HYDERABAD: WITH an aim to establish the first social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Hyderabad, a collaboration was announced on Friday between Action For India (AFI), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH), and T-Hub. Through the collaboration, which was formalised with an MoU between the various stakeholders, 5000 social impact startups throughout the country will be provided with strategical scaling support.
IIIT Hyderabad’s AIC-IIITH Foundation, an Atal Incubation Centre, will provide an entrepreneurial outlook and technological innovativeness for social impact. P J Narayanan, Director of IIIT Hyderabad, said, “With this, we hope to reach out to more social enterprises who need such ecosystem support to sustain and grow.”
IIT Hyderabad, in collaboration with AFI, will set up an accelerator programme designed to catalyse social impact ventures. AFI further plans to engage the social enterprise ecosystem through its nascent AFI Impact Investment Fund, its Silicon Valley Leadership Circle, Influencer and Sector Champion networks, and government and policy linkages.
B S Murty, Director of IIT Hyderabad, said, “As an organisation that is keen to support entrepreneurship in every form, we are happy to announce this partnership. It will aim at combining the strengths of all ecosystem enablers to create an ecosystem for social impact startups - it will provide all the necessary capabilities that will help them scale rapidly.”
Similarly, T-Hub aims to bring its network of mentors, investors and legal advisory team to social impact startups to help scale business.
“Social enterprises that improve human life by deploying technology need solid support. T-Hub is collaborating with like-minded ecosystem enablers to build a social impact ecosystem,” stated T-Hub CEO Ravi Narayan.