Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Innovation park (IIMCIP), a business incubator under the aegis of IIM Calcutta, and Tata Group have announced the commencement of the eighth edition of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC), with the aim to find some of India’s most promising social enterprises. Started in 2012, the programme aims to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship, spread awareness and inspire the next generation to take up the challenge of solving socially-relevant issues faced today. Applications for the Challenge will be accepted till mid-September.
The contest has four stages:
Impact proposal round — In this round, teams need to submit a detailed business plan format that they have developed to address a pain-point in society, a possible solution and its impact in terms of livelihood and income generation.
Regional rounds — At the first level of screening, the Top 100 teams will be shortlisted, followed by four regional rounds, with pitching sessions to identify the top 20 semi-finalists.
Semi-finals — On clearing the regional rounds, a maximum of 20 teams will be invited to pitch to an esteemed jury comprising venture capitalists, social entrepreneurs and IIM Calcutta faculty.
Finale — A maximum of 10 teams will be selected for the finale and will pitch to a panel of jury members comprising senior officials from Tata Group, CEOs/Founders of venture capitalists organisations, high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and IIM Calcutta faculty members.
Rewards
● The top three winners will win cash prizes of ₹6 lakh (winner: ₹2.5 lakh, runners-up: ₹2 lakh, second runners-up: ₹1.5 lakh)
● The teams which make it to the grand finale will be given an opportunity to apply for incubation at IIM Calcutta.
● All teams short-listed for the semi-finals and finals will have an opportunity to pitch to India’s largest venture capitalists for seed funding.
● Three-week mentorship support will be provided to all short-listed teams, leading up to a two-day residential mentorship programme at IIM Calcutta.
Dr Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, said, “Our endeavour to seek social impact business ideas has driven us to form this association with Tata Group. We have been able to discover organisations and enterprises with phenomenal innovation through this challenge. It has been a pleasure to assist the participants from all over India, enabling them to thrive in the ecosystem that we have created and nurture social enterprises. Both the organisations have planned Thinking Social Seminars across regions to create awareness on social entrepreneurship and motivate youth to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges.”