Women-led Incubator STEP Organizing "The Wings Challenge" - India’s 1st Idea Fest for Women Social Entrepreneurs

Representational Image via Mario Wallner Pexels

The Wings Challenge is India’s first Social Impact Idea Fest for Women Entrepreneurs by India’s first women led incubator

• STEP (Shakti - The Empathy Project) is organizing India’s first Idea fest for women social entrepreneurs.
• They aim to support the winners with cash prizes upto 1 lakh rupees and corporate benefits from their ecosystem partners including Zoho for Startups.
• The winners will also get direct entry into their incubation programme which is dedicated solely for social entrepreneurship.

STEP (Shakti - The Empathy Project), an incubation programme for women social entrepreneurs is organizing India’s first social impact idea fest for women - The Wings Challenge on 20th March 2022. The shortlisted women entrepreneurs will win cash prizes upto 1 lakh rupees and also gain access to corporate benefits from STEP’s ecosystem partners including Zoho for Startups. They will also get direct entry into STEP’s incubation programme which is a high-level network and resource driven community program that aims to support the scaling up of women-led social impact startups.

The event will witness marquee women leaders like Ms. Naghma Mulla (CEO, EdelGive Foundation), Ms. Seema Chaturvedi (Founder & Managing Partner, AWE Funds), Ms. Pooja Goyal (Co-Head of the Carlyle Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund (CGI)), Ms. Vaishali Neotia (Co-Founder & CEO, Merxius), Ms. Rachna Chandrasekhar (Accelerator & Impact Manager, Upaya Social Ventures), Ms. Kuppulakshmi Krishnamoorthy (Global Head - Zoho for Startups) and many more as panelists who will share their insights on entrepreneurship from their own journeys as well as the need for ecosystem support for women entrepreneurs in the early stages.

According to a report by IndiaSpend, female entrepreneurship is particularly critical for India because it catalyses women's participation in the labour force, at a time when India's Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) is at a historic low, having fallen to 17.5% in 2017-18. Only 7% of working-age women in India have paid jobs currently, as per a recent report in The Economist. Yet, only seven of 100 entrepreneurs in India are women and of them nearly half (49.9%) get into business out of necessity rather than aspiration.

STEP was founded by Ms. Renu Shah in 2019 with an aim to build a community of women entrepreneurs and provide them with necessary skills and resources for social good. Their first cohort had 16 women entrepreneurs working in varied spheres. By February of 2022 a total of 48 women have graduated from their programme. These social startups range from solutions addressing antibiotic resistance in TB patients using AI, creating battery twin in EVS, a wellbeing programme for family caregivers, marketplace for sustainable products to teaching youth in prison and sexual protection and awareness programmes in children among others.

Speaking on the event, Ms. Renu Shah said “Women are the economic dividend of this country. Women led startups earn 10% more in cumulative revenue over a period of 5 years. This shows that building an ecosystem for women entrepreneurs is not social service any more but an economic agenda. It’s time to change the narrative. Let’s agree that you, me and everyone who wants to see India move to the next level will work towards building an empathetic environment that will encourage and support women entrepreneurs.”

To register for the event, click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dvwl2T_gQR28WA9L2g72mg

About STEP (Shakti - The Empathy Project):

Shakti-The Empathy Project is an incubation program for women entrepreneurs working towards finding solutions to social problems in India. Founded in 2019 by Ms. Renu Shah, the program’s core focus is on: creating a safe space for open exchange, capacity building, mentorship, funding & networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs with a focus on tier 2 and 3 cities. STEP was one of the four NGOs to get grants under Facebook Pragati in 2021. For more information, please visit - https://shaktipreneurs.org/

To Support Social Start-Ups, NSRCEL at IIM-Bangalore partners with Capgemini in India

NSRCEL, the startup hub at IIM Bangalore, has partnered with Capgemini in India to support social impact startups in the country’s growing startup ecosystem. Of the 28 start-ups that made the pitch, four startups have been selected for this program which will commence in the first week of August. 

The selected startups are BLINK Research and Services, ECONUT Coconut Producer Company Ltd., Learning Matters, and PROSOC Innovators Pvt. Ltd. 

“We are delighted to have Capgemini join us in supporting social enterprises, especially during these trying times.  Our partnership is a unique one as this is the first time that we are making a multi-year commitment to our start-ups to help them scale their operations and enhance their impact,”  said Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson, NSRCEL.

The selected ventures will receive, from Capgemini, an entrepreneurial grant of 75 lakhs each, across three years, based on their progress and milestone. From NSRCEL at IIMB, they will gain access to domain mentors and networks that will help them scale. The mentors will address specific challenges and provide assistance wherever required.

“As part of Capgemini’s endeavour to ensure that technology and innovation drive sustainable and social development, we aspire to nurture novel ideas and dreams that have the capability to enhance and transform life. It is wonderful to see young change makers developing novel ideas to tackle the country’s social problems with inspiring energy and enthusiasm. I feel fortunate to be a part of this entrepreneurial movement and wish each one of them the very best for an exciting journey of growth and expansion,” said Mr. Anurag Pratap, Head of CSR India, Capgemini.

With programs specifically catering to entrepreneurs with profit ventures and social ventures, student-run ventures and women entrepreneurs, NSRCEL (www.nsrcel.org) offers its support to various players of the start-up ecosystem.

NSRCEL brings together start-ups, industry mentors, eminent academicians from its parent institution Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (www.iimb.ac.in) and researchers, who thrive on continuous interaction of theory and practice.

About CapgeminiCapgemini (www.capgemini.com) is a global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology and engineering services. It is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients’ opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms.

India Top-Most Country for Presence of Social Entrepreneurs: Schwab Foundation study

Social entrepreneurs working with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship have distributed USD 6.7 billion in loans or value of products and services, improving lives of more than 62 million people in 190 countries, and India is the top-most country in terms of their presence, a new study showed on Friday.

These social entrepreneurs have also helped mitigate more than 192 million tonnes of CO2 and improve education for more than 226 million children and youth.

Besides, they have helped provide energy access for more than 100 million people, and have driven social inclusion for over 25 million people.

The report, titled Two Decades of Impact: Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, has been released ahead of the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos and focusses on how social entrepreneurs can achieve impact at scale, change the systems in which they operate and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

"The community has distributed more than USD 6.7 billion to projects and products that have enhanced livelihoods, including increasing healthcare access, providing clean energy solutions, and improving education outcomes," the report said.

"This report challenges the notion that models of social innovation can be dismissed as small, isolated islands of success amidst our overwhelming global challenges," said Hilde Schwab, Co-founder and Chairperson of the Foundation.

"Consider the combined capability of all social innovators in the world, those recognised in networks like the Schwab Foundation, and the hundreds of thousands that exist in local communities around the world," she said.

This community of social enterprises operate in more than 190 countries, with 25 per cent of them reaching at least 90 countries each.

All 10 countries in which social entrepreneurs are most active are low to middle income markets (with the exception of the US), and six of those are in Africa. They include Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and the US.

India is on the top with 46 such social entrepreneurs, followed by 40 in the US, 34 in Kenya, 29 in Brazil and 26 each in South Africa and Uganda.

"Social innovators have pioneered sustainable approaches and inclusive business models, and serve as a clear demonstration that models of stakeholder capitalism can indeed work," said Klaus Schwab, the WEF Founder and Executive Chairman.

The Schwab Foundation was established 20 years ago as a platform to support an under-recognized movement of people who were developing innovative business models delivering social or environmental good.

It provides exposure, capacity building and a trusting community of social-change leaders within the World Economic Forum. It now represents 384 late-stage social innovators operating in more than 190 countries worldwide. PTI BJ

Govt Considering New Law for Setting up Social Impact Companies

The government is considering a new law for setting up social impact companies, where profits can be distributed among the shareholders.

An official said having such companies would help in attracting private capital towards developmental activities in the country.

The corporate affairs ministry is working on a new concept for having social impact companies and the plan is to have a separate legislation in this regard, the official told PTI.

Social impact or community interest companies are there in many Western jurisdictions, including the UK.

The larger idea is to attract private capital into companies that do social good and work towards achieving sustainable development goals, the official said.

The work on the concept of social impact companies is at a very early stage, the official said, adding that it is likely to take a few years to have the required legislative framework.

Unlike Section 8 companies, these new class of companies would be allowed to pay dividends to the shareholders, which means they can share their profits within permissible limits. They would also have more freedom in carrying out their business activities, the official added.

According to the official, the new companies would be "more of an evolved version of Section 8 companies". Section 8 companies are the not-for-profit ones and are prohibited from paying dividends to its members.

Currently, there are more than 11 lakh registered companies that are active in the country. Active companies are those which are compliant with various requirements, including timely filing of financial statements, under the Companies Act. PTI RAM

Shanti Raghavan, Dipesh Sutariya of EnAble India Win the Social Entrepreneur of the Year - India Award 2019

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the sister organisation of the World Economic Forum and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation of Jubilant Bhartia Group today announced Shanti Raghavan & Dipesh Sutariya of EnAble India as the winner of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year India 2019 Award. The award was presented by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs & Ministry of Civil Aviation and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India in presence of over 250 participants in New Delhi. The award ceremony was a part of the India Economic Summit hosted by World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Government of India.

The SEOY India Award 2019 winner, has been instrumental in building an ecosystem of skilling, employment and entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities (PwDs) through the use of technology innovations, breakthroughs in skill trainings, new workplace solutions and behaviour change tools. EnAble India has positively influenced and changed the mind-set of 729 business houses and built the frameworks of inclusion in universities and government agencies for the employment of PwDs in formal and informal sectors across India.

Over the years, SEOY India award has established itself as one of the most reputed and coveted award for social entrepreneurs in India. This year the award celebrates its 10th year. In 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation came together to promote social innovation in India through the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) India Award. The award has seen over 1500 applications in the last 10 years.

The winner of SEOY India Award participates in the annual and regional meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and will join the world’s largest network of social enterprises.

affiliated with The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. These meetings offer unprecedented opportunities to engage with global decision makers from the public,  corporate, media, academic and civil society sectors. The winner will be invited to join the Schwab Foundation’s global community of over 390 social innovators.

Congratulating the winner and applauding the work of all finalists of this year’s SEOY India award, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs & Ministry of Civil Aviation and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India said, “I would like to express my appreciation, for the hosts of this evening, the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, who have for the last one decade provided a crucial platform to recognise the effects of the social entrepreneurs. Each one of them who have been featured here have done outstanding work.”

“I am very happy to see how youngsters are becoming change agents in the society.”  “The announcement of a Social Stock Exchange, in the Budget this year will help social enterprises access to finance. The Finance minister recently announced that Companies can now invest in social enterprises which are aligned with government supported incubation centres."

Appreciating the winner and the finalists, Mrs. Hilde Schwab, Chairperson and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship said, “This year’s winner and finalists of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year India award all exemplify what our community is about – actors who have selflessly dedicated their lives to improving the state of the world around them. We mark the 10th year of our partnership with Jubilant Bhartia with an unprecedented number of finalists, all of whom have made significant contributions to their country by addressing a myriad of issues in innovative ways. We look forward to continuing our work with Jubilant Bhartia to identify, recognise and serve the country’s leading social entrepreneurs in the years to come."

Congratulating the winner and the finalists, Mr. Shyam S Bhartia, Chairman and Founder and Mr. Hari S Bhartia, Chairman & Co-Founder, Jubilant Bhartia Group and Founder Directors of Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, said, “The winner and finalists of the SEOY India award are the tech-enabled social entrepreneurs who are helping bridge the gap between the marginalised and the mainstream. In the last decade of this journey, we have witnessed diversity in social innovations coming from remote corners of India. Social entrepreneurs 

have been harnessing the vast untapped resources and investing time and resources to understand various underlying layers to social issues and create highly customised solutions. It has been a privilege to be partners with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in recognising social entrepreneurs in India for the last 10 years.”

The entries for this year’s SEOY India award were in categories including enterprise development, disability, water & sanitation, labour conditions, women empowerment, micro finance, housing, fair trade, energy, sustainable farming, communication media, clean technology and nutrition among others.

This year’s jury members included Mrs. Hilde Schwab, Chairperson & Co – Founder, Schwab Foundation for Entrepreneurship; Ms. Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson & Editorial Director,

HT Media Ltd; Ms. Sudha Pillai, Former, Member Secretary, Planning Commission Government of India; Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India; Ms. Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson, Arghyam Foundation; Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, President, Confederation of Indian Industry; Ms. Prema Gopalan, Founder, Swayam Shikshan Prayog, Winner SEOY 2018; Mr. Vikram Singh Mehta, Chairman, Brookings India and Mr. P R Ganapathy, Regional Director, Stanford Seed India.

About the winner

Shanti Raghavan and Dipesh Sutariya
EnAble India, Bengaluru

EnAble India (EI) is rapidly building the Indian eco-system of skilling, employment and entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities (PwDs) through technology innovations, breakthroughs in skill trainings, new workplace solutions and behaviour change tools. By changing the mindset of 729 business houses and building frameworks of inclusion in universities and government agencies, EI has created a robust business case for employing PwDs in formal and informal sectors across India.

Over 20 years, Shanti, Dipesh and their teams have cumulatively transformed the lives of 2,20,000 individuals with disabilities and their families, community leaders and employers, across 28 states. Working across a wide bench of 14 disabilities, all EI trainees perform at par, and receive salaries at par with their non-disabled peers. Through partnerships with 200 non-profit organisations, EnAble India is set to transform one million PwDs as confident tax payers, active citizens and nation-builders over the next three years.

Meet the 7 Finalists of 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year India Awards'

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the sister organisation of the World Economic Forum and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, a not for profit organisation of Jubilant Bhartia Group today announced the finalists of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY)- India 2019 award.

The finalists were identified following an intensive search and selection process, including expert reviews, background research, reference checks and site visits.

The seven finalists of the award are:

1. Gaurav Mehta of Dharma Life, New Delhi


2. Shanti Raghavan and Dipesh Sutariya of EnAble India, Bengaluru


3. Mukteshwari Bosco of Healing Fields Foundation, Hyderabad


4. Nand Kishore Chaudhary of Jaipur Rugs, Jaipur


5. Bijal Brahmbhatt of Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, Ahmedabad


6. Aakash Sethi of Quest Alliance, Bengaluru


7. Sanjeev Kumar of The Goat Trust, Lucknow

Of the seven finalists, the winner will be chosen by a distinguished jury. Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs & Ministry of Civil Aviation and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Government of India will present the award at a special ceremony on Thursday, 3rd October, 2019 which is part of the India Economic Summit organised by World Economic Forum and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 

The winner of SEOY India will join the world’s largest network of social enterprises affiliated with The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

The finalists of the SEOY India award are the tech-enabled social entrepreneurs who are helping in bridging the gap between the marginalised and the mainstream, by working in fields of livelihood generation for rural women, livestock entrepreneurship, creating safe & sustainable habitats, improving rural health, empowering people with disabilities and art preservation through empowerment of artisans. These social entrepreneurs have brought disruption in their respective fields with their innovative ideas. They have demonstrated that through empowerment of marginalised rural women, people with disabilities, small livestock farmers and grassroots artisans, India can move closer to inclusive growth.

Over the years, SEOY India award has established itself as one of the most reputed and coveted award for social entrepreneurs in India. This year the award celebrates its 10th year. In 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation came together to promote social innovation in India through the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) India Award. The annual award recognises entrepreneurs who implement innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions to solve social problems. These entrepreneurs address pressing issues faced by under-served communities.

The SEOY India award 2019 opened in March this year and received over 120 applications from 19 cities. This year saw over 30 applications from women social entrepreneurs. The categories of intervention include enterprise development, disability, water & sanitation, labour conditions, micro finance, housing, fair trade, energy, sustainable farming, communication media, clean technology and nutrition. In this year’s applications, health sector (43%) lead the nomination tally followed by education (40%), environment (27%) and rural development (26%).

Brief Descriptions of the Finalists: 

Gaurav Mehta
Dharma Life, New Delhi (www. dharmalife.in)
Echoing the belief that economically empowered women leads to empowered families; Dharma Life is providing women in rural India the opportunity to earn a livelihood while driving social change in their villages. These reformed women entrepreneurs, also referred as ‘Dharma Life Entrepreneurs’ (DLE) are changing the face of women empowerment in India.

Determined to create the largest network of female change agents, Dharma Life has  trained and engaged around 16,000 Dharma Life Entrepreneurs (76% women) across 13 states in India. By honing the entrepreneurial skills of rural women Dharma Life is optimising a woman led entrepreneur-based model that delivers critical products and services to low income households. This includes creation of livelihoods for the DLE, training and certification of the DLEs in rural sales entrepreneurship (certified by the National Skills Development Corporation (Government of India) and IFC), sustainable income creation for the Dharma Life Entrepreneurs as well as increased equity in society for them. Reached more than 1,50,000 households and over 1.3 million women with financial literacy campaign.

It addresses key and interlinked levers of social change – livelihood creation, digital empowerment, water, hygiene & sanitation, menstrual hygiene & family planning, energy access & clean cooking and nutrition.

Shanti Raghavan and Dipesh Sutariya   
EnAble India, Bengaluru (www.enableindia.org)
EnAble India (EI) is rapidly building the Indian eco-system of skilling, employment and entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities (PwDs) through technology innovations, breakthroughs in skill trainings, new workplace solutions and behaviour change tools. By changing the mindset of 729 business houses and building frameworks of inclusion in universities and government agencies, EI has created a robust business case for employing PwDs in formal and informal sectors across India.

Over 20 years, Shanti, Dipesh and their teams have cumulatively transformed the lives of 2,20,000 individuals with disabilities and their families, community leaders and employers, across 28 states. Working across a wide bench of 14 disabilities, all EI trainees perform at par, and receive salaries at par with their non-disabled peers. Through partnerships with 200 non-profit organisations, EnAble India is set to transform one million PwDs as confident tax payers, active citizens and nation-builders over the next three years.

Mukteshwari Bosco    
Healing Fields Foundation, Hyderabad (www.healing-fields.org)
Healing Fields Foundation (HFF) is building vibrant eco-systems of rural health care in areas where basic health services are absent or severely deficient. It is doing so by transforming once- voiceless and marginalised women into community healthcare entrepreneurs and health leaders who have a stake in the well-being of their communities. Backed with training in basic health care and innovative technologies (including a health decision-support app), more than 5000 trained community health entrepreneurs have taken healthcare information to nearly 12,50,000 individuals in the most backward districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand. 66% report a 100-200% income increase as a local health entrepreneur. HFF has also kept its eye on enhanced health outcomes. 98% of service users have reported improved health knowledge; 71% regularly practise positive health behaviours and 89% families are immunising their children. Additionally, 1000 school health champions trained by HFF across Telengana have reached 150,000 people with information on health education, nutrition and healthcare products. The HFF model is currently being replicated in Indonesia.

Nand Kishore Chaudhary

Jaipur Rugs Ltd., Jaipur Living, Jaipur Rugs Foundation

Jaipur (www.jaipurrugs.com)
Jaipur Rugs [Featured Story] has catapulted more than 40,000 artisans (weavers and spinners) into artists, designers, entrepreneurs, teachers and quality control experts in the high-end, global, luxury carpet segment in 600 villages. By tripling incomes for women carpet weavers and enhancing their well-being and leadership, it has demonstrated that business success can combine as much meaning and purpose for customers, as it does for its rural and tribal artisans, and their families.

Jaipur Rugs is an exclusive, handmade carpet and rugs company, serving consumers across 62 countries. Upturning the exploitative practises of the carpet weaving industry, it has integrated ethical business practices with grassroots women’s entrepreneurship and created a business culture of empathy and care. Sharing growth benefits with its artisans, Jaipur Rugs runs an exclusive line of ‘Artisan Originals’ where weavers are the designers of their own rugs, showcasing their artistic creation on national and international platforms.

Impacted over 1,29,000 lives across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, Jaipur Rugs has put the locus of control back in the hands of village level bunkar sakhis and artisans not just through enhanced incomes, but also through leadership trainings, financial literacy and health services.

Bijal Brahmbhatt
Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT), Ahmedabad (www.mahilahousingtrust.org)
By putting poor women in charge of their neighbourhoods, Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT) is changing the face of India’s sprawling urban slums. Viewing habitat as essential to the well-being of a person, MHT mobilises, organises and trains women leaders or ‘Vikasinis’, to participate, design and drive urban planning and the development of their areas. The women map infrastructure gaps, deploy clean energy solutions and partner with local governments and the private sector for basic services like water, sanitation, power, sewerage and advocate for tenure rights. By building the social and leadership capital of resource-poor urban women, MHT ensures they access secure habitats and a quality of life deserving to all citizens.

Serving four lakh poor households, MHT has scaled its work to 34 cities across eight states in India. Reaching 1.7 million poor individuals, it has legalised power connections for nearly two lakh households, and potable water to 48,000.  Close to 57,000 households have built toilets and 30,500 have invested in energy saving products. In a major win, 22,563 Households have secured registration of property titles, resulting in a tangible asset for the poor. With urban population set to increase by nearly 50% by 2030, the MHT model offers a solid women and citizen-led strategy for transforming India’s squalid slums into safe, clean, climate friendly, vibrant socio-economic hubs.                       

Aakash Sethi
Quest Alliance, Bengaluru (www.questalliance.net) 

65% of children starting school today will hold jobs that do not exist yet. They are likely to have four or five careers over the course of their working life. Additionally, technology is rapidly changing job roles and rendering trade-specific skill trainings irrelevant. For Quest Alliance, self-learning and 21st century skills are then, the new life skills that youth will need to thrive, not just survive, in fast digitising economies.

Quest Alliance has integrated education technologies, curriculum and the culture and practise of self-learning and 21st century skills into India’s education and skill-training system.  By doing so, it is transforming institutions, educators, skill trainers, while enabling unemployable youth to respond to a fast digitising economy, enhance their learnability and build rewarding career pathways.

Through partnerships with 100 non-profit partners and state governments, the Quest Alliance model has been embedded in 5,000 government schools and 800 vocational training centres and ITIs across nine states. It has impacted 3,00,000 adolescent and youth (of which 50% are women) from rural, peri-urban, minority and other excluded communities. 70% of the youth who go through the Quest model are placed in jobs, with a majority reporting an average upward mobility of income of 170% (income compared to their current annual family incomes). A formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of India opened the pathway for more than five million adolescent and youth to be impacted by the Quest Alliance model over five years.

Sanjeev Kumar    


The Goat Trust Group of Social Ventures (www.thegoattrust.org)

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh



The Goat Trust Group of Social Ventures is revitalising ailing, rural economies by transforming once marginalised and scattered women goat farmers into formidable network of small livestock entrepreneurs. Sanjeev and his team take a three-pronged approach for putting women in charge of small livestock husbandry: Innovations in micro-leasing (allowing a woman to lease and rear a goat); a network of 1000 ‘pashu sakhis’ or mature women goat farmers who offer scientific livestock rearing and veterinarian services for a fee; and innovative technologies, including a goat health app and an e-commerce platform for women farmers to connect with distant markets and access fair price for their livestock.

Together, this approach has enabled 3,00,000 ultra-poor women from marginalised communities to scale their small livestock farming value chains. They have enhanced their annual incomes from upwards of Rs 70,000 to Rs 900,000. Collectively, they have organised into 25 producer organisations with annual turnover of Rs 500 million. The Goat Trust group has scaled its model in 18 states through the state rural livelihoods mission machinery, focussing on difficult agro climatic zone like dry lands, forest fringe villages and flood-affected areas. More than 84 non-profit organisations across India, West Africa and Afghanistan, have been trained in its ‘Goat Gurukul’ to create the groundswell of women small livestock husbandry leaders.

Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship was co-founded by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and his wife Hilde. For twenty years, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has supported the world’s leading social entrepreneurs in their efforts to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. The Schwab Foundation provides unparalleled platforms at the regional and global level to highlight and advance leading models of sustainable social innovation.

Learn more at www.schwabfound.org and follow on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/schwabfound

Jubilant Bhartia Foundation (JBF), established in 2007, is the not-for-profit organisation of the Jubilant Bhartia Group. It focuses on conceptualising and implementing the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (CSR) for the Group. The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation’s activities include various community development work, healthcare programs, cultural and sports events, environmental preservation initiative, vocational training, women empowerment, educational activities and promotion of Social Entrepreneurship.

Lavina Sequera of "Soil of India" awarded as Asia's Top Sustainability Superwomen

Lavina Sequera, Founding Member Soil of India is among 26 outstanding women leaders from 11 countries has been selected as Asia’san annual listing of exceptional female sustainability leaders in the region. They were chosen out of 126 nominations from 20 countries across Asia of which 4 women leaders are from India alone – the Companies recognised are Tata Steel, Tata Power, Godrej and Soil of India.

Soil of India is a destination site - for the well-being of humanity.

The 2019 List was announced by Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) CEO Tim Mohin, and ÁsthildurHjaltadóttir, GRI's Chief of Network Engagement and Regional Implementation Officer, at the recent Asia Sustainability Reporting Summit in Singapore.

A Sustainability Superwoman is one who leads change through sustainability strategies and initiatives within her organisation as well as outside. An international jury reviews and assesses the nominations to identify the winners.

Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen is a non-profit project initiated by CSRWorks International, Singapore’s most trusted name in sustainability consulting, training and thought leadership. The project’s purpose is to recognise and honour the contribution of exceptional women leaders who are driving change to make the world a better place.

[caption id="attachment_134898" align="alignright" width="300"] Lavina Sequera
Image - Angel.co[/caption]

Speaking about the award, Lavina Sequera said, “It is an honour to be recognized for our work at Soil of India www.soilofindia.com, that supports artisans at risk, the well-being of our planet and its people. I am particularly proud to share that with over 20 million artisans in India, Soil of India in the last 7 years has laid the foundation to create ‘The World’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Store, both online and offline’.

A Social Enterprise, SOIL is committed to supporting the cause of inclusive growth (among over 20 million artisans across India) and all natural, ecological lifestyle merchandise, for valuable and conscientious customers of the world.

Initiated in 2012, this B - C project took over 5 years to curate, travelling into the gut of India to identify and build a robust supply chain of Artisans and their amazing handmade merchandise, and was officially launched on 15th August, 2018.

Unlike any other, SOIL is reviving the lost glory of India’s vast heritage and culture by contemporizing its unique, pure and natural creations that till this day remain universally aligned, and unknowingly support the cause of the crisis of climate change and the wrought of mechanization.

Unexplored thus far, no one has fathomed the intrinsic depth and magnitude of the mosaic of India’s natural merchandise that can transform lives and lifestyles for the better, across the world. In fact, given this magnitude of India’s awesome merchandise, SOIL has laid the foundation to create ‘The World’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Store.

In its POC stage yet, we are seeking a Global alliance through investment in this ‘Green Project’ that will help scale both, an expanded community of Artisans, and an ever growing Customer base across the world - towards the well-being of artisan families living on the edge, peoples, and our beloved planet.

Our philosophy is anchored to the triple bottom line of – People, Planet and Profit.

“The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force of our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity”. Capt. Jean Luc Piccard.

CSRWorks International is a GRI Certified Training Provider, GRI Data Partner and a GRI Gold Community Member. CSRWorks is also IIRC’s Foundation Training Partner for approved Training in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. As EcoVadis’ CSR Expert Partner for Southeast Asia, CSRWorks provides training and advisory to suppliers participating in the EcoVadis CSR Assessment.

~ Business Wire India

[Top Image by Harry cao on Unsplash]

Igniting Inspiration: Women social engineers ensuring inclusive development in India

Women social entrepreneurship in India: According to a report by British council– in the state of social enterprise in Bangladesh, Ghana, India and Pakistan - 24% of the social enterprises are led by women, higher than the 8.9% female-led firms in mainstream business/ private sector firms. These women social reformers have either experienced biases in their lives or know the power of privilege that comes in the form of good education, health and other opportunities that can change a woman’s life. Today several women have chosen the path of social entrepreneurship leaving behind high paying careers, to fulfill a pressing desire to bring change in the society.

Overcoming barriers: The women social entrepreneurs represent the new India that is willing to take risks and make sacrifices. Some have little or no background in their chosen fields. Yet they have not only managed to overcome barriers but also set an example for others. Thanks to govt’s support through initiatives like Startup India there is a strong ecosystem for them to thrive. Seeing their passion and drive national and international development institutions are ready to invest in their ventures. These social entrepreneurs are now seen as a solution to India’s pertinent and complex problems of socio-economic divide.

Platforms recognizing the effort and bridging the gap: Several prestigious impact platforms are recognizing the efforts of social entrepreneurs and giving them a stage to showcase their work, learn from their peers and inspire others. One such platform is the prestigious Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) India award – a joint partnership between the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and the Schwab Foundation of Social Entrepreneurship (the Schwab Foundation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, is a leading global platform that accelerates outstanding models of social innovation). For over a decade now SEOY India has recognized social entrepreneurs every year in various fields through a stringent selection process. In the last one decade the platform has seen more than 1500 social innovation applications out of which about 500 of them have been from women applicants. This year, out of over 120 applications, over 30 are from women social entrepreneurs. Out of 9 winners in the last decade of the SEOY India Award, 5 have been women social entrepreneurs!

Inspiring stories of change:

Chetna Gala Sinha founded the Mann Deshi Foundation in Mhaswad in 1996, a drought-stricken area of Maharashtra, with the aim of economically and socially empowering rural women. In 1997, she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank - India’s first bank for and by rural women. Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has 100,000 account holders, has loaned over $50 million and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. Mann Deshi runs Business Schools, a Community Radio and a Chambers of Commerce for rural women micro entrepreneurs. Chetna has served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos (2018), Switzerland. Chetna won the SEOY India Award in 2013.

Dr Urvashi Sahni has been working for the rights of children and women for over three decades now. She founded Suraksha, a women rights organisation, in 1983 in Uttar Pradesh, India. She is the founding president and CEO of the Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF), under which she has established three K-12 schools including Prerna Girls School, providing affordable high quality rights-based education to over 1000 girls from urban slums. She is a leading expert in school governance, curriculum reform and teacher training with a special focus on girls’ education and the use of technology in education. Dr Urvashi was the winner of the SEOY India Award in 2017.

These women leaders have become the harbingers of change and are instrumental in empowering women in the country by setting a befitting example as ‘Women Social Engineers’.

Why Tourism Social Entrepreneurs are Good for Business and Community?

Social entrepreneurship is referred to as a particular kind of “doing business” in a supportable method, pursuing both economic and social wealth. The attention which is provided to social economy plus social entrepreneurship is expanding greatly and a few scholars are affirming that economic sectors happen to be ones which do support a justifiable growth of the labor market. The job of social enterprises is selling items or services for providing an opportunity as well as assistance to disadvantaged people. Contrary to a contemporary non-profit organization, social entrepreneurs make use of market-based methods for funding environmental and social impacts.

Within the tourism and hospitality context, it confirms higher local benefit in place of outflow of resources to a multi-national company as it habitually happens in this industry. The motivation which works behind this is CBA (Community Benefits Agreement). These CBAs are between community coalitions and developers and they tend to become associated with infrastructure development and institution projects. Among anchor institutions come universities, hospitals, convention centers, hotel, and various other place-based entities.

The role of private enterprises to social procurement and CBAs are as follows:

• The benefit of tax incentives

Tax incentives plus other advantages like funding for public works, infrastructure or fast-tracked zoning.

• Lower risk

Lower risk is commonly linked with the reaction of community groups and neighborhoods. At times, when community coalitions are tangled as key stakeholders, then it manages to pave the way for relationships which do benefit all the parties. Developers ought to adopt social hiring policies and social procurement in areas that are suffering from over-tourism backlash.

• Opportunities for building brand image

Sustainability is considered a selling point when there is an authentic and tangible message which happens to be woven naturally into the offering.

The challenges

However, this approach is not devoid of challenges in spite of growing proof of its advantages. One study outlines the key challenges related to incubation and information and many authors did struggle to discover instances of social enterprise with hospitality and tourism. It indicates either lower levels of awareness or fewer examples and sometimes both. Irrespective of the way, there are many opportunities. Another remarkable challenge is viewed as the shortage of support which particularly targets social entrepreneurship and support within this sector.

The remarkable benefits

Though tough to quantify the community benefit has been proven through the use of SROI (Social Return on Investment) methodology. According to a study, for every $1 which was being invested in social enterprises, there was an assumed return of nearly $4.13in community benefits, and it is more than a three hundred percent return! The benefits that come under it are lessened dependence, lower healthcare costs, lower crime rates, plus other factors. Again, participants stated the highest outcomes were the enhanced quality of life that included playing online games in sites like https://sbobetasia55.com that wasn’t comprised in the calculation due to its difficulty in measurement.

The emergence plus development of social entrepreneurship and social economy exerts a potent impact which transforms into improved employment opportunities for a vulnerable group which concentrates on community growth, improved access to private and public services besides development incentives meant for small-scale operating in different fields that include tourism.

6 Indian & 3 Latin American Social Startups participate in Goa's 3-Day Social Entepreneurship Program

Gray Matters Capital, a US-based impact investor with a gender lens, which focuses on funding education and skilling enterprises in India as well as sector agnostic enterprises whose products and services benefit women and girls globally, will be conducting the first edition of its 3-day leadership development program in Panaji, Goa from 4^th – 6^th March, 2019.

Called ‘Tales, We Win’ (TWW), the program will witness the participation of founders of social sector start-ups from India, Colombia and Mexico as well as a global fellowship program for aspiring social enterprise practitioners.

With storytelling as its guiding theme, the program aims to help entrepreneurs in communicating their organization’s vision and story in ways which are compelling and unique, leading to a broader sphere of influence.

“Social entrepreneurs tend to embark on a steeper entrepreneurial journey. With failure rates being a lot higher, it is leadership displayed by the founding team that determines their future. Storytelling makes all the difference as it would help such entrepreneurs to define the organizational goal, influence every stakeholder – be it their teams to deliver or winning interest from investors to get funded”, said Debleena Majumdar, Director – Research and Growth, Gray Matters Capital and Founder – Kahaniya on the choice of the program adopting a storytelling theme. “Across the 3 days, participants of the program will learn to FIND, LIVE and TELL their stories of enhancing personal leadership and organizational effectiveness.”

Outlining Gray Matters Capital’s rationale behind the initiative, Joe Iarocci, Board Member, Gray Matters Capital, said, “At Gray Matters Capital, we invest in people and their ideas that have the potential to create impact by solving social issues at scale. Through TWW, we wish to answer the question of how we as investors can attract, develop and support the very best of the global social enterprise leaders to deliver the best for their organizations so that they can create impact at scale.”

International executive coaches Patrick Solomon and Priya Ramesh Perumbilavil along with Sujatha Rao, Founder & Director, Viridus Social Impact would join Joe and Debleena as the facilitators of this program at the Goa Marriott in Panaji.

The list of participants of the 2019 edition of Tales, We Win are:

Indian Social Enterprise Leaders

Name	Organization	Success Story
Alok Katiyar	MadGuy Labs	Govt exam app in vernacular
Anusha Bharadwaj	Voice4Girls	Empowering adolescent girls in India
Chitra Ravi	Chrysalis (EZ Vidya)	Developing a child centric education curriculum
Manjeet Singh	Buddy4Study	India’s largest scholarship network
Nikhil Saraf	Stones2Milestones	Creating a Nation of Readers
Soumya Velayudham	Gray Matters India (GMI)	School Assessments

Latin American Social Enterprise Leaders

Name	Organization	Success Story
Ellie Rose	Salus Holding (Mexico)	Disrupting healthcare and elderly care market | Creating jobs for women as nurses
Josele Ordas	Connovo (Mexico)	Replicating successful social businesses to scale their impact
Juan Manuel Lopera	Aulas Amigas | TOMi Digital (Colombia)	Technology for Smart Classrooms

Global Social Accelerator

Name	Organization	Success Story
Sandhya Maliakal	IDEX Accelerator	Hands-on practical work experience in the social sector in India

Social Sector Investor

Name	Organization	Success Story
Aarthi Ramasubramanian	Gray Matters Capital’s edLABS initiative	Backing visionary education and skilling entrepreneurs with innovative funding

The program would end with all participants delivering their leadership stories and how they’d use storytelling to bring about a change in their respective organizations.

Tata Trusts, Social Alpha Launch Fellowship Program to Empower Entrepreneurs with Deep science & Technology focus

The Tata Trusts and Social Alpha announced the launch of their flagship fellowship program, the Social Alpha Entrepreneurs for Impact (E4i) Program, here today. The E4i program is a 12-month immersive fellowship that equips passionate ‘entrepreneurs-in-the-making’ to leverage India’s deep science, innovation and entrepreneurship environment.

Speaking at the launch, Manoj Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Social Alpha said, “We wanted to create an avenue for passionate, empathetic and mission-driven changemakers to scout for potential technologies, create co-founding teams, build and test their solutions, and convert them into impactful ventures. We believe that by harnessing the power of science and technology innovations and mission-driven impact entrepreneurship, we can address some of India’s most critical social, economic and environmental challenges."

The first cohort of the E4i program will focus on finding solutions across a few high priority areas like water, sanitation, health, agriculture, energy and environment. Finalists will be encouraged to adopt a problem statement in one of these focus sectors, and identify or develop a solution that has the potential to create impact at scale while remaining financially sustainable. All throughout, Social Alpha will provide support to E4i finalists through its network of experts from public and private sector, non-profits and foundations.

The program itself is structured to include experiential, immersive and instructional components that mimic the lifecycle of an enterprise. From observing the problems on-ground, validating and refining their theory of change, converting prototypes into viable solutions, to developing preliminary business plans- finalists will undergo a practical and hands-on learning experience encompassing all the strategic ins-and-outs of running an enterprise. “As our focus is to impart useful and practical know-how, E4i finalists will have access to mentors – with background in R&D, entrepreneurship, venture investing and grassroots development action, who can guide them towards creating a successful venture, through real world knowledge, insights, networks and connections. They can also expect a lot of hands on support from successful innovators and entrepreneurs”, said Kumar.

“Another critical aspect of the E4i program is that we are providing a small safety blanket to all the finalists by way of a monthly stipend of INR 60,000. This is not compensation for their foregone salary or career trade-offs, but a means to cover their essential expenses over the 12 month period. We believe the provision of stipend will allow us to attract people who are ready to assume the entrepreneurial risk but have economic constraints holding them back. We aim to make the E4i program a catalyst for a new wave of science and technology entrepreneurship in the country.” adds Kumar.

The E4i program is now accepting applications; Deadline for application is January 6th, 2019. To apply log onto www.socialalphachallenge.org.

IT firm Mphasis partners IIM Bangalore to Incubate Social Startups

Mphasis F1 Foundation, the CSR arm of IT firm Mphasis, has partnered with NSRCEL, the startup incubation centre at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), as part of its Social Venture Incubation Program, to support ‘early-stage social ventures. The program aims to incubate and support 'for profit' social ventures and comprises start-ups that have been in operation for one to three years, announced the company in a press release.

The programs focus is on helping startups build financially sustainable and scalable models in the
area of education, livelihood and disability.

The program received 550 + applications from social ventures out of which 16 promising ventures were selected to
go through a 3 months pre-incubation program. Following the pre-incubation, shortlisted ventures was given an
opportunity to pitch before an advisory council for selection in the incubation program which will be for a period of 12-18 months.

Selected ventures include TAXSHE Services Private Limited, ECONUT Coconut Producer Company Limited, Blink Research and Services Private Limited, ThinkZone and Rural Caravan Private Limited.

These selected startups would receive an entrepreneurial grant and will be supported through a series of curated events and workshops aimed at addressing specific challenges and areas of assistance required. Additionally, these ventures will also be able to avail on-site infrastructure as well as expand their network through interactions with ecosystem partners, IIMB faculty, alumni and subject matter experts.

Speaking on the partnership, Srikanth Karra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mphasis, said: “The talent present in
the startup ecosystem in India has been visibly increasing over the past few years. However, support to social
enterprises is still limited It is essential that social enterprises also get the right kind of support in mainstream incubators to ensure they can make telling contributions within the industry space. Our partnership with IIMB is aimed at addressing this issue and through the facilities and mentorship support, we hope to enable the selected social ventures to achieve their highest potential."

Professor Suresh Bhagavatula, Chair, NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, explained: “NSRCEL has been helping early stage
ventures since 2002. Leveraging this experience and expertise, the Social Venture Incubation Program was
launched in 2017."

"NSRCEL Social Ventures is the first-of-its-kind incubator of the country with an ascertained focus is to create a playbook and template for social enterprises incubation. Such an approach can be replicated at other academic institutions and incubation hubs across the country. This initiative aims to identify, engage and support early-stage social ventures with high growth potential to build scalable models for sustained impact," said Bhagavatula.

The event was also marked by a panel discussion on ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Values, Objectives, and
Sustainability’. The panelists included Srivardhini K Jha, Young Faculty Research Chair and faculty in the
Entrepreneurship area, IIMB, Anuja Master Bose, Philanthropy Strategy Advisor, Villgro Innovations Fund, Srikanth
Karra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mphasis, Sudha Srinivasan, CEO, N/Core, and Vandana Suri, Co-founder,
TAXSHE. The discussion will be moderated by Dalhia Mani, Young Faculty Research Chair and faculty in the
Entrepreneurship area, IIMB.

“Given the scale of social and economic services that are needed at the bottom of the pyramid, social ventures and
an ecosystem to support them are extremely important for India, and this panel aims to bring people together to
discuss and learn together,” said Dalhia Mani, Young Faculty Research Chair and faculty in the Entrepreneurship
area, IIMB.

Shadab Hassan - A Young Social Entrepreneur Is Truly Changing The Education Status Quo Of Indian Villages

Shadab Hassan is a much respected young social entrepreneur. His school provides free education to poor and orphaned children through his social venture - SPEAK. IIM Ranchi is one of the many institutes that have partnered with him in his endeavor. He believes that "In social work, there are no competitors, only colleagues".

Shadab says "What we expect from people is to do what they can, with what they have, wherever they are because that’s exactly what we do".

Sahiba Sethi from IndianWeb2 talks to Shadab about his journey of being social entrepreneur and his plans and future strategies for promositing his social venture 'Speak'.

Tell me something about your education, early life and past avatars.

I   graduated in Functional English from St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi (Jharkhand) then did my MBA from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and then registrered for a Ph.D. in Management from Ranchi University, Ranchi. Despite the early financial hardship my parents faced, by the time I was born things had changed – and changed for better. They sent me to the best schools they could and made sure I did not have to go through what they went through as kids.

Once I completed my MBA I did not opt for a job and decided to start my own school instead, in my native village Brambe (20kms from Ranchi). Along with it I also started a small initiative called SPEAK under which I used to conduct workshops on effective communication for school children, graduates and post graduate students studying in different schools and colleges around Ranchi.

What was your purpose to start H.High School, Brambe

My father had a very tough childhood as a kid. He sold balloons and candies while still in school, and with that money he used to buy flour on his way back home and them my grandmother used to cook chapatis. So imagine how things would have been on holidays! Despite the struggle my father managed to find his way up, completed school, went to college and finally reached a decent position in life. But most of his friends and their children who lived in Brambe continued to live a similar life which my father had gone through.

To this I felt they deserved an equal chance to live a life I was fortunate to be blessed with. This is when I decided to do the little I could to help them get a life they deserve and education I felt was the most efficient way to achieve it.

How are you bringing a change in the lives of people in the village ?

We are using the school as an instrument to bring about the much needed social change in the area. We aren't just teaching kids in school but we are also grooming and training them on how to lead a respectable life.

Education was nowhere to be found in the list of priorities of the people staying in and around the villages of Brambe. They were happy with the fact that their children were ‘going’ to school, irrespective of the fact that whether they were learning or not. We tried to change that. We tried to help them realize the difference between going to school and learning in school. We went door to door helping people understand what good education could do to them and their children. With months of persuasion and counselling, the kids started coming to school. We had kids who did not even know how to use a toilet because they never got a chance to use one. We had to begin with basic things like ‘potty-training’ followed by basic cleanliness and hygiene sessions and for little kids. Now that they were regular, we used these kids as a bridge to connect with their parents

During our visits to these villages we realized that there were a lot of orphan an single parent kids who were not able to come to school because of financial limitations. We started getting all such kids to school and taught them absolutely free of cost. The idea was to make sure that no kids in the nearby villages stays off from school because of financial problem.

We at H.H.High School, Brambe also conduct free health check-up camps every year for all the children and their families. With this we try to diagnose/ check problems (if any) at an early stage so that those can be taken care of at comparatively lesser expense.

Being the first school in Jharkhand to start a LIVE Classroom (online classes) we try to give our kids every possible exposure a kid of their age should be getting. We believe a school in a village need not look or behave like one. We try to make our kids aware of all that is happening around them in the world. We screen movies, conduct quizzes, provide sports and games facilities. Through our Wonder Over Web initiative we make them talk to kids from different parts of the world. All this to help in the all round development of a kid.

Once these kids are moulded in the right way, they become our ambassadors and carry our message back home. They are the ones who initiate change in their respective houses. That’s how the real change begins. We call this the ‘Chain of Change’.

 

What makes a person take up social entrepreneurship at such a young age when you feel like enjoying all the luxuries, you have a wife, kids, etc?

Like I always say, every social initiative has a story behind it. Some are driven by experiences one faces in his own life or they draw inspiration from the struggle of others. In my case, it was the latter.

But having said that I strongly feel that working for a social initiative, in no way means one cannot enjoy the ‘luxuries’ of life. Luxury again is a relative term and the kind of families we are dealing with, we are indeed leading a ‘luxurious’ life. We eat what we wish to, we wear what we feel like, we travel wherever we want to. I think that’s too much of a luxury already.

What are your future projects?

We are planning to upgrade the school upto +2 level. We are trying our best to start intermediate commerce and intermediate arts from the coming session onwards (2015-16).

Along with this we are also working on starting a vocational training centre for the widows of the nearby villages so that they start paying for their children’s fee.

What a country like India needs to make sure that each citizen is educated?

A little realization and adding of small bits by each one of us. In a country like ours I feel there I a willingness to bring about a change but most of us are never able to begin because we keep waiting for the right occasion. Instead we should make an occasion right by starting right away. What we expect from people is to do what they can, with what they have, wherever they are because that’s exactly what we do.

Shadab Hassan speaks at TED event -

Kerala To Build Largest Social Entrepreneurship Network For Women

Men and Women should be treated equally. We all have this theoretical learning in life but when it comes to applying the theory to practice many of just simply fail. Entrepreneurs always have it tough but when you’re a woman entrepreneur, your life becomes ten times more difficult. In order to make women entrepreneurs’ life easy and encourage more and more women to take the entrepreneurship path, the Kerala Government has decided to set up India’s largest social entrepreneurship network of women.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is scheduled to launch the programme ‘Sandesh One’ on Monday, 12^th January in Kerala. The programme will be a network of thousand plus women and try to generate mass employment at grassroots level by promoting various micro enterprises. The programme has been initiated by Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) under the state’s Social Justice Department.

According to KSWDC’s Managing Director PTM Sunish, “World is witnessing a social enterprise movement. Unlike conventional industries, social enterprise is about developing solutions against pressing societal challenges. The Sandesh programme is designed to achieve this target.” The statement was given to PTI.

Under the programme, some 1000 plus women entrepreneurs from village panchayats will be selected and given a six month long residential training under the aegis of IL&FS Company and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. IL&FS is a major skill development company in India.

After the completion of their training in entrepreneurial skills and knowledge management, these entrepreneurs will be encouraged to open ‘Sandesh One Centres’ in all panchayats of the state. The entrepreneurs will showcase projects in areas such as water management, high-tech agriculture, waste management, safety solutions etc. in each of the Sandesh One Centres. All these micro enterprise projects and high-end solutions will help the entrepreneurs in positively influencing the society and improving the quality of lives.

The centre will also work towards providing technology solutions to the concerned entrepreneurs and even help them kick start enterprises in respective areas. They will act as a catalyst of socio-economic development in the country.  The Sandesh centres will also try to help the unemployed youth of their locality to come up with attractive micro enterprises.

According to Sunish, “ Sandesh entrepreneurs, who hold the right for all these solutions, can make money as professional consultants for setting up micro-enterprises and by selling products and solutions.”

The selected entrepreneurs under the programme will also go through a product orientation programme apart from the residential training. The product orientation programme will work towards making the entrepreneurs aware about the products and services offered by the Sandesh network.

According to Sunish, the project demands zero investment from the government. “The state government and KSWDC will play the role of just facilitators. The KSWDC will arrange loans for their training and setting up centres. We will also provide them promotional support and tie up with other stakeholders in the government.”

Kerala has always been a forerunner in encouraging women empowerment initiatives.  The state has launched initiatives such as She-Taxi and Kudumbashree, a community based poverty reduction programme in the past.

 

Kerala To Build Largest Social Entrepreneurship Network For Women

Men and Women should be treated equally. We all have this theoretical learning in life but when it comes to applying the theory to practice many of just simply fail. Entrepreneurs always have it tough but when you’re a woman entrepreneur, your life becomes ten times more difficult. In order to make women entrepreneurs’ life easy and encourage more and more women to take the entrepreneurship path, the Kerala Government has decided to set up India’s largest social entrepreneurship network of women.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is scheduled to launch the programme ‘Sandesh One’ on Monday, 12^th January in Kerala. The programme will be a network of thousand plus women and try to generate mass employment at grassroots level by promoting various micro enterprises. The programme has been initiated by Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) under the state’s Social Justice Department.

According to KSWDC’s Managing Director PTM Sunish, “World is witnessing a social enterprise movement. Unlike conventional industries, social enterprise is about developing solutions against pressing societal challenges. The Sandesh programme is designed to achieve this target.” The statement was given to PTI.

Under the programme, some 1000 plus women entrepreneurs from village panchayats will be selected and given a six month long residential training under the aegis of IL&FS Company and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. IL&FS is a major skill development company in India.

After the completion of their training in entrepreneurial skills and knowledge management, these entrepreneurs will be encouraged to open ‘Sandesh One Centres’ in all panchayats of the state. The entrepreneurs will showcase projects in areas such as water management, high-tech agriculture, waste management, safety solutions etc. in each of the Sandesh One Centres. All these micro enterprise projects and high-end solutions will help the entrepreneurs in positively influencing the society and improving the quality of lives.

The centre will also work towards providing technology solutions to the concerned entrepreneurs and even help them kick start enterprises in respective areas. They will act as a catalyst of socio-economic development in the country.  The Sandesh centres will also try to help the unemployed youth of their locality to come up with attractive micro enterprises.

According to Sunish, “ Sandesh entrepreneurs, who hold the right for all these solutions, can make money as professional consultants for setting up micro-enterprises and by selling products and solutions.”

The selected entrepreneurs under the programme will also go through a product orientation programme apart from the residential training. The product orientation programme will work towards making the entrepreneurs aware about the products and services offered by the Sandesh network.

According to Sunish, the project demands zero investment from the government. “The state government and KSWDC will play the role of just facilitators. The KSWDC will arrange loans for their training and setting up centres. We will also provide them promotional support and tie up with other stakeholders in the government.”

Kerala has always been a forerunner in encouraging women empowerment initiatives.  The state has launched initiatives such as She-Taxi and Kudumbashree, a community based poverty reduction programme in the past.