networking | Ahmedabdad | CIIE
iWeekend Impact: Blowing the wind of change, part 1
This post is written by Sagar Sarbhai and Luv Sayal.
iW Impact Ahd speed networking
The future’s in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change
Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night where the children of tomorrow share their dreams with you and me.
Where the children of tomorrow dream away in the wind of change…
No, The Scorpions were not playing a gig at IIM Ahmedabad and creating the wind of change. It was a bunch of 50 “change agents” who came from all over India to create social impact at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad.
iWeekend Impact, a 50-hour intensive and innovative experience brought together social entrepreneurs and professionals from all over India to present ideas with social impact and develop socially responsible business plans. The event is targeted towards social entrepreneurs, NGOs, technologists, designers, marketers, content writers, business students, finance & legal professionals who are looking to start their own social enterprise or are enthusiastic about contributing their skills and talent to a social project. The ultimate goal of each venture should be to create social impact.
The weekend was flagged off by a unique speed networking session where more than 50 social entrepreneurs got 60 seconds to get to know each other. After the “impactful” networking session, it was time for the elevator pitches. A total of 20 ideas were presented ranging from rural health insurance to rural mobility solutions to educating the underprivileged children.The energy and passion of the social entrepreneurs to create social change was awe inspiring. Even students from IIM Ahmedabad got immersed in the enthusiastic vibe. After a grueling session of idea presentation and selection, a total of 7 ideas were selected by participants to be developed over the weekend.
These ideas are:
- Sky ke Paar : career orientation and self discovery through experiential learning
- Nai Disha: an NGO that strives to retain and develop a child’s formative years — make every child self-reliant by various means of vocational training, education and awareness programs.
- Carpet Eye: Online retail store for carpets, rugs and doormats that guarantees a fair price to the weavers
- Zups Creation: using tribal art to create exclusive hand painted T-Shirts, paintings and other merchandise.
- My Dream: online platform for NGOs that helps companies realize their corporate social responsibilities
- Rural Power: Producing electricity using rice husk to light up rural India
- Aadarsh Amdavad: volunteer driven social change to make Ahmedabad an ideal city
It promises to be a very intensive and productive weekend. Stay tuned for more coverage from India’s first “hackathon” for ideas with social impact.
2 Comments on “iWeekend Impact: Blowing the wind of change, part 1”
Awesome Experience