First-ever social entrepreneurship fair at IIM-A soon

Ahmedabad, September 19 BUSINESS has always been about the mind and money-minting. Now, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is pioneering the way for business, with the heart in the right place. The IIM-A, in collaboration with the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) is organising the first- ever Social Entrepreneurship Fair - an event to showcase and promote business for a social cause. The fair, to be held on September 23 at the Ravi Mathai auditorium in IIM-A, will see some of the biggest social entrepreneurs of the country talking about their experiences in building successful, socially motivated businesses. Mukul Sinha of Jan Sangharsh Manch, Ravi Gulati, director of Delhi-based education and resource centre Manzil, and Khushroo Poacha, the man behind India’s largest online blood donors’ portal indianblooddonors.com, will share their fundas and formulas for success at the open public event.

“An increasing number of students and venture capital funds are getting interested in social entrepreneurship,” says Kunal Upaddhyaya, CEO of CIIE. “Until now, few B-school students have taken warmly to the idea of business for a social cause. With IIM-A taking the lead in promoting the idea, we are hoping more students will be encouraged to start their own social ventures.” The idea of the fair was nurtured by second year management student, Vijendra Haryal, and his mentor, chairman of the National Innovation Foundation, Professor Anil Gupta. “After developing an initial plan, they sought entries from students as well as professionals across the country to come up with sustainable, innovative and socially useful business plans,” says Haryal.

Out of a total of 64 entries we received, eight short listed entries will be presented at the fair. Among these are teams from IIM Bangalore, XLRI Jamshedpur, IIT Kharagpur, MICA and BITS Pilani. Interestingly, none of the three IIM-A entries have made it to the final list. The three winners of the competition will be provided assistance in funding and implementation as well as mentorship by CIIE and the faculty of IIM-A.