In an effort to give thrust to social entrepreneurs and social impact start-ups, four organisations, that have joined hands, announced a collaboration for developing an inclusive social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Telangana.
Action for India (AFI), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H), Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), and T-Hub formalised the collaboration with an MoU at the ongoing annual Action for India Forum-2019 at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here on Friday.
The MoU would focus on pooling the four organisations’ experiences and resources to create an ecosystem to support tech-enabled, social impact start-ups across the nation.
The MoU was signed by T-Hub CEO Ravi Narayan, CEO of AFI Sanjay Kandaveru, Director of IIIT-H P.J. Narayanan, and Director of IIT-Hyderabad B.S. Murty in the presence of IT and Industry Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan.
Mr. Ravi Narayan said India requires both venture model start-ups and social model start-ups to become a $5 trillion economy. The venture model start-ups have almost reached maturity, but the social enterprises that improve human life by deploying technology need solid support and a robust growth ecosystem.
“The T-Hub is collaborating with the like-minded ecosystem enablers such as the IIT-H, IIIT-H and AFI to utilise our existing assets and experiences to build such a first-ever social impact ecosystem in Hyderabad to provide scaling support to social entrepreneurs,” he said.
He said only 5% of the 8,000 tech start-ups in India were trying to solve problems in the social sector. “They are taking a large leap of faith by focusing on social impact as their main agenda. So we want to help them and create an ecosystem in Hyderabad and make it the first social impact innovation ecosystem in India and possibly across the world,” he said.
Business models
Mr. Jayesh Ranjan said that the social entrepreneurship was the way forward to find solutions to various issues being faced by the society. The private sector distorted the dynamics as poor were not helped. “Now, we know social enterprises can create business models keeping poor and common people at the core of their projects.”
Earlier, top 10 social entrepreneurs across India, including two from T-Hub who made it to the final round of Silicon Valley Challenge, explained their enterprises providing solutions and products to address various social needs and make people’s lives better at an affordable cost.
