Amitabh Kant & Sam Pitroda felicitate 5 winners of Silicon Valley Challenge at 5th Annual Forum of AFI
Author(s): City Air NewsChandigarh, February 2, 2016: Giving a fillip to social entrepreneurship in India, Action For India (AFI), a not for profit organization designed to stimulate social enterprises in India, felicitated 5 budding social...
Chandigarh, February 2, 2016: Giving a fillip to social entrepreneurship in India, Action For India (AFI), a not for profit organization designed to stimulate social enterprises in India, felicitated 5 budding social entrepreneurs with a 2 week all-expense paid trip to Silicon Valley, California. They were felicitated byAmitabh Kant (Secretary- DIPP & CEO-NITI Aayog) and Sam Pitroda (Honorary Chairman, AFI) on the occasion of the 5thAFI Annual Forum at IIT-Delhi.
The Forum witnessed presence of over100 leading social entrepreneurs from around the nation interacting with 100 key influencers at the intersection of business, technology, entrepreneurship and social impact. The influencers included eminent personalities from diverse sectors including donors, investors, IAS officers, technology executives and policy analysts.
The winning entrepreneurs include Damini Mahajan (WeMakeScholarsEdtechPvt.Ltd), SaranshVaswani (Saajha), Dr.AbhayShendye (Swasti Agro and Bio Products Pvt. Ltd.), Ashim Roy (uber Diagnostics) and Shashank Kumar (Green Agrevolution). The winners will get an opportunity to interact with leading investors, executives and entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley.
Speaking on the occasion, Amitabh Kant said, “India is witnessing structural transformation in India and it is not an easy task.” He also emphasized on easy entry and exit with no compliance issues for the entrepreneurs.
The two day forum concluded with a keynote panel discussion on “Startup India - Impact Bharat” led by Sonia Singh, Editorial Director of NDTV. Among the panelists were Amitabh Kant (Secretary – DIPP & CEO-NITI Aayog), Sam Pitroda(Honorary Chairman, AFI), Aravind Gupta(National Technology Head, BJP), Rajeev Gowda (MP, Rajya Sabha), Shiv Khemka(Founder, tGELF) and Dilip Modi (Founder, EkSoch Sandbox).
The Forum kick-started with an introduction of AFI by Sanjay Kadaveru, Founder & President, AFI followed by the inaugural ceremony which featured remarks by Sam Pitroda(Honorary Chairman, AFI), Dr. Vijay Bhatkar (FormerChairman, Board of Governors, IIT-Delhi) and Ashish Dhawan (Founder & CEO, Central Square Foundation).
Addressing the guests at the final presentation ceremony, Mr. Sanjay Kadaveru said, “It gives us immense pleasure to felicitate the 5 winners and to have successfully hosted the 5th edition of AFI Annual Forum. AFI will strive to become a better collaborative platform to connect the leading social entrepreneurs with the influencers. We will give them access to resources such as technology, mentors, funds, government decision makers and customers.”
“AFI is contributing to India’s growth by boosting social entrepreneurship and identifying social innovation hub champions. This Forum provides a platform to address the major challenges these entrepreneurs face; which would include access to funds, technology and adequate mentorship. Given the above, a lot more needs to be done to facilitate scale-up of the social innovation movement in the country,” said Sam Pitroda during his inaugural address.
With the launch of “StartUp India, Standup India” by PM Modi, the focus is on rousing the entrepreneurial spirit among the country’s youth. Start-ups are expected to be engines of job growth, wealth creation and socioeconomic change at the bottom of the pyramid. According to a NASSCOM report, over the past few years, the start-up movement has picked pace, as funding into the sector grew 125%, from $2.2 billion in 2014 to $4.9 billion in 2015.
The first day witnessed a panel discussion on the role of technology in scaling social impact. Among the panelists were Anand Deshpande (Founder & CEO, Persistent Systems), Prashant Mehra (Chief Architect, Social Inclusion, Mindtree) andNeil Patel (Founder, Awaaz.de). Sharing views on how social entrepreneurs can leverage technology, the panel emphasized on the need for technology gurus and experts to reach out to social innovators struggling with ideas and seeking support to scale their product ventures.
The first day captured sector-specific, cross-sectorial intensive discussions along with speed dating sessions – 10minute one-on-one discussions between social entrepreneurs and influencers. The interactions covered sectors like agriculture, education, livelihood, healthcare and energy while also discussing the fundraising challenges of the young entrepreneurs.
The first day of the Forum concluded with a panel discussion on “Sustainability Development Goals” moderated by David Wilcox (ReachScale) in the presence of the panelists- Mairi Mackay (British Council),NeelamChhiber (Mother Earth) and Dr. Ashwin Naik (Vaatsalya). The session stressed on the need for changing the dynamics of the ecosystem and proposed that social enterprises be henceforth called ‘sustainable development enterprises’.
The second day of the Forum began with another round of speed-dating between the enterprises and the influencers. The first panel for the day discussed the role of Governance and collaboration between public, private and development sectors to enhance the reach and impact of social enterprises. The panel moderated byPallavi Gupta (Fifth Estate) includedAmarjeet Sinha (Addl. Secy, MoRD, GoI),GaruravDwivedi (CEO, MyGov), Venkitesh Ramakrishnan (Sr. Assoc. Editor, Frontline) and AnoopKaul (BASIX).
A panel on ‘regional social innovation hubs’ such as EkalVidyalaya, Native Lead Foundation, eKutir and AFI and highlighted various aspects of such hubs that will be game-changers to facilitate and support social enterprises at the grassroots. Moderated by Mahesh Kanumury (Arivali Partners), the panel included NagarajaPrakasam (Native Angels Network), K C Mishra (eKutir), Mallikarjun(EkalVidyalaya) and Sanjay Kadaveru(Founder & President, AFI).
The break-out sessions on the second day on ‘Indian-Americans and Social Impact in India’, ‘building a high skill team for your social enterprise’ and ‘collaborations to effectively scale social enterprises’ brought forward recommendations for both Govt. and AFI to strengthen the support ecosystem for social entrepreneurs.
Action For India Annual Forum is committed to building a strong, robust ecosystem that supports social entrepreneurship throughout India.
Date:
Tuesday, February 2, 2016