures is looking forward to mentor technology focused startups in areas like healthcare, e-commerce, wearable technologies and also those companies that develop technology for sustainable business. Axilor is expected to go live from the end of November.

"We all have a fund of our own. The idea is to now jointly invest if we are excited about any startup" said Gopalkrishnan in a statement to Economic Times. He refused to divulge any details about the quantity of the investment corpus but made it clear that all the investments would either be “seed or angel”.

According to V Ganapathy Subramanian's statement to Economic Times, "We are looking to invest anywhere between Rs. 30 lakhs and Rs. 6 crore".  Subramanian has earlier been the head of planning and strategy at Infosys and is currently the CEO at Axilor Ventures. More clarity on the investment focus and the quantum of investments will only be available after the incubator is launched officially.

Infosys co-founders and Ex Top managment position holders are pouring money in Indian Startups especially in Bnagalore region as earlier, Bangalore based start-up Clonect Solutions got funding from Ex-Infosys CFOs.

According to NASSCOM, around 800 startups are launched every year in India and by 2020, there would be around 11,500 startups employing over 2.5 lakh people in India.

Infosys veterans for long have been actively participating in the booming Indian Startup sector Catamaran Ventures run by Narayana Murthy’s family is one of the examples of industry veterans taking interest in the Indian startup scene. Narayana Murthy was the former Chairman at the software services company. NS Raghavan, who is a co-founder at Infosys, has also set up Ojas Ventures, a technology investment firm which has backed startups like interactive technology developer TELiBrahma and Vizury, an internet marketing company.

Infosys Co-Founders To Invest Upto $1Mn In India Startups

SD Shibulal and Kris GopalaKrishnan, the Infosys co-founders who recently passed their baton are back in the business. They have teamed together once gain to set up an incubator called Axilor Ventures. Through their incubator they wish to mentor and back early stage startups and invest upto $1 million in each startup they choose. Srinath Batni, an Infosys veteran, who had previously led the delivery operations at the company, has also joined hands with Shibulal and GopalKrishnan for Axilor.

Axilor ventures is looking forward to mentor technology focused startups in areas like healthcare, e-commerce, wearable technologies and also those companies that develop technology for sustainable business. Axilor is expected to go live from the end of November.

"We all have a fund of our own. The idea is to now jointly invest if we are excited about any startup" said Gopalkrishnan in a statement to Economic Times. He refused to divulge any details about the quantity of the investment corpus but made it clear that all the investments would either be “seed or angel”.

According to V Ganapathy Subramanian's statement to Economic Times, "We are looking to invest anywhere between Rs. 30 lakhs and Rs. 6 crore".  Subramanian has earlier been the head of planning and strategy at Infosys and is currently the CEO at Axilor Ventures. More clarity on the investment focus and the quantum of investments will only be available after the incubator is launched officially.

Infosys co-founders and Ex Top managment position holders are pouring money in Indian Startups especially in Bnagalore region as earlier, Bangalore based start-up Clonect Solutions got funding from Ex-Infosys CFOs.

According to NASSCOM, around 800 startups are launched every year in India and by 2020, there would be around 11,500 startups employing over 2.5 lakh people in India.

Infosys veterans for long have been actively participating in the booming Indian Startup sector Catamaran Ventures run by Narayana Murthy’s family is one of the examples of industry veterans taking interest in the Indian startup scene. Narayana Murthy was the former Chairman at the software services company. NS Raghavan, who is a co-founder at Infosys, has also set up Ojas Ventures, a technology investment firm which has backed startups like interactive technology developer TELiBrahma and Vizury, an internet marketing company.