Deadline: 15-May-22
USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: India-Yash have launched the ‘Yash Entrepreneurs Program’, an incubator and accelerator program to support innovative market-based models to leapfrog outcomes in Family Planning (FP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH).
Anchored by USAID, this multi-donor project has been designed to contribute to the achievement of India’s family planning goals. The program aims to shape the social enterprise ecosystem in this space – while leveraging partnerships with key public and private sector players in India.
The MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: India-Yash project is led by Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate and partners. Yash Entrepreneurs Program is being implemented in partnership with Villgro with support from Quicksand.
The initiative will help scale 20 investment-ready enterprises across 2 cohorts by providing them with access to intensive mentoring by technical and business experts, strategic partnerships, technical assistance support, and other benefits that will help them scale their reach to ‘Bottom of Pyramid’-focused markets.
Key Fields of Intervention
- Contraception
- Menstrual Hygiene
- Sexual Reproductive Health & Mental Wellbeing
- Sexual Reproductive Health & Climate Change
- Cross Cutting Levers in Sexual and Reproductive Health Space
Funding Information
- Financial assistance of up to INR 10 L to top 20 start-ups towards Technical Assistance.
- Additional funding support of up to INR 1 Cr to top 6 start-ups for rapid scaleup in the market.
Incentives
- Selected social enterprises will get access to acceleration support to gain access to markets through capacity building, training, mentoring and networking.
- The startups will receive support to enable greater impact on ground with a focus on under-represented groups, including women & girls in remote sections of the country.
Add on support for eligible start-ups
- Access to Villgro’s flagship ‘Diagnostic and Solutioning Panel’ to identify and mitigate risks associated with the business
- Access to Jhpiego’s ‘Strategic Partnerships’ to foster, support and scale innovations
- Structured Mentorship with Technical Assistance Support
- Investment Readiness Support and Access to Capital
- Access to a robust platform of Partnerships and Value-Added Networks
- Follow-on Funding Support from Villgro and the associated Investment Ecosystem
Eligibility Criteria
- Must be a legal entity as defined as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India or other relevant laws
- Must have developed products/ services relevant to one or more of the themes defined above
- Are a mid to late-stage enterprise that is Minimum Viable Prototype (MVP) ready and with initial market traction
- Through interventions (product/service) must be able to create a strong and measurable impact on the target population
- Preference to enterprises set up by women entrepreneurs and businesses with gender-inclusive products/services
For more information, visit http://villgro.org/yashentrepreneursprogram/#about
