IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is hosting Startup Weekend 3.0 at IIM Calcutta Campus from 5-7 August 2016.

The 6 day entrepreneurship development programme – Nurture 2016 started on 31st May 2016 with 23 participants attending this programme from various parts of the country.

The programme included practical tools and techniques to generate innovative product ideas; validate ideas and manage product development process leading to a minimum viable product.The participants had hands-on, practical experience in developing a business plan, preparing a financial model and pitching their ideas live in front of investors and mentors from the startup ecosystem.

The participants were given exposure to the different facets of entrepreneurship – Basics of Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking & Product Development Process, Session on Intellectual Property, Branding & Promotion, Digital Marketing, Financial Projections and preparing a Financial Model, Presentation Skills and sessions on How to make an Investor’s Pitch.

On the last day some successful entrepreneurs were invited to speak about their experiences in setting up and running a business and the challenges faced by them. This motivated the participants and inspired them to kick start their entrepreneurship journey.

The fourth “Thinking Social” roundtable was organised under the aegis of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2015-16, by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) in association with the Tata group on the theme of “Financial Inclusion“. The object of this roundtable was to bring together key stakeholders in the financial services domain on a common platform and exchange ideas, highlight key issues and challenges, identify opportunities and draw out best practices.

The speakers for the day comprised venture capitalists, investors and domain experts who have rich experience in the Financial Services domain in India. The audience comprised of industry leaders, academia, entrepreneurs, consultancies and investors focused on the financial services sector.

The panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Partha Ray of IIM Calcutta. He set the context by illustrating the status of Financial Inclusion and highlighting the global initiatives that have been taken in this domain. He stated that only about 60% adults in the world have bank accounts. Prof. Ray concluded, “Financially inclusive countries tend to have a much higher growth rate.”

Prof. Ray requested the panelists to share their insights on the challenges and opportunities that exist in this domain.

Dr Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, Global Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, Tata Consultancy Services, spoke about the problems of reaching the unbanked people in society.  She explained that there are four distances in reaching the unbanked – Regional distances, Economic distances, Marginalization distances and Socio-psychological distances. She advised, “Social entrepreneurs need to examine not only the demand side but also the supply side in this domain.”

Suresh Krishna, Director, Grameen Koota pointed out that in India’s case, more than 60% of the total population has no access to banking facilities. From Grameen Koota’s experience he said, “Micro finance in the last two decades has taught us that the poor are more bankable and they maintain 100% on-time repayments.” He commented, “Financial Inclusion is very important for a peaceful society, so that everyone is gainfully and meaningfully included in it.”

Sohil Shah, Manager at Intellecap Impact Investment Network spoke about the role of technology and the current frenzy of the fintech start-ups. He said, “The financial services sector in India is in its early stage of disruptions. Consumer behavior is changing rapidly and that is where the fintech start-ups are going to play a crucial role in enabling financial inclusion.” He advised, “We need a holistic focus on increasing the financial literacy of all stakeholders, only then will we be able to increase the coverage and adoption of technology in this space.”

Sushanta Tripathy, ‎Executive Vice President at Yes Bank spoke about how the RBI and the government of India has a strong focus on the Financial Inclusion domain and the activities they have undertaken to improve effectiveness in this domain. He updated the audience that, “In 2016, the banks need to prepare a district-wise financial plan for the next 3 years covering 637 districts on 77 defined parameters.”

In the Q&A round many significant issues were discussed and addressed by the audience and the panelists.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the fourth seminar series, ‘Thinking Social’, at Shiv Nadar University (SNU), Greater Noida on 27^th February 2016. The day-long seminar sought to introduce students from top professional colleges in India to the spirit of social entrepreneurship in a rapidly evolving global economy and addressed the concerns of young, budding entrepreneurs belonging to reputed institutes in Delhi NCR. The speakers for the day comprised eminent social entrepreneurs, academicians and senior corporate executives working extensively in the Indian social entrepreneurship space.

The Seminar was formally inaugurated by Dr. Subhro Sen – Director of School of Management and Entrepreneurship & School of Extended Education and Professional Development, Shiv Nadar University.  In his opening address, Dr. Sen emphasized on the importance and significance of social entrepreneurship in the current times for the balanced upliftment of all sections of society. He thanked the participants for their presence at the event and encouraged them to imbibe the rich knowledge that comes through experience, which was to be shared by an interesting ensemble of practicing social entrepreneurs, academicians and industry thought-leaders.

Mr. Sujoy Sen from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park shared with the audience IIMC’s key contribution of promoting social entrepreneurs through their incubation cell, the vision that the organization has for the promotion of social entrepreneurship and the evolution of TSEC.  He also stressed on the importance of serving the bottom of the pyramid and the significance of boosting these sections of society.

Ms. Kirti Poonia, Head – Okhai, Tata Chemicals gave the audience an overview of the Tata Chemicals Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme and Tata Steel’s Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme.  She spoke about the Okhai Model for Women Empowerment in rural India and the training imparted to tribal women in their historic crafts such appliqué, embroidery and stiching. She shared with the students the learnings she could draw from her experience with Okhai. Besides, “Working in a social enterprise is not a purely selfless job, for you will gain leadership qualities that you can apply in any business – including realizing the importance of empathy, on the ground experience and business efficiencies – and find your passion.” In her concluding remarks she motivated the students by telling them about Jamsetji’s ethos of nation building and giving back to society, while running perfectly efficient businesses, and to “think social” before making every business decision.

Prof. Devi Vijay of IIM Calcutta gave an overview about social entrepreneurship. She spoke about the Social Entrepreneurship Academic Programme being conducted at IIM Calcutta which gives the students an opportunity to understand and solve challenges in this space. Prof. Devi Vijay spoke about the Engagements between academics, students and social enterprises. She explained how the student groups work with different social organizations to solve live problems while applying concepts learnt during their tenure at IIMC

Ms. Sumita Ghose , Founder  – Rangsutra which is a social enterprise connecting more than 2000 women artisans, emphasized the importance of persistent efforts in order to pursue the cause that you deeply and firmly believe in. Citing examples from the evolution of her company, she stressed the importance of helping women to find their self-confidence and financial independence. She also stressed the importance of involving the people at the base level in the decision making process, as this allows them to be in control in deciding the course of the business.

The next speaker was Mr. Rustam Sengupta, founder and CEO – Boond. In an electrifying speech, Mr Sengupta shared with the audience how he started his entrepreneurship journey after quitting his high-paying corporate job. The audience thoroughly enjoyed listening to his story of developing his “just a dream” into a sustainable high impact enterprise.

Two budding entrepreneurs, Prantik Sinha and Ashutosh Burnwal, whose enterprises – Agasthya Buoyant Pvt Ltd and Buddy4Study which are proposed for incubation at IIM Calcutta innovation Park demonstrated how an idea can be transformed into a viable business venture. Through the story of becoming entrepreneurs they demonstrated that it is the presence of sheer passion and commitment that will help achieve the impact on society that you wish to create.

The final session was handled by Ms. Manisha Gupta, Founder and CEO -StartUp! She cited social entrepreneurs as visionary individuals who identify a social interactive problem and figure out an innovative solution that enables a change to happen. Manisha emphasized the importance of value creation and the pursuit of happiness as fundamental building blocks for any social entrepreneur trying to make a difference.

Concluding the event, Prof. Partha Sarathi Roy of SNU thanked the speakers for sharing their inspiring stories with the students. A sentiment that was a commonly shared among the participants and the speakers was the innate requirement for social entrepreneurs and the change that they can bring to society, and that such seminars are a vital platform in ushering in that change.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is organizing a   Capacity Enhancement Workshop (Shilpa Shibir) from 28 Feb – 1 March 2016 for the Industrial Development Officers of MSMET department, West Bengal Government  to support District-Level Entrepreneurship Development.

The Capacity enhancement of WB DIC officials in 2015-16 will focus on making
participants more familiar and adept at using the key process, tools, systems and policies that the Department of MSME&T has been implementing in recent times to promote development of a better eco-system for MSME business in the state.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the third seminar series, ‘Thinking Social’, at Mizoram University, Aizwal on 22^nd February 2016. The day-long seminar sought to introduce students from top professional colleges in India to the spirit of social entrepreneurship in a rapidly evolving global economy and addressed the concerns of young, budding entrepreneurs belonging to reputed institutes in Aizwal. The speakers for the day comprised eminent social entrepreneurs, academicians and senior corporate executives working extensively in the Indian social entrepreneurship space.

The event kick-started with Prof. R Lalthanluana, Vice Chancellor of Mizoram University, delivering the inaugural address and welcoming all the dignitaries. Highlighting the institute’s keenness towards inculcating a spirit of social sensitivity and proactivity amongst its students, he spoke that they are in the process of setting up an incubator called the “Innovation Club” which would nurture startups from that region.
B Lalrinkima, Tata Trusts spoke about the work Tata Trusts have been doing in Mizoram. They are looking are supporting the livelihood sector in the state as that is where the enhancement of income can happen. Speaking about startups from Mizoram he said, “I think it’s the right time for Mizoram to start these initiatives because unlike other states in the North East, Mizoram is very peaceful. People here want to start their own ventures and I hope to see more startups from this region in the next 4-5 years.”

Suman Mukhopadhyay, Director – Banglanatak.com motivated the students to take social entrepreneurship as a career option. He explained how he left his successful corporate career and joined Banglanatak.com –a social enterprise HQed in Kolkata that works on culture-based development. He concluded by telling the students to, “Find a problem in the society, look for a solution and see if you can make money out of it.”

R Ramhmangaiha, Founder of Hnam Chhantu impressed the audience with his journey as a social entrepreneur and how he created his enterprise from scratch by sheer hard work and devotion. He has used the agricultural produce of bamboo in Mizoram and turned this into different forms of art and utility products, which is now been used by many people across the world.

Prof Margaret Ch Zama, Professor at Mizoram University and a patron of the Spastic Society of Mizoram, spoke about the efforts put in by the people to set up their society and how they are helping children with special needs, not only with their education, but also with making them self sufficient by utilizing their skills to manufacture paper cups, plates and glass made from paper.

Hasina Kharbhih, Founder of Impulse Social Enterprises, inspired the students with her motivational speech where she talked about the passion to do something different and change the world. When people have passion and when they believe in something, they can go to any extent and do what they believe in. She urged the audience to look into social issues and translate them into a business. Getting a job should not be an ultimate career choice, but the outlook should be to create jobs. She gave the example of her own area of work where she created jobs for many people in North East India thus preventing the migration of people from their homes.

Concluding on a positive note, the seminar left the audience of about 400 people, a great many of whom were students, inspired by the various stories of change and impact shared so enthusiastically by the speakers on that day.  Many students said that this was the first time they learned something about social entrepreneurship, which till now was unknown to them, and that this could be a career option for them.

The 9^th International Entrepreneurship summit was conducted at the IIM Calcutta campus on 6 February 2016.

The session was inaugurated by Biju Paul Abraham , Dean – Academic, IIM Calcutta. 500+ students and entrepreneurs from the local region attended the event.

Mr Krishnan Ganesh was the key note speaker of the day. He inspired the audience by sharing his journey about he achieved success even after many failures.

Then followed the panel discussion with 3 entrepreneurs – Mr Kallol Banerjee (Fasoos), Somenath Mukherjee from Bengal Speech and Hearing and Mr Mani Vajipaiyee from Banyan Nation, where each of the entrepreneurs spoke about their failures, successes and the hardships which they faced in their entrepreneurship Journey. The panel discussion was moderated by Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO of IIMCIP.

The Third session called – Innovation in Business – had 2 speakers Koushik Nath, VP of CISCO systems engineering and Rajesh Singhal from Brand Capital. This was followed by “The Grill” where 10 entrepreneurs from the local region pitched their startup ideas to a panel of Investors  comprising of representatives from – IvyCap Ventures, Unitus Seed Fund, Calcutta Angels and Brand Capital.

We also had an “Idea Village” where innovative start-ups showcased and promoted their products and services in exhibition stalls. University of Engineering and Management, MCKV Institute of Engineering, Swami Vivekananda group of Institutes and Egiye Bangla teams showcased their products. 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, money and people who matter.

With cash prizes worth 4.5 lakhs, Incubation support at IIP (IIM Calcutta Innovation Park) for the prospective winners, the event got a huge response with 800+ entries comprising of 3200+ participants in initial round entries.

20 teams were shortlisted for the semi-finals which was conducted at IIM Calcutta on 5th February 2016. The finals were conducted on 7^th February and after an intense Round of judging by renowned personalities the top 3 ideas which were declared as winners were:

Winner: Green Wave – They aim to address the problem of flower waste generated in India through floral waste recycling.

First Runner Up: Do I Know You (DIKY) – It is a reverse social network where friends  may be discovered based on the interests

Second Runner Up: Buddy4Study – They are a pioneer in the scholarship world with a mission to simplify scholarship world for all students.

‘Egiye Bangla’ was a unique Contest-cum-TV Reality Show for start ups (aspiring and recent entrepreneurs) based in West Bengal to showcase their unique business ideas and get a chance to win recognition, rewards, and support for their business. The MSME&T Department, Government of West Bengal, in partnership with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, launched ‘Egiye Bangla’, an entrepreneurship TV reality show. This contest-cum-show would identify, recognize & reward aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs having unique innovative start up ideas across all sectors. Applications were invited from early-stage entrepreneurs who have set up their unit in the State and have a unique innovative start up business ideas and propose to set up their venture in the state. All the applications were scrutinized by experts and the best entries were shortlisted.

Shortlisted applicants were then called for participating in a Boot Camp where intensive grooming and mentoring sessions were conducted for the participants so they get an opportunity to fine tune their business plans and understand the nuances of making a pitch in front of panel of judges for the TV show where on the spot evaluation would be carried out by a jury of eminent personalities, from the fields of business and industry.

The Reality show was telecast on Zee Bangla, a leading Bengali entertainment channel, in 9 episodes on Sundays at 6-7 pm slot starting Dec 06, 2015. Sourav Ganguly, the eminent personality from the Cricketing world was the Brand Ambassador of the Reality Show and noted Film personality Jishu Sengupta hosted the episodes. Each episode showcased 5 contestants, each of whom had about 6-7 minutes to make their pitch before the Jury and answer their questions.

The panel of jury for all the episodes, barring the Grand Finale, comprised Mr. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, MD Bandhan Bank, Mr. Anjan Chatterjee, noted industrialist and MD of Specility Foods and Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director IIMCIP. The jury evaluated the performance of participants based on set of parameters and adjudged one of them as winner, who received a cash award of Rs.3.00 lakhs and the remaining 4 contestants received Rs.1.00 lakh each.

Winners from the eight episodes took part in the Grand Finale. Hon’ble Finance Minister Govt of WB graced the final episode as the Chief Guest.  The winner of inaugural Egiye Bangla TV Reality show, Capacloud Trading Solutions bagged cash prize of Rs.10.00 lakhs and Funding upto Rs.3.00 crores from the State Govt. venture capital fund.

The Season 1 of Business Reality show ‘Egiye Bangla’ has created quite an impact on the minds of not only young and aspiring with innovative ideas but more importantly on the common households towards backing the younger generation in their family who are willing to take up entrepreneurship as a career. The participants, who were selected to present their business plans on the TV Show, have received fair amount of publicity for their innovative ventures and recognition from friends, relatives and local business community. It is indeed a key achievement for the first-of its-kind Reality show on entrepreneurship that so many young minds have got attracted to take up entrepreneurship as a career option and deservedly got the opportunity to showcase their innovative business ideas to the larger world.

The third “Thinking Social” roundtable was organised under the aegis of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) 2015-16, by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) in association with the Tata group. The theme of the Roundtable was on “Healthcare” and this event was supported by Coaching Foundation India Limited (CFI). This thematic Roundtable included two interactive panel discussions – one focusing on Quality, Access and Affordability and the other focusing on Leadership in the Healthcare domain.

The speakers for the day comprised eminent entrepreneurs, investors, domain experts and policy makers who have rich experience in the Healthcare sector in India. The audience (a strong presence of 50 participants) comprised of industry leaders, academia, entrepreneurs and investors focused on the healthcare domain.

In the inaugural session, Mr Mali Mahilngam from the Chennai Chapter of IIM Calcutta Alumni introduced the theme and shared with the audience the objective of this roundtable.
The first panel discussion on the theme – Access, Affordability and Quality of Healthcare – was moderated by Mr Sameer Mehta, Director at Dr. Mehta’s hospitals. Sameer set the context by illustrating the status of healthcare in our country and requested the panelists to share their insights on the challenges and opportunities that exist in this domain.

Dr P Umanath – Additional Secretary, Govt. of Tamil Nadu spoke about how Government is addressing the access issue in a phased way. The first phase was quantitative in approach while the second phase was on ensuring quality in the hospitals. He further said, “Tamil Nadu has the highest accessible networks in the entire country with 1050 Primary centers, 300 first level healthcare centers, 300 secondary level healthcare centers and 43 institutions in the state are attached to 20 medical colleges.”

Dr Sumanth Raman, Head-Healthcare Innovation, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd spoke about how technology and smart devices can help in improving quality, access and affordability of healthcare services. He said, “Healthcare delivery is radically changing and is a few years away from the tipping point where technology will start to significantly drive the healthcare delivery.” He also urged the Government to facilitate implementation and usage of technology enabled healthcare solutions like telemedicine and tele-radiology.

Mr Ponarul A.P., Startup Scout at Unitus Seed Fund, spoke from an investor’s point of view and discussed what they look for when they invest in healthcare startups. He mentioned that innovation not just in technology, but also from a business model perspective, is important from the funding perspective and gave examples of startups where the fund has invested. He concluded by saying, “We look for low cost diagnostics and monitoring solutions where we see how technology has been leveraged and how does it reaches the bottom of the pyramid in terms of access.”

Mr Arun Venkatesan, Senior Advisor at Villgro spoke about the user-centric design in the healthcare sector where one has to understand purchasing and dissemination patterns and work with what’s available. He said, “There is a great opportunity for startups and enterprises if you can tweak your delivery model and align it to the buying patterns and functioning patterns of the government.” He also spoke about the need to bridge the gap from the policy perspective and the service delivery perspective.

In the concluding session, the moderator requested the panelists to comment on the top priority (out of access, affordability and quality) in this domain and a majority identified Quality of healthcare as the critical success factor.

The second Panel Discussion was around the theme of leadership in the healthcare industry. Mr R Ramraj, Senior Advisor at Elevar Equity, moderated the Panel discussion and introduced the topic by commenting that managing healthcare enterprises is more complex than it appears and it demands specialized skills. He requested all the Panelists to share their experiences and insights on the theme. The panelists for this session were Dr Arjun Rajagopalan, Trustee & Medical Director at Sundaram Medical Foundation, Mr RD Thulasiraj, Director Operations at Aravind Eye Care, Madurai and Mr Nishith Mohanty, Global HR Head at Manipal Group, Bangalore. They shared case studies from their organizations and remarked that quality of leadership is a critical success factor for healthcare organizations.

The Q&A round witnessed good participation from the audience. There were many significant issues discussed and addressed by the audience and the panelists.

The roundtable ended with a valedictory address and vote of thanks from IIMCIP and CFI.

The grand finale of the fourth edition of the programme held on January 16, 2016, at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), saw HelpUsGreen® from Kanpur (Winner), Jeevtronics from Pune (1st Runner-up), and Hasiru Dala Innovations from Bengaluru and Disease Diagnose Group from Boston, USA (joint winners of the 2nd Runner-up position), 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 210 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.

Ankit Agarwal, the winner of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2015-16 has started HelpUsGreen®. A Kanpur based social enterprise, HelpUsGreen® preserves the rivers by flowercycling® the waste from the places of worship into bio-fertilizers and lifestyle products like incense and bathing soaps, among others, and in doing so also empowers women self-help groups (currently the venture is managing five women self-help groups with sixteen members each).
Ecstatic with his win Ankit said, “It’s been an overwhelming experience. We have won many competitions before but Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is like the Filmfare of social entrepreneurship.”

Jeevtronics, a Pune based venture, was declared as the 1st Runner-up. Ashish Gawade representing the venture said, “It was a great experience for us. The knowledge, mentoring and feedback that we received from the jury was really helpful, and it was good to collaborate with the other start-ups too.” Jeevtronics is dedicated to designing and implementing affordable medical devices for underdeveloped and rural areas. It has patented a hand-cranked defibrillator – a life-saving device for heart patients – whichhas a built-in power generator that enables it to work in off-grid rural areas, mini ambulances and disaster relief camps, among others. The hand-crank generator requires 12 seconds to charge and comes at one-fourth the cost of competition.

The 2nd Runner-up position saw a tie between two ventures, Hasiru Dala Innovations from Bengaluru and the student-led venture, Disease Diagnose Group from Boston, USA.

Hasiru Dala Innovations is committed to creating predictable livelihoods for waste pickers through providing total waste management, urban gardening services and products for sustainable living. The model is designed to enable a circular economy that enhances the lives, be it a waste picker or a resident, it touches. The venture is supporting waste pickers to collect from 10,000 households in the city. It has also, in collaboration with partners, created a unique certification course called Enhancing skills of small entrepreneurs in the recycling industry. Shekhar Prabhakar from the venture said, “I am feeling like a kid having won his first prize. I will take away from here the many friends that I have made who are doing many inspiring things.”

The joint 2nd Runner-Up venture, Disease Diagnose Group (DDG), was represented by Alphonse Harris who said, “I am very excited to get the recognition for our venture and hope to use this recognition to get more partnerships.” DDG has developed a hand-held malaria detector called Rapid Assessment of Malaria (RAM). Out of every 1000 malaria infections, only 500 fevers are identified, 250 tests are performed and only 125 diagnoses are accurate. This device, called RAM for short, detects a magnetic substance that malaria parasites release when digesting red blood cells thus providing a faster and more accurate diagnostic test than those used currently, and at a much lower cost. The device is reusable, mechanical, fast and sensitive, and the technology is clinically approved.
The ceremony saw talks by inspiring leaders in the space of social entrepreneurship like Dr. N.V. Prajna, Chief of Medical Education at Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai; Mr. Vinayak Lohani, Founder of the NGO Parivaar; Mr. Manoj Kumar Nambiar, Managing Director of Arohan Financial Services; and Dr. Mammen Chandy, Director, Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata, among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, said, “Social entrepreneurship is all about innovative solutions to social problems. At IIMC, we want to take this as a challenge and as a movement. In the last four years, as part of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, we have reached out to different parts of the country meeting students, entrepreneurs and NGOs, getting all stakeholders together, and creating awareness about social entrepreneurship. Going forward, we want to continue on this journey and contribute towards bringing about change through enabling social enterprises in India.”
Felicitating the winners, Dr. Mammen Chandy, Director, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, said, “Today students of management should seek to find fulfillment in social entrepreneurship rather than only seeking personal material gain. The lives of people like Ida Scudder show how Social Enterprise can be transforming and change the lives of millions of people.”

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized a three day Boot-camp for all the shortlisted applicants of Egiye Bangla – A TV reality show on Entrepreneurship – with a view to groom them for the final round and TV show through an independent, intense, customised workshop at IIM Calcutta. The main objectives behind holding the Boot-camp were to impart them training on relevant skills like Preparing & Defending a Business Plan, How to prepare an Elevator Pitch, Protecting innovative ideas, Marketing Essentials, Funding Essentials, Financial essentials, Presentation Skills, Personal Grooming, Answering Investor questions, developing bonding among the teams, etc.

The Boot Camp started with session on “Expectation Setting and on How to Pitch” followed by sessions conducted by the Creative team from the TV Show Production partners on various tips to participants for making presentations in front of TV camera.

All the participants were required to make presentation of their respective business ideas in front of a panel of jury comprising experienced members from organizations like SIDBI, TiE, Total Start, Tata Capital, CII. Members from Creative team were also present in these sessions to evaluate the performance. The jury members individually assessed the performance of each applicant based on parameters viz. Originality of the Business Idea, Business Potential / Social Impact, Revenue Model & Sustainability, Leadership & Team and overall Presentation skill. On completion of these presentations, the jury deliberated the assessment scores and unanimously selected the group of top 45 participants, with first 40 applicants moving on to the TV show round and remaining 5 kept on stand-by.

These 45 participants were put through an intensive grooming session conducted by seasoned Mentors drawn from organizations in the start-up eco-system. They were given specific feedback on the presentations made and various inputs on fine-tuning the business plans, making strong pitch within a limited timeframe. Several mock sessions were held where the mentors closely worked with the group to get them prepared for the TV show shooting phase.

The participants greatly benefitted from the boot-camp which was corroborated by much improved performance by them at the end. They also acknowledged the efforts put in by the mentors during the boot-camp which helped them to a great extent to make their business plans more presentable and boosted their confidence to face the investor questions.  

IIM Calcutta witnessed its first ever Jokathon on 21st and 22nd of November. Joka’s very own Entrepreneurship Cell hosted this event and it provided fellow Jokars with an opportunity to give a slight nudge to their big crazy dreams and emerge as full-fledged business plans. Jokathon was conducted on the lines of a hackathon where teams gathered together for 48 hours, brainstormed and transformed a business idea into a well-structured business plan worth presenting in front of investors. Those without any idea but a dream to start-up an organization were welcome to join teams of their liking.

At first teams needed to give a 1-minute pitch showing the crowd the heart of their ideas. The 20 brilliant ideas sure ran a chill down everyone’s spine, as if it was the beginning of a revolution. The teams were then required to present their ideas on a chart paper, basically the coolest ways in which they could showcase their ideas. This phase saw an informal union of people from various backgrounds all working under the same roof. The room was full of breathtaking designs, which were to undergo a round of voting from all present there. This phase was to form 15% of the final score. After all the rush yummy “Wow Momos” & cakes from “Jab We Ate” came to the rescue. The storms of voting passed and then came the mentors, Mr. Mohnessh, Mr. Sanjay Chatterjeee, Mr Subhrangshu Sanyal and Professor Devi Vijay. Whatever doubts the teams had were to be resolved that day, whatever assistance they needed to move forward was to be provided that day. Now the teams were required to form a Business Model Canvas to structure their ideas further. This was 35% of the final score and the deliverable for day 1.

Day 2 was the finale where teams were to present their ideas to our jury panelists Kaushik Poddar, Sanjay Chaterjee and Joka’s very own beloved Professors Devi Vijay and C D Mitra. They started off with a briefing on what is required in the presentations and since it was a crisp 15 minutes presentation and 5 minutes Q&A session, mentors were available throughout to help the teams find their path to glory.

22nd November saw the Joka spirit in its full form with a session of awe-inspiring presentations. Everyone emerged as a winner but protocol told us to rank, hence we ranked. Agrodrivers emerged as the Jokathon winners with Warriors as the 1st runner-up and Paushtik as the 2nd runner-up.

Well, rank is just a number in the end of these 2 brain-churning days, if the entrepreneurial light was ignited even in a few hearts, Jokathon can pat its back and rest for a year.

The second Roundtable of the “Thinking Social” series, organized by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) and Ennovent, was held on 30th November 2015 at the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata under the aegis of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) 2015-16. The theme of the Roundtable was ‘”Social Enterprises in India”.
The British Council has commissioned a baseline study on the Social Enterprise Landscape in India, which is being conducted by Ennovent. The aim of the study is to provide a summary of the current size and scale of the social enterprise sector and give stakeholders a clear picture of the existing landscape and help them identify areas in which their support is most needed. The aim of the baseline study is to provide a summary of the current size and scale of the social enterprise sector in India. The survey will contribute to the improvement of the social enterprise ecosystem by obtaining currently unavailable numbers on various indicators, giving stakeholders a clear picture of the existing scenario and helping them identify areas in which their support is needed.
The objective of the roundtable was to disseminate the findings of the Landscape Survey of Social Enterprises in India captured through survey responses and interviews conducted so far, with a specific focus on East India. The audience mainly comprised of eminent social entrepreneurs, academicians and NGOs mainly from the Eastern part of the country.

The discussion was initiated by Juhi from Ennovent who shared with the audience the findings of the survey which they had conducted. The following points were discussed:

Distribution of Social Enterprises by State

The panel discussed that a lot of innovative business models exist at the ground level but they often go unnoticed because they do not have access to communication services like the internet. They also decided to do a search on the operational presence of SEs and conduct the survey in regional languages.

Distribution of Social Enterprises by Sector

The panel decided that methodology of framing sectors need more work as there are alot of activities which were not talked about. It was also pointed out that there should be a break up of skill development activities into non-farm livelihood and non-traditional livelihood.

Barriers to growth and Funding Challenges

Discussions took place regarding the lack of skilled manpower and training institutes is the biggest challenge for social enterprises. Also, there needs to be a more focussed sectorial analysis which needs to be carried out so that it gives us the dta about the most emerging areas in the SE space.

Feedback on the Study Report and Analysis

The survey should add an option of Lack of Training and Skill development institutes under the barriers to growth. It should also remove Micro Finance Institutes from the database. A proper definition about Social Enterprise must be formulated which would define the enterprise as a business which aims to be financially viable and creates an impact for the people at the BOP.

The first event of the “Thinking Social” series of roundtables, organized by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP), was held on 16th October 2015 at the India International Center, Delhi under the aegis of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) 2015-16. The theme of the Roundtable was ‘”Enhancing Quality and Affordability of Education through Technology”. The discussion was centered on three broad themes – Quality, Access, and Affordability of education for the masses. The overarching focus was the use of technology in meeting these three objectives.

The thematic Roundtable included an overview on Thinking Social, an interactive Panel discussion followed by Q&A and presentations from two social entrepreneurs working in the education domain.
The speakers for the day comprised eminent entrepreneurs and academician who have rich experience in the Education sector in India. The audience (a strong presence of 40 participants) comprised of Professionals, entrepreneurs, Impact investors, innovators, NGOs and students mainly from the Education sector.

In the inaugural session, Subhrangshu Sanyal – CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park introduced the theme and shared with the audience IIMC’s journey on entrepreneurship, IIMCIP’s vision & activities and how TSEC emerged as one of the biggest platform for the social entrepreneurs in India.

Prof Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, IIM Calcutta moderated the Panel discussion and requested all the Panelists to share their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities around the theme.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata Group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the second seminar series, ‘Thinking Social’, at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (PG), Pune on 3rd October 2015. The day-long seminar sought to introduce students from top professional colleges in India to the spirit of social entrepreneurship in a rapidly evolving global economy and addressed the concerns of young, budding entrepreneurs belonging to reputed B-Schools such as Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communications (SIMC), Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIMB) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The speakers for the day comprised eminent social entrepreneurs, academicians and senior corporate executives working extensively in the Indian social entrepreneurship space.

The event kick-started with Prof. Chandan Chatterjee, Director, SIMC Pune, delivering the inaugural address and welcoming all the dignitaries. Highlighting the institute’s keenness towards inculcating a spirit of social sensitivity and proactivity amongst its students, he spoke of the student-initiated and driven Social Responsibility Cell called SIMCare, the acronym CARE standing for Compassion, Appreciation, Respect and Empathy.

Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO – IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) shared with the audience IIMC’s journey on entrepreneurship, IIMCIP’s vision & activities and how TSEC emerged as one of the biggest platform for the social entrepreneurs in India. He stressed on the importance of involving fresh minds in solving some of the social challenges faced by India. He motivated the students by saying, “Young minds like you can provide innovative solutions to our current problems”.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata Group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the second edition of the student seminars, ‘Thinking Social’, at IIT Guwahati on 29 August 2015.

The day-long seminar had about 90 participants and it sought to introduce students to the concept of social entrepreneurship and inspire them to start their own venture that solves some of the challenges faced by the society. The speakers for the day comprised eminent entrepreneurs, who have established their own outstanding ventures in the Indian social entrepreneurship space and sought to address the concerns of young, budding entrepreneurs.

Mr Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, welcomed the participants for this event and explained the objective of the seminar on “Thinking Social.”

Mr Biswanath Sinha, Associate Director of Tata Trusts addressed the audience by presenting the core values of the TATA group. He gave an overview of the activities conducted by TATA trusts to support social enterprises that benefit the community and the country. Concluding his speech he said “I hope many young entrepreneurs will emerge from this region and make changes which are beneficial to the society.”

July 24^th 2015, Friday evening, in spite of the heavy monsoon downpour, the IIM C campus was buzzing with activities and excitement. Some of the most innovative minds flocked together with the mission to get ideas into action and launch their statups in 54hrs over the weekend.

Organized for the first time in Eastern India, the Startup Weekend was hosted by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the region. To ensure success of this event, IIMCIP roped in some of the key stakeholders in the startup ecosystem namely – TiE, Calcutta Angels, Nasscom, CII and Innokul.

The event attracted tremendous participation from young students and working professionals and long queue of participants eager to pitch their ideas was a sight to witness. Forty Eight participants presented their startup ideas through a 60 second pitch. Almost equal numbers of participants were waiting to join as cofounders and take these ideas forward. Based on popular choice fifteen teams were selected for the finals.  The participants formed teams and worked on their ideas over the weekend to create an outline of the minimum viable product. Fun filled three days at the campus coupled with some serious brainstorming and non-stop activities was definitely to look out for. After idea generation and finalization on the first day, eminent mentors conducted one-on-one advisory sessions on the second day and helped the participants to structure the ideas and explore strategies and feasibility options.

The last day was the Grand Finale where one could see all ideas come alive. The event was judged by an eminent panel comprising of different stakeholders of the startup ecosystem. The ideas were evaluated with respect to the business model, customer validation and execution & design.

There emerged three winners – ComBuyN, Hephaestus Techno and Yello!. Two social enterprises received special recognition in the event – iJustice and Garbage to Gold. The Entrepreneurship cell of IIM Calcutta will support all the teams to shape their ideas and firm up their business model and the top teams will also get an opportunity to pitch for incubation at IIMCIP.

The event ended with a bang, with smiles and great outcomes. It encouraged and inspired young people to bring their idea into action and take the first step towards their entrepreneurship journey. It was indeed an event to witness, to participate, to learn and to grow.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is organized a Capacity Enhancement Programme (Shilpa Shibir 2015) for the District Industries Centre (DIC) Officers of the West Bengal MSME Department and the Industrial Development Officers to support District-Level Entrepreneurship Development.

The workshop was conducted in 4 batches from 11 May 2015 to 09 June 2015 covering 260 officials from 19 districts of West Bengal.

This programme had a focus on interactions, discussions & ideation sessions, group exercises, role play, shared learning and practical approach rather than a classroom style lecture. It focused on making participants more familiar and adept at using the key processes, systems, tools and techniques that will enable their transition from regulators to supportive facilitators of entrepreneurship in the districts of West Bengal.

It included workshops on technical aspects like – how to create a good business plan and how to evaluate bank loan applications. There was an interactive session with local entrepreneurs from different domains, who spoke to the officers regarding their entrepreneurship journey and the support which they expect from the government.

A session on the importance of effective communication was conducted which stressed on the need to develop the right attitude.

The workshop included an informal session with the Principal Secretary, Department of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises & Textiles, Government of West Bengal, where the Principal Secretary shared the new initiatives taken up by the MSME department. He also appreciated the efforts put in by IIMCIP in supporting these new initiatives and promoting entrepreneurship in the state.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the fourth in the series of student seminars on ‘Thinking Social’ seminar series, organized by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP), on March 21st 2015 at Tiruchirapalli, with the National Institute of Technology- Tiruchirapalli, as the host Institution. The day-long seminar was attended by around 100 strong audience representing the students, academia and NGOs/Institutions.

The speakers of the day comprised of Prof Satyajit Majumdar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; eminent social entrepreneur Sriram V Ayer, founder of Nalanda Way Foundation; local social entrepreneur Dr Ajay Kumar Tannirkulam, Founder of Magasool, Prof G. Kannabiran from NIT-Trichy and Prof Chandradeep Mitra from IIM Calcutta. Connecting the youth to social enterprise, the speakers shared their perspective on the key challenges, opportunities and learning’s in the social entrepreneurship space.

The third thematic roundtable of “TSEC Thinking Social Roundtable” series, organized by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP), was held on 27th February 2015 in Mumbai, under the aegis of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC).

The Mumbai Chapter of IIM Calcutta Alumni Association was instrumental in supporting the Roundtable. The theme of the Roundtable was ‘Bridging the Education Gap’. The main objective of this roundtable was to provide a platform, for the champions of education entrepreneurship ecosystem to exchange their experiences and ideas thereby perhaps create a set of best practices for the industry to emulate.

The thematic TSEC Roundtable was structured with an introductory address from IIP and the TATA Groups followed by Panel discussion with subsequent Q&A round and ending with a valedictory and thanking note from the IIMC Alumni Mumbai Chapter.

The Entrepreneurship cell at IIM Calcutta, in association with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) held the 8th International Entrepreneurship Summit (IES 8) on 7th Feb 2015. The theme for IES 8 was ‘2015: The Year of the Entrepreneur‘

The event invited visionaries and renowned entrepreneurs across the globe to share their experiences and knowledge in fields of expertise.

The event aims at bringing together our students, alumni, established entrepreneurs and academia to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship. Over the years, E-Summit has fostered inspiration, skills, ideas and networks with its rich line up of guest speakers and this year is no exception. Students from various management schools of Kolkata participated to learn nitty gritty of starting a venture. This year the focus was on Entrepreneurship as a whole, and ways to develop skill set among individuals to start up any field of their liking. Unorthodox entrepreneurs who came from various fields like fashion, movie, food, legal, venture capitalist etc were invited.

Mr. Deepak Jalan, MD of linc pens was the key note speaker who spoke on ‘Opportunities for young entrepreneurs’. Mr. Praveen Sinha, Founder of Jabong, talked about creating an e commerce brand of your own. Famous motivational speaker Mr. Akash Gautam received a standing ovation from crowd for his session on ‘Lag gai: How we screw our lives’.

Workshops on ‘Legal issues of startup’ by Pankaj Jain, Rishad Madora, Barnik Ghosh, ‘Financial aspect of start ups’ by Pritimoy Chakraborty, Sagar Daryani , ‘Marketing for start ups’ by Dheeraj Agraval, Swarup Ghosh were very insightful for every budding entrepreneur and were appreciated by all the participants.

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, money and people who matter. The core philosophy behind this event has always been not to judge a ‘b-plan’ but to make a robust plan ready to spread its wings. I2i today has emerged as one of the largest and the most serious national process of its kind, both in scale and scope, attracting serious entrepreneurs via the Pan IIM and IIT alumni networks, the National Entrepreneurship Network and a large base of working professionals.

With cash prizes, Incubation support at IIP (IIM Calcutta Innovation Park) and with seed funding of 50 lacs by GOVIN Holdings in store for the prospective winners, the event got a huge response with 300+ entries coming in from all over the country for Round 1 conducted in the month of November 2014.

While Round 1 needed submissions to be made in form of an executive summary, Round 2 required the 60 shortlisted teams to submit a ppt pertaining to their B-Plan. Mentors were allotted to these teams for further guidance before they were ready to make their round of presentations. The Semi-final and Finals for the event were conducted at Campus on 6th February 2015.

Magasool, Freedu and Semantic reviews emerged out as the winners of the competition. They have been assured a seed funding of 50 lacs (to be divided in a certain deterministic ratio) by Mr. Anand Govindaluri of GOVIN Holdings. Also, commitment of 5-year long funding of 10 lacs each for the top 10 teams was made.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2014-15 kicked-off on August 25, 2014 and invited social entrepreneurs who either had an early stage venture (not older than three years) or a promising idea with a plan that could create sustainable social impact in India. Impact proposals (detailed business plans) were invited in the areas of education, health, agriculture, technology, sanitation, and handicrafts, among others.

These proposals were to be judged on three parameters – business model, social impact and sustainability. The last day to submit them online was November 15, 2014.

All the top 20 teams which were selected were mentored by Ashoka Innovators for the Public and Villgro, and the IIM Calcutta faculty. The social VC partners of the initiative were Acumen, Ankur Capital, Yunus Social Business and Ennovent. The teams also had an opportunity to network with mentors, experts and fellow social entrepreneurs.

The ceremony featured special talks by M Anshu Gupta, Founder Goonj, Dr SP Gon Chaudhuri, founder of India’s first renewable energy college – NB Institute for Rural Development (NBIRT), Dr Sabahat Azim, Founder Glocal and Dr NS Rajan, Member – Group Executive Council and Chief Group Human Resources Officer, Tata Sons.

The winners of the contest were announced during the grand finale which was held on 17 January 2015 at the IIM Calcutta campus. SAANS from Bangalore (Winner), Godavari Women Weaver’s Services Producer Company (GWWSPC) from Mandapeta, Andhra Pradesh (first runners-up) and Ultrasafe Ultrasound from Kolkata (second runners-up) emerged as the top three most promising social ventures, winning prize money of Rs 2 lakhs, Rs 1.5 lakhs and Rs 1.25 lakhs, respectively.

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) – a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held the third in the series of student seminars on ‘Thinking Social’ seminar series, organized by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP), on December 13 2014 at Noida, with the School of Management & Entrepreneurship, Shiv Nadar University, as the host Institution. Fulfilling the main objective of these TSEC “Thinking Social” seminars of connecting youth to social enterprise there was a strong student presence at the TSEC “Thinking Social” seminar in Noida, with many amongst them budding entrepreneurs.

The day-long seminar was attended by almost 100 students from across colleges in NCR. The speakers for the day comprised eminent social entrepreneurs like Ms. Kamini Prakash, Board Member, Pravah and Ms. Meenu Vadera, Director, Sakha Consulting Wings Pvt. Ltd. and Trustee, Azad Foundation who have established their own outstanding ventures in the Indian social entrepreneurship space. They shared their experience as social entrepreneurs with those present and addressed the issues and concerns of the young, budding entrepreneurs in the audience.