PUNE: The Tata Trusts and Social Alpha launched a fellowship programme, called the Social Alpha Entrepreneurs for Impact (E4i) Programme on Tuesday.
The applications process began on November 13. The E4i programme is a 12-month fellowship that equips ‘entrepreneurs-in-the-making’ to leverage India’s deep science, innovation and entrepreneurship environment.
Speaking at the launch, Manoj Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Social Alpha said, “We wanted to create an avenue for passionate, empathetic and mission-driven changemakers to scout for potential technologies, create co-founding teams, build and test their solutions, and convert them into impactful ventures. We believe that by harnessing the power of science and technology innovations and mission-driven impact entrepreneurship, we can address some of India’s most critical social, economic and environmental challenges.”
The first cohort of the E4i programme will focus on finding solutions across a few high priority areas like water, sanitation, health, agriculture, energy and environment. Finalists will be encouraged to adopt a problem statement in one of these focus sectors, and identify or develop a solution that has the potential to create impact at scale while remaining financially sustainable.
“Another critical aspect of the E4i programme is that we are providing a small safety blanket to all finalists by way of a monthly stipend of Rs 60,000. This is not compensation for their foregone salary or career trade-offs, but a means to cover their expenses over the 12-month period. We believe the provision of stipend will allow us to attract people who are ready to assume the entrepreneurial risk but have economic constraints holding them back. We aim to make the E4i programme a catalyst for a new wave of science and technology entrepreneurship in the country,” added Kumar.
To apply for the program, log on to www.socialalphachallenge.org.
WHEN TO APPLY
- Applications open: November 13, 2018
- Last Day for applications: January 6, 2019
- Interviews and Evaluations: February 4-March 17, 2019
- Start of Programme: May 6, 2019
