The YSE, organised by Singapore International Foundation is a social enterprise programme that nurtures an international network of youth keen in social issues through entrepreneurial means
A team from the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) is among one of the six winning teams that pitched its social enterprise ideas for change, after an eight month journey of mentorship, overseas study visit and social entrepreneurial learning and exchange.
A total of 16 teams, representing eight countries and territories were shortlisted from a pool of 138 participants at the 2017 Young Social Entrepreneurs (YSE) workshop held in March this year. The YSE, organised by Singapore International Foundation (SIF), is a social enterprise programme that nurtures an international network of youth keen in social issues through entrepreneurial means.
The team from IRMA, Chaitanya Powar, Abhishek Sharma and Harikrishan Santhosh pitched their social enterprise Auctorem Solutions to the panel of judges at the final pitching session held on November 3. The sustainable venture based in the Western Ghat region of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, works with tribes to facilitate collection, extraction, purification and sales of natural and medicinal honey from the forests.
Chaitanya said, "As against other players in the market, we provide safety gears and use scientific method of extracting honey. While we are giving livelihood to the tribal community, we are also ensuring that the beehive is not completely damaged."
Six teams were eventually awarded up to $ 20,000 in seed funding and were selected based on the impact, scalability and sustainability of their social enterprise, and the commitment level of its members.
Interestingly, one of the winning team from Singapore, Freedom Cups, headed by sisters Rebecca Paranjothy and Vanessa Paranjothy, produces reusable menstrual cups for women and works on a model buy-1, give-1 where every purchase allows a woman from an underprivileged background to have clean periods.
Rebecca said, "Sanitary pads and tampons produce so much waste on this planet. Our freedom cups can be used for 10 years and are hygienic."
Another Indian team that won the competition was Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti run by Summaiya Afreen and Rahul Goswami which strives to enhance the relation between the literacy level of mother and child through dual-generation strategies.
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- A total of 16 teams, representing eight countries and territories were shortlisted from a pool of 138 participants at the 2017 YSE workshop held in March this year.
- YSE was organised by Singapore I’ntl Foundation.
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