Mphasis, an IT services and solutions provider specializing in cloud and cognitive services, has partnered with NSRCEL, the start-up incubation centre at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore or IIMB, as part of its Social Venture Incubation Program, to support 'early-stage social ventures. The program aims to incubate and support 'for profit' social ventures and comprises start-ups that have been in operation for one to three years, said a statement from the B-School.
The program's focus is on helping start-ups build financially sustainable and scalable models working in the education, livelihood and disability space.
The statement said the program at IIMB received more than 550 applications from social ventures out of which 16 promising ventures were selected to go through a three-month pre-incubation program.
Following the pre-incubation, shortlisted ventures was given an opportunity to pitch before an advisory council for selection in the incubation program which will be for a period of 12-18 months.
Selected ventures include TAXSHE Services Private Limited, ECONUT Coconut Producer Company Limited, Blink Research and Services Private Limited, ThinkZone and Rural Caravan Private Limited.
They would receive an entrepreneurial grant and will be supported through a series of curated events and workshops aimed at addressing specific challenges and areas of assistance required, said IIMB statement.
Additionally, these ventures will also be able to avail on-site infrastructure as well as expand their network through interactions with ecosystem partners, IIMB faculty, alumni and subject matter experts.
"The talent present in the startup ecosystem in India has been visibly increasing over the past few years. However, support to social enterprises is still limited. It is essential that social enterprises also get the right kind of support in mainstream incubators to ensure they can make telling contributions within the industry space. Our partnership with IIMB is aimed at addressing this issue and through the facilities and mentorship support. We hope to enable the selected social ventures to achieve their highest potential," Srikanth Karra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mphasis, said about the partnership with NSRCEL.
Professor Suresh Bhagavatula, Chair, NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, said: "NSRCEL has been helping early stage ventures since 2002. Leveraging this experience and expertise, the Social Venture Incubation Program was launched in 2017. NSRCEL Social Ventures is the first-of-its-kind incubator of the country with an ascertained focus is to create a playbook and template for social enterprises incubation.
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