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Events

We conduct several events to support and promote social entrepreneurship. Watch out this space for more updates.

Thinking Social Seminar-Kolkata

August 6, 2019

The TATA Social Enterprise Challenge Thinking Social Seminar was organised on 2nd August, 2019 for eastern part of the country at Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship,generating interest and inspiring the youth to come up with innovative solutions to combat social challenges.Speakers such as Mr. Anoop Kumar Agrawal, IAS, Principal Secretary, SHG & SE Department, Govt. of West Bengal;Prof. Prashant Mishra, Dean- New Initiatives & External Relations, IIM Calcutta; Dr. Mahul Brahma, Head – CSR & Corporate Communications, Mjunction Services Limited;Mr. Kalyan Kolay, Founder – Aegipan Animal Biocare and Mr. Adarsh Srivastava,Founder – Green Agrovolution along with Mr. Suman Mukhopadhyay, mentor at IIMCIP spoke to nearly 40 participants.

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Launch of the 8th Edition of TATA Social Enterprise Challenge

August 6, 2019

Tata Group in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM Calcutta), announced the 8th edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2019 to find India’s most promising early-stage social innovators. Entrepreneurs can submit their business plans online, by logging onto www.tatasechallenge.org. The last day to submit the Impact Proposal (business plan) online is 15th September, 2019.

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Thinking Social Seminar-Bhopal

July 29, 2019

Mr. Narendra Godse, Founder-Anoobhuti Learning and Mr. Prateek Sharma, Founder- Vishalya Foods and Farms elucidates their entrepreneurial journey with over 100 participants at the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge Thinking Social Seminar at Rabindranath Tagore University, Atal Incubation Centre, Bhopal on July 27,2019. The other speakers included Ronald Fernandez, CEO- Rabindranath Tagore University-Atal Incubation Centre;Santosh Dubey, Chancellor- Rabindranath Tagore University- Bhopal,V C Dubey- Nodal Officer,Start up and Incubation Cell
Department of MSME, Govt. of M.P.

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Thinking Social Seminar-Goa

May 14, 2019

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organised a one-day “Thinking Social” seminar at Goa in association with Goa State Innovation Council on 25th January, 2019. The primary objective of this exercise was to build awareness, interest and desire to engage with the Social Enterprise Ecosystem amongst the aspiring entrepreneurs and start ups who were about to embark on their entrepreneurship journey soon. This seminar series introduced the budding entrepreneurs to the concept of social entrepreneurship in the rapidly evolving global economy.

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Thinking Social Seminar- Guwahati

March 11, 2019

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar at The nest, Guwahati, Assam on 8th March, 2019. The speakers comprised senior bureaucrats from Government of Assam such as Ms. Manjula Saikia Bhuyan, IAS, Addl Secretary to the Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries and Managing Director, Assam Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, Shri Alok Kumar, IAS, Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Shri Ravi Capoor, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries, Assam, Shri Rajiv Bora, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Finance, Assam and Shri Puru Gupta, IAS, Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries, Assam. Social entrepreneurs from various parts of the country such as Mr. Abhinav Girdhar, Founder – Bodhi Health Education; Mr. Hironmoy Gogoi, Founder & Creative Head- GKK India (Gaon Ka Khana) & Proprietor- Blackhorse Marketing; Mr. Prantik Sinha, Founder – Agastya Buoyant; Mr. Anupam Nath, Co Founder- Xcraft Online shared their experiences with entrepreneurs, aspiring start ups, investors, mentors and students from all over North East.

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Thinking Social Seminar- Gurugram

February 28, 2019

Thinking Social Seminar was held at Sangam AIC, Gurugram on 26 February 2019. The speakers comprised of eminent social entrepreneurs such as Kalyan Koley, Founder & CEO- Aegipan Animal Bio Care and Anuroop Raj, Co Founder – Talento. The event witnessed around 50 attendees.

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Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018-19

January 15, 2019

The Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018-19 received over 900 applications from across India in sectors such as agriculture; healthcare; water and sanitation; technology and development; education and skills development; housing; handicrafts; energy; and microfinance, among others. Out of 900 applications, the top 60 teams were shortlisted. This was followed by Regional Rounds at Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in December last year from which the top 20 teams were selected. Besides these 20 teams, two entrepreneurs from Germany joined the Semi-finals. The Semi-final and the Grand Finale were scheduled on 11th and 12th January, 2019 respectively at IIM Calcutta. In the Grand Finale the top three startups in the social enterprises space were identified. Eminent personalities also attended the event to motivate the youth towards social entrepreneurship.

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Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018- Regional Rounds

December 13, 2018

The Regional Rounds of the 7th edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018 to find India’s most promising early-stage social innovators was held in the four cities of Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai between 1-11 December, 2018. The events witnessed the participation of around 60 start-ups.

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Thinking Social Seminar

November 5, 2018

Thinking Social Seminar took place at SR Innovation Exchange, Warrangal on 16 November 2018. The speakers comprised of eminent social entrepreneurs such as Kalyan Sivasailam , Founder – 5C Networks, Dr. NSD Prasad Rao, Founder & CEO Ameya Life , Sanjay Kumar, Founder – Milletbowl, Kiran Vuppala, Founder – Cerelia Nutritech. The event witnessed around 100 attendees.

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Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018

August 20, 2018

Tata Group in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM Calcutta), announced the 7th edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2018 to find India’s most promising early-stage social innovators. Entrepreneurs can submit their business plans online, by logging onto www.tatasechallenge.org. The last day to submit the Impact Proposal (business plan) online is 30th September, 2018.

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Tata SE Challenge Seminar – Chandigarh (4 June 2018)

May 24, 2018

The next Tata SE Challenge Seminar on Thinking Social will take place at SD College Chandigarh on 4 June 2018 from 10 am – 1 pm.

To register or to know more about the seminar write to henna.jaireth@iimcip.org

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Tata SE Challenge Seminar on Thinking Social – PUNE

February 15, 2018

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 27th, 2018. About 120+ students attended the seminar. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generating interest and inspiring the youth to come up with innovative solutions to prevalent social challenges.

The speakers consisted of an esteemed panel of entrepreneurs including – Suman Mukhopadhyay – Director Banglanatak.com; Varun Kashyap, Co-founder LetsEndorse; Honey Bajaj – Serial Innovator and Entrepreneur & Co-founder – Avir Technologies; Ashwin Naik, Co-founder – Vaatsalya Healthcare; Ramesh Menon – Visiting Faculty SIMC, a veteran journalist, author, documentary film maker and a corporate trainer; Manivannan, CEO – Desicrew

Suman Mukhopadhyay – Director Banglanatak.com shared with the audience the concept of Social Entrepreneurship and the relevance of smart solutions to solve development challenges in the country.

Honey Bajaj, Serial Innovator and Entrepreneur & Co-founder – Avir Technologies shared with the audience her inspiring journey in the social entrepreneurship space. Honey has used her design thinking methodologies in the work she does and created some innovative solutions to some of the challenges. She is currently a researcher at MIT and co-founder of Avir Technologies for humanising technologies for creating impact in the Indian healthcare system.

Varun Kashyap, Co-founder LetsEndorse spoke about his entrepreneurial journey and shared the vision of his organization. He found his calling in entrepreneurship back in 2006 when he joined Punjab Engineering College for an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. Currently Varun is the co-founder at LetsEndorse – a community platform that engages the NGOs, Social innovators, Businesses/Companies, Government and all the People to create an Ecosystem that drives Social Change.

Ashwin Naik, Co-Founder – Vaatsalya explained to the audience how everyone is a Changemaker and how young people can take up the opportunity in changing the world. He also shared the journey of Vaatsalya and explained how

Ramesh Menon, Visiting Faculty SIMC, a veteran journalist, author, documentary film maker and a corporate trainer addressed the students on the topic of why social thinking is absolutely necessary for India. He 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.”

Manivannan, CEO – Desicrew spoke about Desi Crews journey and how they have enabled over 4 million people to open bank accounts. He also spoke about how Desi Crew had set up operations in over 400 villages across India.

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The Elbow Engineers emerges winner of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2017-18

January 7, 2018

The winners of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2017-18 (TSEC), a joint initiative of the Tata group and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), were announced during the grand finale held on January 6, 2018, at the IIM Calcutta campus. The challenge endeavours to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises, and create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship – encouraging sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.

The Elbow Engineers from Chennai (Winner), Chakr Innovation from New Delhi (1st Runners-up) and JK Nanosolutions from Bangaluru (2nd Runners-up) emerged as the top three most promising social ventures, winning prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakhs, Rs. 2 lakhs and Rs. 1.50 lakhs, respectively.

REWARDS

• Mentorship: The top 20 teams were selected for semi-finals and provided mentorship support for two weeks.
• Funding Opportunity: All teams shortlisted for the semi-finals and finals get an opportunity to pitch to India’s largest social VCs for seed funding.
• Incubation: The top 20 teams will get an opportunity to pitch for incubation at IIM Calcutta.
• Cash Award: Total prize money of ₹6 lakh for the top three teams. The semi-finalists received travel grants.

The Elbow Engineers, the winner of the challenge, is a Chennai-based startup that has developed a device to provide a comprehensive water generation solution. The device generates water by condensing water vapour from the atmosphere, it purifies the generated water through an Ultra Violet Light sterilizer providing clean drinking water at less than 84 paise per litre, and in the process cleans the air that we breathe of harmful substances.

Chakr Innovation, which was announced as the first runners-up, is a New Delhi-based startup that has developed Chakr Shield, a device that can capture 90% of particulate matter emission from diesel generators. The device controls pollution without causing any adverse impact on the engine’s performance or the environment, and at the same time converts the collected particulate matter into raw material for inks and paints.

JK Nanosolutions, the second runners-up, is a Bengaluru-based startup. It has developed a cost effective rapid solution for complete treatment of waste water and textile effluent using nanotechnology. By this method, 98 percent of treated water can be reused.

Apart from the top 3 winning ventures, the 7 ventures that have made it to the top 10 finalists are, Bombay Bijlee, Villamart, Cerelia Nutritech, Manuring It!, Nanobios lab, IIT Bombay, Resnova Technologies and Sonant Technologies. The ventures were judged on three parameters – Business Model, Social Impact and Sustainability (For more details on the ventures, please refer to Annexure 1).

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park said, “Over the last six years, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge has encouraged many budding entrepreneurs to grow with a vision and create positive sustainable social impact. We are pleased with the quality of talent and the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs who have dreams to make a difference to the society to which they belong.”

Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director, Tata Metaliks, felicitated the winners and said, “Listening to and meeting the finalists of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge was an enriching and inspiring experience.”

The Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2017-18 received over 500 proposals from across India, of which 205 met the eligibility criteria and qualified for the next round of the competition. These proposals covered several different areas such as agriculture; food and dairy; healthcare; water and sanitation; technology and development; education and skills development; housing; handicrafts; energy; and micro finance, among others.

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T-Sec Grand finale at IIMC Campus on 6th Jan, 2018

December 29, 2017

A joint initiative by the Tata group and the IIM-C, TSEC is a quest to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises. The endeavor of the challenge is to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and encourage sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.The grand finale of the programme will be held on 6th January , 2018, at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. TSEC is the biggest business plan competition on entrepreneurship. The contest will provide a platform to all those with innovative ideas to create positive impact and changes on the society, to showcase their talent. It is a national level contest to search India’s most promising social enterprises. The main aim of this contest is to raise awareness about Social Entrepreneurship.
This year’s edition received over 600 registrations from across India, out of which 200 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 and skill development; housing; handicrafts , energy and microfinance/financial inclusion. The ventures were judged on three parameters – business model, team, social impact and sustainability.

To register visit: https://goo.gl/C8Y5Qq

Date: 6 January 2018

Venue: IIM Calcutta Auditoirum

Time: 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Free entry, bus drop and much more!

For any queries write to: communication@iimcip.org or call +91 8420744101

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Tata SE Challenge Seminar on Thinking Social – Delhi

November 30, 2017

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in partnership with the Tata Group is hosting the next Thinking Social Seminar at International Management Institute, from 10 am – 2pm on 4th Dec,2017.

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

To attend the event write to henna.jaireth@iimcip.org

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Tata SE Challenge Seminar on Thinking Social – Chennai

November 30, 2017

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at IITM Research Park, Chennai, 21st November. 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 Guarav Kapoor: (Serial Social Entrepreneur),Geethanjali Radhakrishnan (Founder & Director – Adiuvo Diagnostics Private Limited), Sabarinath C Nair (Founder CEO at Skillveri),Kalyan Sivasailam (CEO – 5C Network), Pradeep Thangappan (Founder – Enability Foundation) , Dr Anand (Founder FIB-SOL Life Technologies Pvt. Ltd )

The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Mr Gaurav Kapoor, emphasized on what it really means to be social entrepreneur 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.” 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.

Sabarinath C is the Founder CEO of Skillveri Training Solutions Private Limited,spoke about his venture which help in addressing India’s Skill Gap. It enables better quality delivery of practical vocational skill training at significantly lesser costs through its innovative, scalable platform of multi-skill simulators. The company recently graduated from IIT Madras’ Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI).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.

Kalyan Sivasailam (CEO – 5C Network) share his experience about his journey as an entrepreneur. 5c Network is a technologically advanced telehealth platform focusing on Remote Radio diagnosis, offering the highest quality radiological interpretations at the fastest possible time. They connect the best radiologists to hospitals and diagnostic centres, thus solving the problem concerning lack of qualified radiologists at every hospital or diagnostic centres. 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.

Pradeep Thangappan is the Founder of Enability Foundation For Rehabilitation, expounds about his company which focuses on providing indigenous and affordable assistive technology solutions to rehabilitation workers, teachers, schools and resource centers. It’s product iGest, captures gestures of children with cerebral palsy and converts them into a dictionary of sentences.

The speakers share their thoughts and views about the social entrepreneurship that Social entrepreneurs drive social innovation and transformation in various fields including education, health, environment and enterprise development.

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

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Thinking Social seminar- KIIT Bhubaneswar

November 30, 2017

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 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 uman Mukhopadhyay, Director
of Banglanatokdotcom ,K.C .Mishra, Founder E-Kutir,Binayak Acharya- Founder,Tatvagyan , Amar Kr Jamdhiar- Founder &CEO, Prosperita Medi360 Pvt Ltd, Ambika Satpathy- Co Founder,Zoofresh ,Sanjib Parida – Founder,Orbonix.

Mr. Suman Mukhopadhay chaired the session highlighting about what is Social Entrepreneurship and relevance of smart solutions to solve development challenges. Today the social Entrepreneurs has number of opportunities in their hand ,only they should have guts to handle any situation and innovation that will lead to solution as mentioned by K.C .Mishra, Founder E-Kutir.

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

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Tata SE Challenge Seminar on Thinking Social – Hyderabad

November 17, 2017

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 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 Guarav Kapoor: (Serial Social Entrepreneur), Brig P Ganesham Founder – President, Palle Srujana Prashant Lingam Co-Founder, Bamboo House India; Dr. Praveen Kumar Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS).
The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Mr Gaurav Kapoor, emphasized on what it really means to be social entrepreneur 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.” 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
Brig P Ganesham Founder – President, Palle Srujana spoke about theVillagers who have their own knowledge and ways of expression. We need to be enough knowledgeable to know their strengths. Traditional knowledge of the Villagers has been ignored and the rural people ​​are not able to cope with modern knowledge being disruptive. Its urban people responsibility​ ​to bring their useful​knowledge back by engaging in conversation with the rural people. 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 an entrepreneur and have the right kind of skills set.
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 – Bamboo House in Hyderabad.
Dr. Praveen Kumar Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) spoke about the zeal an social entrepreneur should have. According to him 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 not only the students but faculty as well.

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Tata SE Challenge Hackathon on Healthcare

August 7, 2017

TATA group in association with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and ibHubs is hosting the first TSEC Thinking Social Hackathon on Healthcare at BMS College Bangalore on 19-20 August 2017.

To register for the hackathon visit: http://ibh ubs.co/healthhackathon/

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TSEC Thinking Social Seminar Patna

July 30, 2017

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 is to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. On 21st July 2017 a business plan pitching session was organized for social entrepreneurs in Bihar. 80 startups had applied for this and of these 20 startups were shortlisted to participate in the business plan pitching event.
The speakers of the Thinking Social seminar comprised of academicians, investors and social entrepreneurs who have already established their own 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 both 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 start-up ecosystem is evoking entrepreneurial talent and if the youth takes up entrepreneurship seriously, it won’t 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 and Jharkhand. 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 announcement of the top 3 winners of the Business Plan Pitching Session held the previous day.

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