India’s Most Promising Challenge worth Rs 6 Lakhs for Early Stage Social Enterprises

Deadline: 22 September 2019

Applicants are invited to apply for the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, which is a joint initiative of the Tata Group with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C).

The Challenge endeavours to find India’s most promising early stage social enterprises, and create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship – encouraging sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.

The Business plan contest (B-Plan Contest) invites social entrepreneurs who have an early stage venture (not older than three years) or a promising idea with a plan that could create sustainable social impact in India. In addition, the enterprise is required to demonstrate significant social impact through results or proof of concept. The Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is being supported by some of the biggest Venture Capitalists in the Social Entrepreneurship space.

Stages

The B-Plan Contest has four stages:

Impact Proposal Round – In this round, teams will need to submit an ‘Impact Proposal’ through our website. Impact proposal is a detailed business plan format that we have developed to capture the needs and the impact created by any social venture.
Regional Rounds – This This year we have introduced one more phase in the selection of the Top 20 teams, where we will first shortlist the Top 100 teams and then conduct Regional rounds (in 4 zones) with pitching sessions to identify the Top 20 semi-finalists.
Semi-Finals – On clearing the pitching at the regional rounds, a maximum of twenty teams will be invited to pitch to a panel of esteemed judges consisting of Social VCs, Social Entrepreneurs, and faculty from IIM Calcutta.
The Grand Finale – A maximum of ten teams will be selected for the Grand Finale and will pitch to a panel of esteemed judges, consisting of TATA Business Leaders, CEOs/Founders of Social VCs, Social Entrepreneurs and faculty from IIM Calcutta.

Focus Areas

Agriculture, Food and Dairy
Healthcare, Water, and Sanitation
Technology and Development
Education
Housing
Handicrafts
Energy
Microfinance/Financial Inclusion

Rewards

Cash Grants
- The top 3 winners of the competition will win cash grants of Rs 6 lakhs (Winner: Rs 2.5 lakhs, Runner-up: Rs 2 lakhs, Second Runner-up: Rs 1.5 lakhs)
Incubation
- The teams which make it to the grand finale will be given an opportunity to apply for incubation and seed capital support upto Rs 1 crore at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park
Mentorship
- 3 week mentorship support provided to all short-listed teams leading up to a two-day residential mentorship program on IIMC campus.
Funding Opportunity
- All teams shortlisted for the semi-finals and finals will have an opportunity to pitch to India’s largest social VCs for seed funding.

Eligibility Criteria

They encourage teams who have an existing venture or have an idea that can create sustainable social impact to apply in the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge.
In order to be eligible to apply and participate, all teams must meet the following criteria:
- The team can be represented in the competition by a maximum of two members.
- There is no restriction on the age or background for applicants.
- If the submission is an idea, a proof of concept (E.g. prototype) is required.
- If the submission is a venture, the venture must not have been in existence for more than three years.
- The entries received will be recognized by the “name” of the venture/idea.
- The applicants may or may not be Indian Nationals, however, the social venture should be aimed at creating social impact in India.
- Enterprises that were selected as Semi-finalists in previous year’s Tata Social Enterprise challenge will not be eligible for selection.
- Business plans for the competition will be invited for all sectors including the above-mentioned focus areas.