Thinking of an incredible way to spend your summer this year?  Last year, I helped coordinate InSPIRE College, and the five week journey for 18-24 year olds was full of eye openers, interesting discussions, deep reflections, and lasting relationships.  From Ahmedabad to Kempty, we visited NGOs, spoke with leaders of social movements, gave back through [...]

When I heard that Gautam Ivatury of CGAP would be at NYU’s “From Innovation to Impact” Conference, I thought it would be a great time to follow up with my previous interview with him.  While he did not have time to talk today, we are going to schedule a follow up soon.  Nevertheless, I was [...]

For those interested in social enterprise, water, or addressing health issues, Piramal Water is looking for a Chief Operating Officer.  A quick overview of the organization: Piramal Water Private Limited develops sustainable drinking water solutions for rural and urban populations where the quality of water is often the cause of more than 60% of common [...]

E4SI is an ambitious fellowship program that we encourage everyone eligible to apply to: The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) fellowship program has commenced its second annual rigorous recruitment process to match the most talented ten undergraduate students from fifteen elite Indian engineering schools with partner social enterprises that focus on development by means of [...]

Anil G of  New Ventures India informs us that New Ventures is inviting clean tech companies to submit their business proposals for a chance to receive mentorship, assistance, and connections with capital and market opportunities to scale up.  Click here for further details about the call for proposals, including eligibility requirements and contact information.  Proposals [...]

Shital had written in last November about Sankalp 2009, a business plan competiton for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) organized by India Development Gateway, in partnership with Rural Innovations Network (RIN) and National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Turns out the business plan competition has now developed into India’s first ever Social Enterprise [...]

Last week, Ashoka announced that the organization will use a US$15 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support the placement of Ashoka fellows in Africa and India.  The grant money will specifically target social innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and sustainable development.  According to their press release, Agricultural and rural sustainable [...]

The India chapter of Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society (ASES-India) operating out of IIT-Madras is set to conduct workshops running up to a competition in which the best social business plan will be rewarded. Times of India reports, Participants must submit executive summaries of their business plans by January 25 after which around 15 to 20 [...]

InfoDev helps announce the SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development, an award recognizing partnerships in developing countries that are working on environmental and social issues.   The approach to the award is interesting, however, because winners do not receive the normal cash prize; instead, they will receive something that many enterprises need: support services, [...]

The hybrid business model (nonprofit with a profit-earning arm) is a central figure as a certain type of social enterprise, and is a topic of discussion by SocialEdge and books such as “The Power of Unreasonable People” or “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.”  The Christian Science Monitor [...]