The Indian School of Business (ISB) on Friday launched the fifth edition of iDiya – a social venture competition, which is an initiative by the prestigious school’s students. The annual competition, which is a national-level platform for budding entrepreneurs, promotes and funds innovative social venture ideas in India.
The social venture ideas might be in the areas of health, education, environment or women empowerment.
The chief guest, MN Rao, former MD and CEO of Tata Business Services Ltd, launched the registration process for the competition. He said that iDiya was a unique competition which would inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to address social issues through their business models.
The participants will be judged on the basis of innovativeness of the idea, the social problem the idea is addressing and the sustainability of the business model.
Background of the participants will also be considered. 125 teams participated in the competition last year.
The registration fees for the competition is Rs 1000. The last date for applying to the competition, which is open to all working professionals and early-stage entrepreneurs, is September 15. The top 10 shortlisted teams will get to attend a boot camp in which industry experts will educate the teams on creating a sustainable business
model which will help the underprivileged section of society and how to benefit from their business models. The teams can also meet venture capitalists in the boot camp.
The winners of the competition will get a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh, runner-ups will get Rs. 1 lakh and there are cash prizes for further runner-ups also. Apart from this, 50 selected teams will get feedback on their business models from industry experts.
Abdul Lateef, winner of the 3rd iDiya competition, whose Mobile Science Lab promotes science education among students of 8-12 grade said,”ISB and iDiya provided me with the network which is helping my business and have also mentored our business model for the past two years.”
Sanju Kumar, founder of Kisan School which provides farmers with critical information using mobile phone technology, said,”Though I knew what to do, I got to know about how to present a business model and shape its plan after attending iDiya’s boot camp”.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / July 27th, 2013