Action For India (AFI), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H), Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT-H), and T-Hub have announced a collaboration to develop an inclusive social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the state of Telangana.
The collaboration, formalised with an MoU earlier today during the annual Action For India Forum 2019 at ISB Hyderabad, focuses on pooling resources and experiences of the four organisations to create an ecosystem to support tech-enabled, social impact startups, countrywide.
The not-for-profit collaboration aims at delivering strategic scaling support to 5000 social impact startups over five years. The alliance is designed to address the critical challenges faced by social entrepreneurs with a special focus on business model, market discovery, go-to-market strategy, scale-up strategy, right technology application and securing funds. This partnership also aims to put Telangana as the top state in the country supporting the startups. This platform will make efforts to ensure that the state demonstrates a unique model for nurturing social enterprises for fostering inclusive and equitable growth.
The AIC-IIITH FOUNDATION, an Atal Incubation Centre set up by IIIT Hyderabad to incubate and support tech-based social enterprises, will enhance the impact of the partnership with its entrepreneurial outlook and technological innovativeness for social impact.
In addition, IITH in collaboration with AFI will open its doors to an upcoming accelerator program uniquely designed to catalyse social impact ventures.
T-Hub, on the other hand, which leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem will bring its expertise in capacity-building, network of mentors, investors, corporate connect and legal advisory team to social impact startups to help scale business. IITH and IIITH will also enable social impact startups with technology upgradation and support with government connections.
Ravi Narayan, CEO of T-Hub said, “India requires both venture model startups and social model startups to become a five trillion-dollar economy. The venture model startups have almost reached maturity. But social enterprises that improve human life by deploying technology need solid support and a robust growth ecosystem. T-Hub is collaborating with like-minded ecosystem enablers like IITH, IIITH and AFI to utilise our existing assets and experiences to build a social impact ecosystem that will provide scaling support to social entrepreneurs.”
This social impact ecosystem will enable social entrepreneurs with the tools, networks and resources to scale business ventures. It also aims to formalise growth strategies to create social impact in India and across the globe. It will also fuel innovation in the social enterprise sector to create successful and sustainable businesses that make a lasting impact on the world.
Eventually, the ecosystem will add more like-minded enablers as partners who aspire to nurture social impact entrepreneurs.