Aug 12, 2016 14:15 IST
Kolkata, West Bengal, India:
- National level competition to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises
- Identified social entrepreneurs to be offered mentorship support, funding opportunities and an opportunity to pitch for incubation at the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park
The Tata group, today, announced the commencement of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, a joint initiative with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises. The endeavor of the challenge is to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and encourage sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.
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Rewards Mentorship Maximum of 20 teams will be selected for semi-finals and will be provided up to 6weeksof mentorship support, including 2 days at the IIM Calcutta campus. Funding Opportunity All teams shortlisted for the semi-finals and finals will have an opportunity to pitch to India’s largest social VCs for seed funding. Incubation The teams which make it to the grand finale will be given an opportunity to pitch for incubation at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. Cash Awards The total prize money is Rs. 6 lakhs for the top three teams. The semi-finalists will receive travel grants. |
Teams that either have an early stage venture (not older than 3 years) or a promising idea with a plan, that can create sustainable social impact in India, can submit their business plans online, by logging onto www.tatasechallenge.org. Impact Proposals (detailed Business Plans) are invited in the areas of agriculture, food and dairy, healthcare, water and sanitation, technology and development, education & skills development, housing, handicrafts, energy and micro finance / financial inclusion. The ventures will be judged on three parameters – Business Model, Social Impact and Sustainability.
The last day to submit the Impact Proposal (business plan) online is October 11, 2016. The Challenge also invites the general public to nominate, through the initiative’s website, social enterprises they know who fit the eligibility criteria.
Atul Agrawal, Sr. Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Tata Services says, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce the launch of the fifth edition of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, which has become a platform that encourages the incredibly enthusiastic population of our nation to thrive in the space of social entrepreneurship. Growing every year, the initiative has helped bring to the limelight social entrepreneurs, as well as, with expert partners, provided social start-ups an eco-system and mentoring about business techniques and private sector approaches to find solutions to social, cultural or environmental problems.”
Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director IIM Calcutta Innovation Park says, “This year’s TSEC will be even bigger with encouraging participation of other partners who would like to see social entrepreneurship at its best. We are looking for, in this episode of TSEC, social enterprises who are ready to scale up and create impact at the national level. There are funding opportunities for deserving participants.”
Tata Social Enterprise Challenge Kicks-Off Fifth Edition
