India is booming. Yet poverty, lack of education and health issues remain for hundreds of millions of people across the country.
CIVA has initiated the formation of UnLtd India to develop social entrepreneurship in India in the belief that individuals - not necessarily the government nor the established NGO sector - can bring critical new ideas, energy and resources that are needed to solve these problems.
The UnLtd India programme was launched in November 2007 when the first 10 awards were made to social entrepreneurs in Mumbai. They are start-up social entrepreneurs and UnLtd India will help them grow as leaders and create high-impact, sustainable organisations ready for scaling and further investment. It will do this through providing:
• Seed funding, to pay for critical early start-up costs and to support the entrepreneur as they take their organisation to a sustainable level
• Hands-on coaching & training, covering business & financial planning, fundraising, legal structures, governance, marketing and HR management
• High-value connections, linking the entrepreneurs with others like them, mentors, subject-matter experts, and further funders or investors
An organisation and a board have been established in India as the vehicle for this initiative. UnLtd India was established and is led by Richard Alderson and Pooja Warier. A UK board consisting of Stephen Lloyd, Ramesh Chandaria, Alpesh patel, Salman Mahdi, Michael Norton and Joel Cadbury has been set up to raise funds in the UK for UnLtd India and to foster UK-India links; this is operating as The Social Entrepreneurs Trust.
For further information or if you want to sponsor an Indian social entrepreneur, contact: www.unltdindia.org
Alongside UnLtd India, we have helped create Journey for Change, which organises two-week study visits for social entrepreneurs around the world and others interested in social entrepreneurship to visit projects and interact with social entrepreneurs in India. www.journeysforchange.org. And there is now a Mumbai Hub workspace for social entrepreneurs run by UnLtd India, and you can link to their FaceBook page: www.facebook.com/BombayHub
