Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2017-18, a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), celebrated India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises, which intends to bring long-term solutions to India’s social needs.
The grand finale of the program will be held on January 6th, 2018, at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C).The event shall be attended by individuals from various sectors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem comprising social entrepreneurs, students, corporate, impact investors, and members of the academic sector from all over the country.
TSEC 2017 edition had received over 400 registrations from across India, out of which 205 met all the eligibility criteria and moved to the next round of the competition. The impact sectors being agriculture, food and dairy; healthcare, water and sanitation; technology and development; education & skills development; housing; handicrafts; and energy and micro-finance/financial inclusion, amongst a few. The ventures were judged on three parameters them being :
Business Model,
Social Impact and
Sustainability.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at IITM Research Park, Chennai, on the 21st November. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the youth to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and members of the academic field who have established their own outstanding ventures touching the lives of thousands ..
The panel of speakers was graced with the presence of esteemed entrepreneurs including Mr.Gaurav Kapoor: (Serial Social Entrepreneur), Ms.Geethanjali Radhakrishnan (Founder & Director – Adiuvo Diagnostics Private Limited), Ms.Sabarinath C Nair (Founder CEO at Skillveri), Mr.Kalyan Sivasailam (CEO – 5C Network), Mr,Pradeep Thangappan (Founder – Enability Foundation) and Dr Anand (Founder FIB-SOL Life Technologies Pvt. Ltd )
The seminar commenced following a welcome address by Mr Gaurav Kapoor. Mr. Gaurav Kapoor emphasized on the subject of being a social entrepreneur he added and we quote “Being social doesn’t just mean being on the social media but also being Social in the true sense of the word. A social entrepreneur is a person who pursues novel applications that have the potential to solve community-based problems. These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives”.
Mr. Sabarinath C the Founder CEO of Skillveri Training Solutions Private Limited,spoke about his venture which helps in addressing India’s Skill Gap. Skillveri enables better quality delivery of practical vocational skill training at significantly lesser costs through its innovative, scalable platform of multi-skill simulators. The Venture has recently graduated from IIT Madras’ Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI). During current times Skillveri has established itself as a market leader in the sector with a range of welding-training products and new offerings like spray painting, gold -jewelry soldering and medical skills.
Mr. Kalyan Sivasailam (CEO – 5C Network) shared his experience about his journey as an entrepreneur. 5c Network being a technologically driven advanced telehealth platform focusing on Remote Radio diagnosis, offers the highest quality radiological interpretations at the fastest possible time. They connect the best radiologists to hospitals and diagnostic centers, thus solving the problem concerning lack of qualified radiologists at every hospital or diagnostic centers,. It is their innovative technology and business model, that makes 5C Network unique in the telehealth platform. They are India’s first diagnostic network, and their vision is to bridge India’s healthcare divide.
Lastly Mr. Pradeep Thangappan the Founder of Enability Foundation For Rehabilitation, spoke about his venture which focuses on providing indigenous and affordable assistive technology solutions for rehabilitation workers, teachers, schools and resource centers. Their product iGest, captures gestures of children with cerebral palsy and converts them into a dictionary of sentences.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at T-Hub, Hyderabad November 20th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the youthto come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who having established their own outstanding ventures and having an impact on the lives of thousands ..
The panel of speakers consisted of an esteemed entrepreneurs Mr. Suman Mukhopadhyay,Director
of Banglanatokdotcom ,Mr. K.C .Mishra, Founder E-Kutir, Mr.Binayak Acharya- Founder,Tatvagyan ,Mr. Amar Kr Jamdhiar- Founder &CEOProsperita Medi360 Pvt Ltd, Ms.Ambika Satpathy- Co Founder,Zoofresh and Mr.Sanjib Parida – Founder,Orbonix.

Mr. Suman Mukhopadhay chaired the session highlighting Social Entrepreneurship and the relevance of smart solutions to solve development challenges. He emphasized on the fact that today the social Entrepreneurs have a number of opportunities in their disposal and as such should be equipped to handle any situation and innovation that ultimately will lead to a solution as was mentioned earlier in the session by Mr. K.C .Mishra, Founder E-Kutir.

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by the students and faculty members.

The Thirteen outreach program took place at St Xavier’s College, Patna on the 10th November 2017. There were about more than 75 students were present at the event . The program started with a welcome note by Secretary of BEA , Mr Abhisek Singh followed by a speech delivered by Mr Soujit Das,INVENT–IIMCIP providing an overview on IDEATION, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INCUBATION at IIMCIP under the INVENT Program.
Mr Abhisek Singh chaired the session giving an introduction about IIMCIP & BEA Collaboration for emerging start-ups of Bihar . Mr Adarsh Srivastav from Green Agrevolution shared his experience and also how they were being helped by IIMCIP.

Eleventh outreach program conducted by IIMCIP took place at NSHM, Kolkata on 1st November 2017.Graced by the presence of 50 participants attending the program. The program started with a welcome note by Dean of the Institute.
Later Mr Gaurav Kapoor,Head INVENT –IIMCIP delivered a speech providing an overview of Social Entrepreneurship, Ideation and Incubation process under INVENT Program.
When it comes to social entrepreneurship, India is often referred to as the epicenter of impact investing, and the world’s laboratory for testing new ideas was the view shared by Mr. Gaurav Kapoor,a he affirmed the fact being social entrepreneurs can be described as visionaries who solve prevalent problems. Social entrepreneurs should be obsessed with sustainability, provide solutions which are environment friendly, making the best use of local resources, ensure the growth of the rural ecosystem, exploit the power of cooperatives, promoting local industry and community-driven initiatives.
The audience were highly engaged in the programme and actively participated in the same. The programme was a grand success and acquired positive responses from enthusiastic individuals from various sectors.

The Twelfth outreach program took place at ADAMAS University on the 10th November 2017. There were about more than 100 participants . The program started with a welcome note by University Dean ,DR. SHYAMAL KUMAR PABI.
Mr Gaurav Kapoor, Head INVENT –IIMCIP delivered a speech providing an overview of the Entrepreneurship Awareness Program. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Journey of a Social Entrepreneur and its Challenges’. The panel comprised of Mr Rajib Sengupta Founder Arogya Medtech Pvt Ltd and Mr Prantik Sinha Founder Agasthya Buyont Pvt Ltd along with Mr. Debayan Biswas from Agastya Buoyant who has been closely working with many salvaging companies and diving training institutes, across the country, providing training on use of underwater lift bags.
Mr Prantik Sinha Founder of Agastya Buyont while speaking about his venture mentioned that Agastya Buoyant Pvt Ltd,was looking forward to gain expertise in design and development of inflatable’s for different field of applications in India. He further affirmed that they are the leading manufacturer, engaged in offering a wide range of Trash Boom, Underwater Lift Bag and Gas Storage Balloons. Later in the day Mr Rajib Sengupta vividly described t Arogya Medtech describing it as a scalable solution for neuro -imaging which will change brain scans world-wide, cerebros for on site brain scanning. According to the founder his product is a Low-cost, Portable, Radiation Free, Non-Invasive, Multi-modal Brain-scanning device as wearable head-gear integrated with a cloud based Tele Neuro-platform.
The audience were highly engaged in the program and actively participated in the same. The program was a grand success and acquired positive responses from enthusiastic individuals from various sectors

Trustlaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service, which connects NGOs and social enterprises with free legal advice and research from the best law firms and in-house legal teams around the world. They work with over 4,000 members in over 175 countries, including over 3,000 NGOs and social enterprises and over 120,000 lawyers from top law firms and in-house legal teams. Their lawyers provide advice on the range of transactional matters that might arise for an organization, including intellectual property, structuring, HR issues, drafting or reviewing partnership agreements, contracts, templates, cross border legal research etc. To get an idea of some of their work, we encourage you to look at the Impact Award video, Innovation Award video and the Collaboration Award videos from the 2017 TrustLaw Awards.
The workshop was undertaken by Mr Simit Bhagat, Program Officer, Asia at Thomson Reuters Foundation .Attended by 8 incubates present there for the workshop being Medi360, R C Hobbytech, Growvill Education, NexConnect Ventures, BigCells Technologies, Bongiyo Gramin Krishi Udyog, Onganic Foods and Sanjevani Khamar.
Mr Bhagat spoke about how they help the organisations to connect with different legal matters if any. The participants were given an opportunity to speak about their existing business model and share the legal challenges they are facing currently. Mr, Bhagat provided practical tools and techniques to help participants solve legal matters, shared ideas validated some ideas shared by the incubates and provided support all the while to manage their product development process.
The workshop ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the participants but faculty as well.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at T-Hub, Hyderabad on November 20th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness about social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the youth to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and members of academia having established their own outstanding ventures having an impact on the lives of thousands .
The panel of speakers comprised of esteemed entrepreneurs including Mr, Gaurav Kapoor: (Serial Social Entrepreneur), Mr. Brig P Ganesham Founder – President, Mr. Palle Srujana Prashant Lingam Co-Founder, Bamboo House India; Dr. Praveen Kumar SecretaryTelangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS).
The seminar commenced following a welcome address by Mr Gaurav Kapoor, emphasizing on what it means to be social entrepreneur he added and we quote “Being social doesn’t just mean being on the social media but also being Social in the true sense of the word. A social entrepreneur is a person who pursues novel applications that have the potential to solve prevalent community-based problems. These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives”.
Brig P Ganesham Founder – President, Palle Srujana spoke about villagers who have their own knowledge and ways of expression. Stating facts that traditional knowledge of the villagers has been ignored and the rural people are not able to cope with modern knowledge being disruptive. Its urban populations responsibility to bring their usefulknowledge back by engaging in conversation with the rural people. The speaker said and we quote “The whole world is run by the people and for the people, henceforth we shouldn’t be dependent on the machine, we should extend our hand and help the farmers”. He mentioned that to become a social entrepreneur one needs to first become a coachable individual and have the right kind of skills set.
Later Mr. Prashant Lingam Co-Founder, Bamboo House India spoke about his journey in social entrepreneurship. Bamboo House India is a social enterprise established by two first generation entrepreneurs Prashant Lingam ( Management Graduate) and Aruna Kappagantula (Science Graduate) in the year 2008 with an aim of utilizing bamboo as an economic driver for providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to rural and tribal communities dependent on bamboo for livelihoods and at the same time utilize bamboo as a eco friendly substitute for wood , steel, iron steel and plastic thus establishing the – Bamboo House in Hyderabad.
Lastly spoke Dr. Praveen Kumar Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) about the zeal a social entrepreneur should have. He emphasized on the fact that a social entrepreneur should be ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.
The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by students and faculty members.

SMART FIFTY :IMCIP & DST(Department of Science and Technology) launches Smart Fifty which is aligned to ‘Start-Up India’ movement and aims to promote socio-economic development in India. Smart Fifty is probably the biggest Start-Up hunt in India to identify, recognize and reward aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs. The platform will focus on innovative ideas which can transform India from a socio-economic perspective, urging participants to present solutions that are SMART(Sustainable, Motivating, Affordable, Responsible and above all,Transformative).

The program will emphasize on  India’s need for smart solution, what is Smart solutions, and what are the Investment opportunities available for the startups. SMART FIFTY outreach Program at 91 springboard Mumbai . Time: 4 P.M-6 P.M Date: 18th November,2017. For any Query mail to : henna.jaireth@iimcip.org

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group and Bihar Entrepreneur Association hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at Chanakya National Law University on 22 July 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. On 21^st July 2017 we had organized a business plan pitching session for social entrepreneurs in Bihar. 80 startups had applied for this and only 20 startups were shortlisted to participate in this event.

The speakers of this seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Mr Abhishek Singh, Secretary General – Bihar Entrepreneur Association who spoke about how BEA was formed and the kind of work they are doing in the state of Bihar. He mentioned, “ We are a regional coalition of entrepreneurs, business and community leaders, organizations and local government dedicated to provide start-ups of Bihar with access to nationwide tools and resources that will help them scale up.”  He also spoke about the Bihar Startup Yatra’s which they have been organizing in partnership with the Department of Industries, Govt. of Bihar since 2011.

Capt. Amitabh, Head (Skill Development), CSR – Tata Steel, Spoke about the initiatives taken up by the Tata Group . He said, “Truly imbibing the ethos set by our founder JN Tata, as a responsible corporate citizen, we believe community to be the very purpose of our existence. Tata Steel’s commitment towards CSR dates back for more than 100 years and is known for it nationally and globally.”

Gaurav Kapoor, Head (INVENT) – IIM Calcutta Innovation Park spoke about who is a social entrepreneur and how to identify gaps and create a business opportunity out of it. He said, “India is a vast country with humongous challenges in almost every social sector. The government can make policies and provide the infrastructure, however, the actual change will be brought in by the people themselves. It is time that the youth takes on the baton and assumes responsibility to solve problems impacting the masses, especially the rural population, which is where the larger chunk of our population lives. He further said, “The startup ecosystem is evoking entrepreneurial talent and if the youth takes up entrepreneurship seriously, it wont be long before we see some amazing ideas come forward and create sustainable enterprises while solving some massive problems. Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is one such initiative.”

Mr. Vikram Duggal, Unitus Seed Fund spoke about the funding opportunities available to start-ups in the social entrepreneurship space.

Mr Kaushlendra, Co-founder Samriddhi and President Bihar Entrepreneur Association spoke about the scope of social entrepreneurship in Bihar & Jharkand. He also explained to the audience the importance of technical knowledge.

Mr Suman Mukhopadhyay, Director – Banglanatak.com spoke about the challenges and Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship. He further mentioned, “The diversity of ideas, background, age and gender of existing and potential entrepreneurs who participated in the pitching session was very impressive. Energy of the youth and their willingness to venture into unchartered territory with an intention to deliver common good is an indicator of evolving social Entrepreneurship in the State.”

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session and the names of the top 3 winners of the Business Plan Pitching Session held the previous day were declared.

The following teams were the winners:

TakGi: They are bridging the gap between the retailer and wholesaler for sourcing medicines, which is a major pain point, by assigning a dedicated staff who is required to source the medicines on a daily or weekly basis.

The Ganna Cafe: The Ganna cafe provides freshly prepared hygienic and healthy sugarcane juice through a vending cart. This is done through a motorized machine in a single crush process. The ganna juice which they provide is hygienic, healthy and cost effective i.e. at par with the current market rate.

R-Labs: They help engineering students to test their robotic programming on high end, state of art Robots which are located at various premium universities in Europe.

‘SMART FIFTY‘: IIMCIP & DST(Department of Science and Technology)launches Smart Fifty which is aligned to ‘Start-Up India’ movement and aims to promote socio-economic development in India. Smart Fifty is probably the biggest Start-Up hunt in India to identify, recognize and reward aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs. The platform will focus on innovative ideas which can transform India from a socio-economic perspective, urging participants to present solutions that are SMART(Sustainable, Motivating, Affordable, Responsible and above all,Transformative).

The program will emphasize on Smart solutions, Challenges of India, how smart solutions can help transform India and why entrepreneurship alone can transform India.

SMART FIFTY outreach Program at Ecospace Business Park, Block 4B Action Area II New Town. Time: 4 P.M-6 P.M Date: 15th November,2017. For any Query mail to : henna.jaireth@iimcip.org

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with MEDMOC, Government of Mizoram announced the launch of MIZORAM KAILAWN on the 18th July’2017, to promote and develop entrepreneurship in Mizoram starting with the first business plan contest in Mizoram.

The business plan contest has been conceived to ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst the people of Mizoram which will eventually lead to growth and prosperity in Mizoram.

To know more about the contest and to apply click here

Last Date to Apply: 31st August’2017

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) in association with Rotary Club of Calcutta Renaissance – RI District 3291, conducted the INVENT Social Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme on the 11th of June’2017 at Rotary Sadan – Kolkata.

The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges.

The event began with an opening address by Mr. Chirabrata Mazumdar, President- Rotary Club of Calcutta Renaissance. Mr Gaurav Kapoor, Head- INVENT (IIMCIP) presented a talk on social entrepreneurship- what is it and innovative startups in the social entrepreneurship space. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Journey of Social Entrepreneur- its Challenges’. The panelist comprised of F&B company owner, Debayan Biswas from North Bengal speaking on his venture MOMOS on Wheels which has successfully innovated frozen momos with a life span of 9 months and is working with unemployed women rejected by society; Prof Somprakash Bandyopadhyay, Mentor of ‘NexConnect Venture’ a unified digital teaching-learning platform that seeks to provide a quality learning environment to every child/student in both rural and urban areas; and Mr Sandip Datta, Senior representative from ‘IKure’, which has a vision to provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare using technological intervention.

The audience were highly engaged in the programme and actively participated in the same. The programme was a grand success and acquired positive responses from enthusiastic individuals from various sectors.

Sixth INVENT outreach programme was held at GMIT , Baruipur on Monday , May 15, 2017.   There were about 100 participants including students and faculty members  from different colleges  of Baruipur.  The programme kick-started with the welcome note  by  the Chairman of the College.This was followed by an overview on the INVENT program , Social Entrepreneurship and “Ideation & Creating Business Plan”  for the budding entrepreneurs by Mr Soujit Das of IIMCIP. Mr Prantik Sinha of Agastya Buyont and Mr Biswajit Dey of Edurade,  two entrepreneurs who are incubated at IIMCIP shared  their journey so far-challenges faced, milestones achieved. A session was conducted where the students displayed their project models and earned valuable inputs from the IIMCIP team members. Audience actively participated in the  sessions conducted and the programme received positive responses from enthusiastic budding entrepreneurs.

The 4-day workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses, started on the 31^st of May’ 2017 with 15 participants from different parts of the country.
The programme delved into not only theoretical concepts but also practical tools and techniques to help participants generate innovative product/service ideas, validate them and manage their product development process. It included Experiential Learning Methodology (ELM) using a blend of classroom lectures, presentations, case studies, group discussions and hands-on exercises.

The participants were at the beginning given an opportunity to speak about their existing business model and share the challenges they are facing. Through the span of next three days participants were exposed to the different facets of innovation & entrepreneurship-Innovation Basics, Customer value propositions, Ideation Technique, Design Thinking, Marketing and Branding, Business Model Canvas, Financing Essentials and Presentation Skills.

On the last day the teams presented their business models based on their learning, after being given hands-on experience on how to bring innovation in their existing ventures.

The workshop helped the participants to look at their businesses from a whole new perspective and helped them to think differently by giving pivotal importance to the customer’s pain points. The workshop particularly assisted Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) not only to find the ‘right idea’ to grow their business but also to improve their overall innovativeness.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at Pacchunga University College on March 31st, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Dr. C. Vanlalramsanga, IES, Secretary Planning Department and Alternate Chairman of Mizoram State Entrepreneurship Development Monitoring Committee (MEDMOC) who spoke about the various initiatives which the Mizoram government has been taking up on Entrepreneurship Development. He also urged the students to take inspiration from these social entrepreneurs so that they can take up entrepreneurship as a career option.

Prof. C D Mitra, IIM Calcutta spoke about who is a social entrepreneur and how to identify gaps and create a business opportunity out of it. He said, “Being an entrepreneur is not only about starting your own venture, It is essentially finding a gap between what is and what should be. The moment you find a smart way to bridge that gap connected to a social problem and you create a business opportunity, you become a social entrepreneur.” He urged the students to innovatively solve some of the unsolved problems in the state.

Mr. Vikram Duggal, Unitus Seed Fund said, “There are so many unresolved problems, especially in the North-Eastern regions of India. Social Entrepreneurs have tremendous opportunity to create profitable businesses and impact lives of underserved masses at same time. He also added that at Unitus Seed fund they need to see traction, among other things, before investing in any startup. Ten of the portfolio companies have raised series A and two have raised series B funding.

Mr Debayan Biswas, Founder: Momo on Wheels said, “All north eastern states are filled with opportunities which contribute towards the development of nation’s economic growth. We just need to be aware of these opportunities in the state in order to solve some of the social challenges.”

Mr Gaurav Kapoor, Innokul, spoke about the various social issues plaguing our nation in the health, environment, education, population and employment sectors and how youth can take cognizance of these issues and come up with relevant indigenous solutions. He inspired the youth with videos of live examples of social enterprises that have solved some mammoth social challenges in their respective sectors. He also gave the audience a deep insight into the concept of social enterprises and how they function.

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the students but faculty as well.

A business plan pitching session was conducted by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park at the Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit on 21 March 2017. Over 100+ startups had applied initially through an online application process and from there 15 startups were shortlisted for the final pitching session.

The Judging panel comprised of members from the startup ecosystem (IIM Calcutta, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, YourStory, Nasscom, F6S).

Top three teams were awarded a total of 1 lakh cash prize. The winners were:

The 4-day workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses, started on the 16^th of March’2017 with 22 participants from different parts of the country.

The programme delved not only into theoretical concepts but also practical tools and techniques to help participants generate innovative product/service ideas, validate them and manage their product development process. It included Experiential Learning Methodology (ELM) using a blend of classroom lectures, presentations, case studies, group discussions and hands-on exercises.

The participants, a mix of small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, were given exposure to the different facets of innovation & entrepreneurship-Innovation Basics, Customer value propositions, Ideation Technique, Design Thinking, Marketing and Branding, Business Model Canvas, Financing Essentials and Presentation Skills.

The workshop helped the participants acquire necessary skills to successfully manage innovation in their business. It particularly assisted Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) not only to find the ‘right idea’ to grow their business but also to improve their overall innovativeness.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at Shiv Nadar University on April 8th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Prof. Partha Roy, Professor at School of Management and Entrepreneurship (SME), Shiv Nadar University. He was very happy with this initiative which they have conducting for the last three years.

Prof. C D Mitra, IIM Calcutta spoke about who is a social entrepreneur and how to identify gaps and create a business opportunity out of it. He said, “The world is full of social problems which need to be solved. An entrepreneur who tries to solve these problems through his venture is a social entrepreneur.” He also conducted a small session with the students where he asked them to identify some problems in the country and think of a solution to overcome the problems. The students were very enthusiastic and came up with problems like – Pollution, Illiteracy, Mental Health, Poor conditions of the farmers, infant mortality etc.

Neha Arora, Founder – Plantet Abled spoke about her venture and how she is helping the community with people having disabilities. She gave an insight to the audience about the lives and challenges of people with disabilities and hoped that they would now be empathetic and observant about how simple things can be path breaking for someone.

Anuroop and Ashish Agarwal, Founder: Talento Consulting, shared with the audience about their startup journey. Their company Talento Consulting is a Skill Development Company providing end to end solutions to improve productivity for businesses and enhance employability. They concluded by saying, “A skilled India is the medium to reap the benefits of our demographic dividend and to become a developed country”

Kapil Mandawewala, Founder – Edible Routes, shared with the audience about how he started his venture after returning from the U.S as a consultant.  Kapil had a keen interest in the agri-business sector which helped him to start Edible Routes. He mentioned that, “We don’t know where the food we eat is grown or what chemicals are used to grow it.” His organization – Edible Routes – conducts kitchen gardening workshops for adults and school children and they also set up kitchen gardens to help people grow their own vegetables and reconnect with nature.

Dr Avijit Chakrabarthi, Founder – Bindubot, started by giving a simple definition of a social enterprise. He said, “To combine a social objective with a business formula is a social enterprise.” He also mentioned that. “Unless there is passion in the entrepreneur, the venture will not work.” Dr Chakrabarthi also spoke about how Bollywood is the biggest social enterprise in our country as it highlights (though it’s movies) some of the most prevalent social issues like – Poverty, unemployment, homelessness and other social issues.

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the students but faculty as well.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at XIM, Bhubaneswar in partnership with e-Kutir and PNV foundation as part of the GSIS (Glocal Social  on February 18th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

The speakers consisted of an esteemed panel of entrepreneurs including  Mr. K M Mishra, Founder, e-Kutir; Smita Agarwal – Head CSR, Tata Steel; Mr. Jaynarayan Pujapanda, Founder, Sahaya Foundation; Mr. Joe Madiath – Founder Gram Vikas, and Tanaya Patnaik, Executive Director Sambad Group.

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Mr Satyabrata Rath, Co-founder PNV Foundation emphasized on what it really means to be social and he added that “Being social doesn’t just mean being on the social media but also being Social in the true sense of the word.”

Ms Smita Agarwal, Head CSR – Tata Steel, spoke about the activities of Tata Steel. She said, “In line with the spirit of Jamsetji Tata, we have picked up issues in the communities around us and tried to find solutions to them. In  this way we have created projects to address multiple aspects of community life and better it.”

Mr. Jaynarayan Pujapanda, Founder, Sahaya Foundation shared with the audience his inspiring journey from a sales person to an entrepreneur. He mentioned that to become a social entrepreneur one needs to first become an entrepreneur and have the right kind of skills set. He also spoke about how Paris Bakery, his profit venture has helped him to establish Sahaya Foundation.

Mr K C Mishra, Founder – e-Kutir spoke about how social business is the need of the hour not only in extending marketing based principles but also a career opportunity for the youngsters.

Dr. Birupaskshya Dixit, Practical Action spoke about how his organization is supporting social enterprises in Orrisa. His organization finds out what people are doing and helps them to do it in a better way. Through technology they enable poor communities to build on their skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions- transforming their lives forever and protecting the world around them.

Tanaya Patnaik, Executive Director Sambad Group interacted with the students and expressed her views on social entrepreneurship. She spoke about her ventures like – Sambad School of Media and Culture, Kanak News and Sambad newspapers and how these have contributed to social activities.

The post lunch session started with 10 pitches from various entrepreneurs to a panel of judges whose ideas were shortlisted by XIMB and PNV foundation. There were many ideas which were generated to address the problems in various sectors like:  agriculture, e-commerce solutions, healthcare services, education and other social problems of society. Three best ideas were awarded by the jury members.

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the students but faculty as well.

The 10th International Entrepreneurship Summit was conducted at the IIM Calcutta campus on 5th February 2017.

The conclave was inaugurated by Prof Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. 600+ students and entrepreneurs from the local region attended the event.

Mr P. P Sengupta, Chief General Manager, SBI was one of the chief speakers of the day. He shared with the audience, a banker’s perspective in creating an investable business.

This was followed by a highly interesting and informative talk by Mrs. Mridula Ramesh, Joint Managing Director, Southern Roadways Limited & Executive Director, Sundaram Textiles, on Cleantech Technologies.

Dr. Larry Cox, Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship, Pepperdine University gifted the audience a warm and interactive session about creativity and innovation.

The audience also had the golden opportunity to hear Dr. Kanchan Gaba, Chairperson, International Institute for Self-Reliance, share her experiences which was praiseworthy and highly motivating.

This was followed by the ‘Grill’ where 10 entrepreneurs from the eastern region of India pitched their startup ideas to a panel of Investors.

Mr. Mohit Kapoor, Head – Alliances, Reliance Jio and Mr. Amey Mashelkar, Mentor-in-Residence, GenNext Hub spoke about Start up support ecosystem.

We were fortunate to have with us Mr. Jayesh Parekh, Managing Partner, Jungle Ventures & Co-Founder, Sony Entertainment Television, share his journey as an entrepreneur.

We also had “Idea Village” where innovative start-ups showcased and promoted their products and services in exhibition stalls.

The evening closed with the announcement of the top 10 teams of Ideas to Implementation and, lighting of lantern by the audience.

Ideas to Implementation, popularly known as I2i is an International Business Plan competition which endeavours to provide an ideal platform for budding entrepreneurs to realize their dreams by making them connect to ideas, fund and people who matter.
Prospective winners get the golden opportunity to win cash prizes worth 4.5 lakhs and Incubation support at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park.

I2i this year received huge response with 400+ entries.

23 teams were shortlisted for the semi-finals which was conducted at IIM Calcutta on 4th February 2017. This was followed by the finals on the 5th of February 2017. After an intense level of competition before a panel of highly distinguished and renowned jury, Drones Tech Lab (winners), Abhiruchi Probiotics (1st Runner Up) and Project Mudra (2nd runner up) emerged as the winning ventures, receiving prize money of Rs 2 lakhs, Rs 1.5 lakhs and Rs 1 lakh, respectively.

Drones Tech Lab is the research and development wing of EduRade – an IIM Calcutta Innovation Park incubated organisation, which is primarily engaged in manufacturing and supplying drones to farmers (with automated agriculture systems to monitor and develop their crops yields), Defense Organizations (Surveillance & Combat Drones) and also providing automated drones to health industry.

Abhiruchi Probiotics is a health and wellness company involved in developing patent protected probiotic products aimed to provide health benefits with an initial focus on providing a formulation for better management of cholesterol.

Project Mudra is involved in developing hardware and software technology for Braille based education. They also engage in delivering innovative solutions for non visual tactile data delivery to meet the growing accessibility needs of smart urban spaces. Their flagship product helps in early schooling of visually impaired students via gamified audio lessons over Braille based hardware.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC), Lavale, Pune on January 30th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

The speakers consisted of an esteemed panel of entrepreneurs including Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, Founder and CEO – Rural Relations; Mr. Ramesh Menon, a veteran journalist, author, documentary film maker and a corporate trainer and a recipient of Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism; Mr. Shekhar Prabhakar, Co-founder – Hasiru Dala Innovations; Mr. Sushanth Kodela, Co-founder – Uncancer India, and Ms. Janhavi Joshi, Co-founder – Bleetech.

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Dr. Ruchi Jaggi, Director of SIMC, who praised the initiative for bringing a social dimension to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Lokhande started off the technical sessions by recounting his journey from transforming a small idea to what is now known as Gyan Key, a rural library. The story of Mr.Lokhande is that of a humble entrepreneur, who’s passion drove the project which was a very strenuous process with no immediate returns on efforts put in. He urged aspiring innovators to create not for demand by for need.

Ramesh Menon addressed the students on the topic of why social thinking is absolutely necessary for India. “One thinks of money and more money as soon as you hear entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship seems like lost money, but that’s wrong,” Mr.Ramesh commended the youth for being full of ideas, and encouraged them to come up with interesting ideas in the social sector. “Our youth is not only looking at a better quality of life but also a better India.”

Hasiru Dala Innovations, an initiative by Mr. Shekhar Prabhakar, is his social enterprise that very cleverly changed the perception of a social group – transforming them from ‘waste-pickers’ to environmentalists. According to Mr. Prabhakar when one talks about social impact “There needs to be a quantum change in the scope of social change.”

The second half of the seminar introduced Sushant Kodela, who moved the audience with his touching and very personal story about how he overcame cancer and that experience led him to ideate platform that he hopes will change healthcare in India. “When you are facing death, your entire perspective about life changes, that’s what happened to me. I wanted to relish something and feel appreciated. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything. That bothered me. We don’t relish what we have access to. I was sure that I wasn’t going to die like this.” Being a cancer patient himself, he found that this group of individuals face many challenges in the way they have access to information or the decisions they make accordingly. “Our aim is to be along with the patient throughout the treatment. Today, we don’t do any marketing. Word of mouth worked for us. When they talk to other survivors then they get some hope.” Sushant urged the audience to start working with people who create social change to tackle social issues, “Entrepreneurs should have empathy, integrity.”

The last speaker of the day was Ms. Janhavi Joshi, who co-created an app that answered one simple problem: what if there was no music? Her innovation, Blee, allowed deaf dancers to hear music through vibrations. Although it was success, she spoke about the need for this type of technology to branch out to other aspects of life that could benefit their community. She expressed the need for technology like this, since there’s no innovation for the deaf community but there are technological advances for menial things in life. The duo’s main aim is the make affordable tech for a community that truly deserves it.

The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the students but faculty as well.

The grand finale of the fifth edition of the programme held on January 14, 2017, at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), saw Pentavalent Biosciences from Bangalore (Winner), Arogya Medtech from Kolkata (1st Runner-up), and Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO) from Mumbai (2nd Runner-up), emerge as the winning ventures, receiving prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakh, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 1.5 lakh, respectively.

This year’s edition received 600+ registrations from across India, out of which 214 met all the eligibility criteria and moved to the next round of the competition. These impact proposals were in the area of agriculture, food and dairy; healthcare, water and sanitation; technology and development; education & skills development; housing; handicrafts; and energy and microfinance/financial inclusion. The ventures were judged on three parameters – Business Model, Social Impact and Sustainability.

Pentavalent Bio Sciences Private Limited, winner of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, is a Bangalore-based social enterprise. Pentavalent Bio Sciences is a fully integrated biotech start-up that provides innovative solutions from discovery to development, leveraging cutting-edge science, cost effective molecular diagnostics and new ideas and technologies in the diagnostics market.

They are currently developing an innovative diagnostic tool using novel in-house FlapCut technology that detects tuberculosis (TB) in patients and helps doctors to prescribe patient-specific antibiotics for treatment.

Ecstatic with her win, Bhavani PV said, “This exposure was really required. The Jury’s input and mentoring helped us a lot in improving our business model. Initially it was only us who believed in our product, but Tata Social Enterprise Challenge helped us to believe that our product can reach the end user.”

First runner-up Arogya Medtech Pvt. Ltd, a Kolkata based venture, has developed a product called CEREBROS, a low-cost, less resource intensive, portable, radiation free, non-invasive, multi-modal (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Electroencephalography (EEG/EOG)) brain-scanning device in the form a wearable head-gear, optimised using a proprietary embedded system and ‘smart’ algorithms.

Rajib Sengupta, representing the venture, said, “It was an awesome experience. It’s great to know that there is such a great platform in Eastern India for social entrepreneurship. It’s good to see more and more startups in Bengal; a lot of new and innovative startups are coming up and this platform is going to give us the right impetus.”

The second runner-up position was won by Bombay Hemp Company Pvt Ltd (BOHECO) from Mumbai.  Bombay Hemp Company Pvt. Ltd (BOHECO) is India’s first industrial and medicinal hemp (cannabis) company, established in 2013. Located in Mumbai the company works with Central and State governments to assist farmers to improve their socio-economic standards by utilising cultivation of cannabis for industrial, construction and pharmaceutical purposes.

Jahan Pestonjamas, representing the venture, said, “It was a comprehensive learning experience, the environment was very comfortable and positive. The faculty and academia brought forth the knowledge and experience, and the impact investors who are very relevant to our fields have come into the fore. Also, the fact that that so many varieties of social enterprises have come together on the stage, speaks volumes about the success of the competition as a whole. And of course, it drives us to come back with a new idea and do better.”

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, said, “Over the last five years, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge has encouraged many budding entrepreneurs to grow with a vision and create positive sustainable social impact. As we reach this 5-year milestone, we are encouraged with the quality of talent and the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to make a difference from all across the country and even from overseas. We have also launched, this year, the INVENT programme in association with the Department for International Development (DFID), UK. This 3-year programme, which has a total budget of Rs. 12 crores, aims at providing seed funding support of up to Rs. 25 lakhs to for-profit social enterprise start-ups being incubated under this programme.”

The grand event also gave the audience the golden opportunity to hear Mr. Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, TATA Sons share his experiences .

Felicitating the winners, Mr. Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons, said, “Social entrepreneurship provides an opportunity to provide solutions for critical needs being faced by our society through innovation and enterprise. Tata Social Enterprise Challenge took shape five years ago, with the idea of fostering an ecosystem for early stage social start-ups, in line with our ethos of giving back to society and creating sustainable and meaningful social impact.  The tangible results seen from the ventures identified, mentored and incubated on this platform, encourage us to strengthen our efforts along with our partner IIM-C, towards creating a meaningful social impact.”

The ceremony also saw talks by inspiring speakers in the space of social entrepreneurship like Mrs Poonam Bir Kasturi, Founder, Daily Dump, Mr Sujay Santra, Founder & CEO, i-Kure Techsoft Pvt Ltd, among others.

TATA Social Enterprise Challenge 2017 gifted the audience an innovative and interactive session presented by Prof C D Mitra, Advisor –IIM Calcutta Innovation Park with some of the finalists from past edition of TATA Social Enterprise Challenge. Dr Parvez Ubed, founder- ERC Eye Care, Mr. Shashank Kumar, founder-Green Agrevolution and Mr. Abhinav Girdhar, founder-Bodhi Healthcare shared their success stories while interacting closely with the top 20 finalists of TATA Social Enterprise Challenge’2017 and the audience.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the annual event of the ‘Thinking Social Seminar’ roundtable session on the theme “Clean and Affordable energy” at Kolkata on January 12, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to showcase how the global access to modern and renewable energy and clean fuel is fundamental to meeting several challenges the world is currently facing, including poverty, food security, climate change, clean water, health and inclusive economic growth. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent power utility companies like Tata Power, Tata Cleantech Capital Limited and distinguished personalities from renewable energy sector who are well established and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.

Professor Balram Avittathur, Professor Operations Management, from IIM Calcutta, in his inaugural address spoke about why the renewable technologies are considered as clean sources of energy and how the optimal use of these resources could minimize environmental impacts, produce minimum secondary wastes and also are sustainable based on current and future economic and social societal needs.

Mr. Arunavo Mukherjee, Vice President – Advisory Services, Tata Cleantech Capital Limited shared his experience in energy industry spanning coal, natural gas and renewable sources. Mr. Mukherjee shared his experience with the Tata group since 1991 how he was instrumental in leading the Tata group effort to combat climate change across its 100 companies. Mr Mukherjee also explained how Tata Capital and International Finance Corporation have come together to form Tata Cleantech Capital Limited (TCCL) with the aim of providing the right advice and funding effective solutions. TCCL now address one of the key issues in building a sustainable framework and has now the ability to bear long-term and capital-intensive expenditure.

Dr. S.P.Gon Chowdhury, Former Director. West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, spoke about how the off-grid PV system with mini-grid concept has received renowned recognition and is now the most viable technology options for off grid energy and is also the most promising and emerging technologies to scale up in the future. He also explained how the renewable energy power generation is still relatively expensive in spite of its various advantages. So in order to make renewable energy cost effective demand side management is very important. Dr. Gon Chowdhury was also very optimistic that if the Indian government adopts this policy process, it will greatly help in making off-grid energy mainstream, which is currently not the case. Adoption of such a policy initiative would also help scale-up the off-grid market.

Mr. Vinay Jaju, COO, Onergy Solar, (a renewable energy venture), is aimed at providing complete energy solutions to eastern India, with special focus in the rural areas, which are energy deficient & economically backward. The target of Onergy solar is to create a sustainable and equitable India by providing access to clean energy by energizing rural India by promoting lighting, cooking, cold storage, solar irrigation and electrification solutions. Onergy also services corporates & institutions through its product offerings & system integration services.

Mr. Mithun Chakraborty, Assistant  General Manager, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) highlighted the ambitious Govt. target on Renewable Energy especially Solar and the challenges that Discoms are going to face in integrating large amount of distributed solar into the grid. Also, the issue of existing Power Purchase agreements which need to be handled and the effect on cross subsidies as large industrial and commercial consumers move towards solar rooftops. Further, the alternatives such as demand response and battery storage on which discoms have to work on to mitigate the challenges of infirm renewable generation.

The discussions were followed by an interactive question and answer session where the experts addressed the queries raised by the audiences on how the solar industry has given the solar companies a unique platform to distinguish themselves from the competition and have also proved how innovative they really are. The range of innovations encompasses the entire value-added chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies – from components to production to concrete applications and business models, the government’s policies and interventions on solar policy and reforms etc.

In the next session, Prof. Asok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park shared the journey of “Thinking Social” – one of the flagship event of IIM Calcutta conducted in partnership with the TATA group. Prof. Banerjee accentuated the primary objective of the event which was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to address social challenges. As part of this initiative, IIMCIP conducts several seminars, roundtables and lecture series across India, which culminates into our flagship business plan contest called – The Tata Social Enterprise Challenge. In the current year i.e. the 5th edition of the TSEC business plan contest over 200+ impact proposals of social ventures from all across the world. The snapshots of the top 20 participants of this year’s TSEC event were also presented to the audience.

The roundtable concluded with a vote of thanks followed by a press meet where the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park team comprising of Prof. Asok Banerjee, Director IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Mr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Prof. C. D. Mitra,  Advisor, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, who highlighted the role of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in social entrepreneurship space and how the ‘INVENT’ program would be addressing the challenges and barriers across the inclusive innovation lifecycle, for the benefit of up to 1m poor people at the bottom of the economic pyramiding the low income states of India and in low income countries.