New Delhi: It is golden chance for social enterprises in eight low-income states to raise their scale. Innovative Ventures and Technologies for Development (INVENT), launched by Technology Development Board (TDB) with support from Department for International Development (DFID), will support more than 150 early-stage social enterprises over three years and make at least 50 of those investable in that time.
Hence, a number of social enterprises in eight low-income states will receive funding and incubation services to develop and scale innovative and sustainable solutions that address problems faced by India’s poorest communities.
The programme will be managed by social enterprise incubator Villgro Innovations Foundation (Villgro), through whom the four incubators in the 8 low income states will be given necessary support. The eight low-income states include Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal.
The entire programme will be executed by four incubators – Startup Oasis from Jaipur (executing in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), KIIT, Bhubaneswar (focusing on Odisha and Jharkhand), IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) (West Bengal and Bihar) and SIDBI Innovation & Incubation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh).
Innovation-led entrepreneurship, given an impetus by the government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, has the potential to reduce poverty at scale as the emphasis is on affordability, sustainability, reach and scalability. INVENT seeks to strengthen this movement in the states where it is needed most, by supporting incubators to support innovative technological and entrepreneurial solutions to benefit the poor as producers, consumers, employees and suppliers.
The programme is designed to build a platform to provide incubation support to early stage social enterprises. The different kinds of support services cover funding, dedicated and intense mentoring, capacity building programs and knowledge products, access to facilities and relevant networks. As per the programme feature, after successful completion of the incubation program, the social enterprise may also get the opportunity to raise further downstream investments.
