AFI Forum 2015 - The 4th Annual Action For India Forum

AFI Forum 2015 - The 4th Annual Action
For India Forum
Leveraging peers, partners, and technology to nurture social
innovation
‘What if social enterprises, technology companies, governments, non-profits, investors and
development organisations could work together to effectively solve social challenges at scale?
What if strategies comprehensively addressed all the key elements of a problem so that
change is inclusive and lasting? What if social ecosystems went deeper to leverage the
potential of the community to solve local problems locally?’
While last year’s forum focused on putting the ‘action’ in Action for India by empowering social
innovators to create scalable solutions, this year’s 4th annual AFI forum went a step further to build
on inclusive and lasting social change. If there was one thing the fourth annual AFI Forum
sought to comprehensively articulate, it was answers to the question,“How do we work
together to effect large-scale system change?”
With three days of charged keynote addresses, panel discussions, breakout
interactions,and enterprise showcases, AFI Forum 2015 - Action For India’s 4th Annual
Forumand the first one in Bangalore - facilitatedquality talks about effective partnerships
for a robust social enterprise ecosystem by bringing together social entrepreneurs with
technology companies, sector champions, influencers, philanthropists, government
officials,and social impact investors.
NandanNilekani lights the ceremonial lamp to inaugurate AFI’s 4th Annual Forum.
Attendees heard from accomplished speakers like Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,Sam Pitroda, Honorary
Chairman of AFI and Former Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, NandanNilekani,
Former Chairman of UIDAI, Harish Hande, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and co-founder of
Selco, RamjiRaghavan, founder of Agastya, and DeshDeshpande, Adviser to US President
Barack Obama and founder of the Deshpande Foundation.
Keynote addresses underscored the role played by a technology eco-system in bolstering
the efforts of social enterprises, especially in agriculture and delivery of essential services
like healthcare and education to BOP populations. Also highlighted was the importance of
collaboration at the grassroots level to co-create relevant solutions. India’s urgent need for
an environment that fosters entrepreneurial talent and problem solving was brought out,
as was the role of regional sandboxes in supporting social innovation.
Forum Highlights
Release of Report: Partnering For Impact - Collaborations with the ITBPM Sector
Fructifying from the AFI-Nasscom partnership initiated at the 2014 forum to leverage on
tech resources for social entrepreneurship, AFI released a comprehensive report
“Partnering for impact – Collaborating with the IT-BPM sector”. The report factors in
insights gathered byfrom 277 emerging social enterprises across India, and interviewed
social entrepreneurs, practitioners, and experts from the ecosystem to understand possible
opportunities for collaboration between tech companies and social enterprises, key
enablers for the success of such partnerships, and the needfor a holistic platform that can
bring this together.At the release,RentalaChandrashekhar of NASSCOMled the discussion
on the role of technology companies in enabling social enterprises to achieve growth.The
report
can
be
accessed
here.
AmitPhadnis, Country Head, Cisco India; RajatTandon, Senior Director, 10K Startups, NASSCOM;
Krishnakumar “KK” Natarajan, CEO, Mindtree Consulting; NandanNilekani, Co-Founder, Infosys; Ed Cutrell,
Head, Technology for Emerging Markets; Microsoft Research; Sanjay Kadaveru, Founder & President,
Action For India
Building an enabling ecosystem through cross sector partnerships
The Forum provided budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect with social
impact investors, learn about the impact investing climate, pitch their ideas, and
explore possible avenues for funding. Eminent philanthropists Peggy Dulany of the
Synergos Institute and RohiniNilekani of Arghyam joined DeshDeshpande in discussing
the changing face of philanthropy in India and overseas, and the requirements for an ecosystem to facilitate philanthropic investment for social impact.
Accelerating on the momentum built in 2014, AFI and Deshpande Foundation reiterated
the vision of creating 20 regional social innovation hubs by 2020 under the ‘Vision 2020’
program which aims to replicate the Hubbali Sandbox model.
Critical steps towards large-scale change
Participants made suggestions on improving last mile delivery to rural areas and simplified
engagement processes between social enterprises and the government. There were several
mandates that emerged out of the sector deep-dives, which can be accessed here.
The Swachch Bharat panel witnessed champions in the field of sanitation and waste
management discussingthe potential role for social enterprises in achieving the
National Mission’s objectives through decentralized models forwater and waste
management.
The Silicon Valley Challenge enters its second year
The second edition of the Silicon Valley Challenge, launched by AFI in 2013, saw over 300
applicants of which 10 finalists competed for the coveted chance to visit Silicon Valley,
exposing them to some of the world’s top social business incubators like StartX (Stanford)
and SkyDeck (Berkeley), to exchange ideas with technology experts and to meet with
social impact investors.
10 finalists pitched their ventures to an eminent jury that included LaliteshKatragadda,
DeshDeshpande and NagarajaPrakasam.
The SVC Winners and finalists with the Jury and Panelists
The five winners joining the ranks of AFI’s Silicon Valley fellows in 2015 are Wilma
Rodriguez of Saahas, MinhajChowdhury of Drinkwell, Prabhat Kumar of MicroX Labs,
ApurvaBhandari of SankalpTaru, and Dr. Sachidananda Murthy of SAS PoornaArogya. The
innovations span across sectors like healthcare and safe drinking water to BOP
populations, affordable medical testing, urban waste management, and environmental
sustainability. More about the SVC fellows here.
MinhajChowdhury, Founder, Drinkwell Systems, receives his prize from RohiniNilekani.
DeshDeshpande, Peggy Dulany and Sanjay Kadaveru are also seen in the frame.
Forum photos are here; updates are published on the AFI Facebook page. If you
would like to get in touch with any of the entrepreneurs, influencers or ecosystem
members who are part of the AFI network, do write to us at info@actionforindia.org
The year ahead for AFI
With our own programs scaling across the country, it is the start of an exciting year for us
at Action For India. As part of Vision 2020, AFI will continuetobuild, accelerate, and go
deeper through regional hubs,with the ambitious goal less than a decade away and lesser
funds than $2 million to get to similar levels of impact as of models like the Sandbox in
Hubli. We are actively looking to bring in hub champions to support Sandboxes that are
developing across the country, from Varanasi to Madurai.
We will continue to develop new program initiatives and host events to connect leading
social innovators with influencers from the private, public, and social sectors.We are
currently seeking additional fundraising through partnerships with philanthropists,
corporate CSR representatives, and other individuals and institutions that seek to support
social enterprise development across India.
As always, we encourage your active feedback as we strive to make Action For India a
leading organisation helping social enterprises succeed. Please reach us through
ourwebsite orFacebook page.
The year ahead holds a lot of promise for the social enterprise ecosystem and AFI is proud
to be able to play an active role in seeing the expansion of impactful social
entrepreneurship.
We are thankful to all our sponsors and partners for making this happen!