Tata group in partnership with Indian Institute of Management Calcutta announces the launch of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge

Press Release : TATA Group : Mumbai:28 Dec 2012 :12:54 pm PST

The Tata group, in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), has launched Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, a quest to find India’s most promising social enterprises. The aim of the initiative is to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and encourage sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.

Teams who either have an early stage venture (not older than three years) or a promising idea with a plan that can create sustainable social impact, can submit their business plans online at www.tatasechallenge.org. The applicants may or may not be Indian nationals; however, the social venture should be aimed at creating social impact in India. The ventures will be judged on three parameters – business model, social impact and sustainability. There is no restriction on the business model and it can be for-profit, not-for-profit or even hybrid, but it necessarily is required to demonstrate significant social impact through results or proof of concept. Impact Proposals (detailed business plans) are invited in the areas of education, health, agriculture, energy, technology, housing, handicrafts and microfinance, among others. The last day to submit the Impact Proposal online is January 20, 2013. The challenge also invites people to nominate social enterprises they know about through the initiative’s website.

Rewards

Mentorship
Three week mentorship support will be provided for all the teams shortlisted for the semi-finals, including three days at the IIMC campus.

Funding opportunity
All teams shortlisted for the semi-finals and finals will have an opportunity to pitch to India’s largest social venture capitalists for seed funding.

Incubation
The teams which make it to the grand finale will be given an opportunity to pitch for incubation at IIMC.

Cash awards
The top two winners of the competition will win cash awards of upto Rs2 lakh to be invested in their ventures.

The challenge will have three rounds.

1.Round 1 – Teams will need to submit Impact Proposals online in the format specified.

2.Semi-final round – A maximum of 20 teams selected from Round 1 will go through a 3-week mentorship programme that includes mentorship at the IIMC campus. These teams will pitch to a panel of esteemed judges consisting of social venture capitalists, social entrepreneurs, Tata leaders and faculty from IIMC.

3.The grand finale – From the semi-finalists, a maximum of ten teams will be selected for the grand finale. These teams will pitch to a panel of esteemed judges, consisting of business leaders from Tata group, CEOs / founders of social venture capital funds, social entrepreneurs and faculty from IIMC.

According to Atul Agrawal, vice president, corporate affairs, Tata Services, “The Tata group is known for pioneering ventures, and continuously endeavours to foster leadership and entrepreneurship through various initiatives. In line with the group’s ethos of commitment to society, the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is a new initiative to recognise promising ventures in the field of social entrepreneurship and provide them with a platform that offers them an opportunity to grow.”

Prof Ashok Banerjee, dean, new initiatives and external relations, IIMC, says, “Responding to societal needs is one of the core institutional values of IIMC. IIMC has always encouraged its students to pursue their interest in entrepreneurship in the social sector and take up the role of flag bearers for innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. The institute expects this initiative to serve as an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to engage themselves in socially-relevant initiatives and also familiarise themselves with the work that various organisations are doing in the social sector in a sustainable manner.”

The challenge will culminate in February 2013 with a summit on social entrepreneurship at IIMC, where the winners will be felicitated. In addition to mentorship, investment opportunities, incubation opportunities and cash awards, during the course of the initiative, the finalists of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge will receive continued support from IIMC, through cells on campus, including the entrepreneurship cell (mentorship support) and INCA (pro-bono consulting).

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is a unique initiative, undertaken jointly by an educational institution and a business group, to promote the spirit of social entrepreneurship in India. It is being supported by some of the biggest venture capitalists in the social entrepreneurship space like Ennovent, Yunus Business Fund (through Grameen Creative Lab), Acumen Fund and Ankur Capital amongst others.

For more details and updates on Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, log on to: www.tatasechallenge.org/

Life begins at 75

He may no longer be steering India's largest conglomerate, but make no mistake -  Ratan Tata will have his hands full in his second innings, too

B S :Shyamal Majumdar / Mumbai Dec 28, 2012, 00:55 IST

Titoo and Tango must be eagerly looking forward to tomorrow morning. Reason: their master, who works 16 hours a day and often flies between four countries in a week, would finally be able to spend more time with them after he retires from Tata Sons this evening.

But the two German Shepherds may be in for disappointment.

While he would surely stick to his words of not allowing his “shadow to hang over Bombay House like a ghost walking the corridors,” it’s also equally certain that Ratan Tata, 75, would not slow down his pace and be happy watching the seagulls on the Arabian Sea, which is just 40 meters away from his apartment in Colaba.

Unlike his predecessor, JRD Tata, who in 1991 handed over to him the chairmanship of Tata Sons as well as control of the trusts, Ratan will continue to retain control of the latter. Significantly, there is no retirement age at the trusts, which together control around 66 per cent of the shares of Tata Sons. As a custodian, he will have to anyway keep a close watch on the proceedings in the group.

But what will keep Tata really busy in his new office at Elphinstone Building (a new elevator has just been installed in the building, which is just a few blocks away from Bombay House), are his mega plans for the trusts, which were so far attracting only half his attention. The first indication of that came in his acceptance speech for a Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Rockefeller Foundation when he said his “life’s work isn’t done yet” as he hasn’t been able to touch as many people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Tata clearly believes “patchwork philanthropy” — giving a bit of cloth here and food there — would not go far. So he had moved away quite early from a benefactor-dependent model from a partnership model. The second part of that drive would come now as Tata doesn’t share the common belief that charitable institutions have to operate on a shoestring budget and does not need to create a professionally-run corporate body.

In a recent interview to American television journalist Charlie Rose, Tata laid out at least a part of his action plan. He said he would focus on rural development, conservation of water and his most visible goal is to do something in nutrition in children and pregnant mothers because that would change the mental and physical health of India’s population in years to come.

That’s a long enough list. But does it mean he would cut himself off completely from all that is remotely considered commercial in nature? The answer is a big No. Just like JRD, he would remain Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and several group companies – an ornamental position — but one which gives him the moral authority to give advice if asked for by the new Chairman. Tata himself has made it clear that he would be available to anyone seeking his advice but would refrain from taking any active role in the running of the group’s businesses.

Going by the extraordinary closeness he shares with Cyrus Mistry, the latter wouldn’t be miser in seeking his counsel.

The advice would certainly be much more frequent in matters relating to Tata Motors. The company, which is clearly closest to Tata’s heart, is suddenly feeling the pressure from newer competitors like Mahindra & Mahindra because of an indifferent performance in domestic markets. Tata has also made no secret of his desire to remain involved with the Nano – the world’s most affordable car which has never really lived up to the hype around it.

Going by his public statements, Tata would obviously try to reverse that even after he retires as he has himself said he would love to be “involved” rather than think this is the level that Nano sales can be.

And then there is the buzz about Tata planning to set up an international centre with state-of-the-art facilities to design a wide range of products. Though there is no confirmation on this, the initiative is not a surprise considering that the man actually joined the family business by accident – he initially wanted be an architect and live in the US. The design centre would be quite close to his heart as Tata has said quite a few times that the one benefit of studying in the School of Architecture was that it taught him to doodle when bored. He said board meetings were one place he would get bored – that compulsion, thankfully, has just got over.

All this is quite a handful for people much younger in age and in the prime of their working life. But Tata would do more. For example, he has already said he would like to attend the annual general meetings of Tata group companies as a shareholder and ask questions.

Besides, Tata will continue to be on the board of directors of Alcoa, apart from being on the international advisory boards of Mitsubishi, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls Royce, Temasek Holdings and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is also on the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California.

And then he has to do more justice to his fleet of cars (his pet grouse has been that he just didn’t get enough time to drive them himself), and flying — he has expressed his desire to flying helicopters more often as he loves the engineering in them.

Clearly, his two canine friends would continue to have a difficult time in getting Ratan Tata’s attention.

Damini...left her name with us now

NASSCOM and SIDBI partner to provide financial assistance to NASSCOM's eligible Micro Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) members

Press release :28 Dec 2012 12:10 AM PST

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today, has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to work together for entrepreneurship growth and development of MSME in the ICT sector in the country. As part of the MOU, both the parties will aim to coordinate the synergies in their activities to achieve this objective.

 NASSCOM and SIDBI will explore and work on various avenues related to entrepreneurship like policy advocacy, structuring of new risk capital and other direct credit products to create an enabling ecosystem for fostering entrepreneurship and development of MSMEs.

 NASSCOM and SIDBI will create a joint working group of five members with three nominees from SIDBI and two from NASSCOM that will undertake the necessary assessment and evaluation of the proposals submitted by the eligible NASSCOM MSME members. 

It will screen the “Eligible Enterprises” on a best effort basis within its pool of members and refer the proposals to SIDBI for evaluation, basis which these eligible MSMEs will be provided financial assistance.

 Speaking on the occasion Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM, said, “We at NASSCOM are pleased to enter into a partnership with SIDBI as this comprehensive agreement will allow us to support MSME’s and the budding entrepreneurial ecosystem of India. We are confident, that this collaboration will provide immense value to startups, entrepreneurs and the whole Indian technology community as the financial assistance will help encourage their efforts.”


As part of the agreement NASSCOM will additionally organize meetings/workshops for dissemination of information regarding Risk Capital Assistance/Direct Credit Schemes of SIDBI, to identify eligible enterprises for assistance from SIDBI. 

The Indian IT industry is estimated to be a USD 100 billion sector providing direct employment to over 2.5 million employees. In addition to contributing towards the economy, this industry has also positively impacted the lives of many through contribution to the various socio-economic parameters such as employment, standard of living and diversity among others. 

These unique initiatives being undertaken will continue to add to the growth of the Indian IT Industry.


About NASSCOM

NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1300 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services off-shoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.32 million professionals.


About SIDBI



SIDBI is India's apex level financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of MSMEs in the country and was established on April 2, 1990, under the Small Industries Development Bank of India Act, 1989. SIDBI is "the principal financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of industry in the micro, small & medium enterprises sector and to co-ordinate the functions of institutions engaged in similar activities and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Micro, small & medium enterprises contribute significantly to the national economy in terms of production, employment and exports. SIDBI has crossed the milestone of cumulative disbursement of Rs 2 lakh crore as on March 31, 2011 benefiting more than 325 lakh people. During FY 2010-11, SIDBI's outstanding credit to the MSME sector increased by 22% to Rs. 46,331 crore. Its asset portfolio crossed Rs. 50,000 crore as at March 31, 2011. SIDBI also received international award for MSME Financing & Development Project (MSMEFDP), under Local Economic Development Category, for "Making Market Work for MSMEs" by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).