Social Alpha
Entrepreneurs-for-Impact (E4i) Program A Tata Trusts fellowship

Overview

The Social Alpha Entrepreneurs for Impact (E4i) program– a Tata Trusts Fellowship is a year-long immersive program that equips passionate ‘entrepreneurs-in-the-making’ with end-to-end capacity building and resources to leverage India’s deep science, innovation and entrepreneurship environment.

It is anchored in grassroots problem solving, immersive development sector experience, technology scouting, business planning and venture building. The program is designed to bring together entrepreneurs and innovators, and foster collaboration amongst some of the top educational, technical and philanthropic institutions in the world.

Social Alpha promotes innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social, economic and environmental impact.

We recognise the need for a program aimed at budding entrepreneurs and innovators that:
  • is rooted in a practical, hands-on approach to solving societal problems
  • is tailored to attract talented and passionate individuals looking to venture into entrepreneurship
  • lowers the opportunity cost & entry barrier of starting a social business
  • allows latent entrepreneurs to experiment without ‘fear of failure’ and learn technology scouting
  • provides innovators and innovations within the Social Alpha ecosystem an opportunity & outlet to market
  • is anchored in social enterprise building and immersive development sector experiences
  • ‘Harnesses’ social entrepreneurs in India to build Social Enterprises for India!

Program Offerings

The E4i program supports and enables individuals to develop solutions through their entrepreneurial ventures.
01.
Financial Support
  • A monthly stipend of INR 60,000
  • Access to our in-house resources free-of-cost
  • Opportunity to pitch for seed funding upto INR 50 lakh
02.
Strategic & Business Support
  • 100+ hours of master classes on entrepreneurial know-how
  • Access to domain experts, mentors, entrepreneurs, and functional specialists
  • Checkpoint/ milestone-based progression
03.
Innovation Support
  • Access to Social Alpha lab facilities for product development
  • Access to our partner organizations
04.
Customized Support
  • Connections and immersion opportunity in interest area Experiential learning
  • Networking opportunities with investors, mentors and industry leaders

Program Eligibility

The E4i program is designed for passionate, empathetic and motivated individuals who are dedicated to creating impact and want to build a start-up that will solve India’s development challenges.
  • Final-year undergraduate students who are not scared to follow their own dreams and wants to start his/her company within
    12 months of graduation
  • Highly driven, self-starters, go-getters who are resilient and self-motivated to become a change-maker
  • Deeply focused on creating a business that changes society for the better and has an impact on the underserved population of India
  • Empathetic, passionate and have an ability to work with, as well as lead others
  • Committed to the dream of building their own successful company and will leverage every opportunity that comes their way

Program Structure

The E4i program is a full-time program designed to accelerate the idea-to-seed investment journey:
  • Induction
    1
  • Immersion

    Grassroots
    and social
    enterprise

    >
  • Technology
    Scouting
    2
  • Business
    Bootcamp
    3
  • Product
    Development,
    Piloting &
    Testing
    4
  • Investor
    Pitch Week
  • Understanding critical problems of poverty and development in the Indian context
  • On-ground interventions to contextualize the challenges faced by the poor and underserved
  • Developing an understanding of technology – relevance, adoption and commerialization
  • Imparting basic business skills needed to start an enterprise
  • Iterative process for arriving at minimum viable product core to the enterprise
  • Final pitch presentation to investment committee
01.
Huddle I:

Problem Statements,
Need and Interventions

02.
Huddle II:

Product – Market Fit

03.
Huddle III:

Prototype to Solution

04.
Huddle IV:

Market Readiness

Induction
Introduction to Social Alpha and its partner ecosystem. Philosophy of capital, innovation and entrepreneurship for impact. Theory of change - Entrepreneurship as a pathway to create impact.
Huddle 1 - Problem Statements, Need and Interventions

Finding the problem statement, observing sector trends and boiling down to the scope of the intervention planned.

Immersion 1 - Exposure to Grassroots Challenges

A sector-wise immersion exercise along with the Tata Trusts’ on-ground interventions. The E4i candidate will gather contextual understanding of the problem and implementation challenges that exist on the ground. Issues at the Bottom of the Pyramid and various approaches that have been used to address them.

Immersion 2 - Exposure to Start-up Challenges

An enterprise-wise immersion exercise to be done along with the portfolio companies of Social Alpha or partners to understand the daily challenges experienced by entrepreneurs.

Technology Scouting
Developing an understanding of technology adoption and commercialization, gaining an exposure to innovations at various partner institutions like IITs, IISc, MIT, GOI labs etc.
Instructional Huddle 2 - Product-Market Fit:

Transitioning from an idea to a product/ service/ intervention through understanding product-market fit, competitive landscape and the product lifecycle. Understanding and establishing the product market fit and minimum viable product.

Business Bootcamp
Bootcamp to guide entrepreneurs through all the basic business skills for starting their own enterprise.
Instructional Huddle 3 - Product Development and Prototyping:

Building viable products and gaining hands-on knowledge for the new product development process, and prototype development.

Product Development, Piloting & Testing
Iterative process for arriving at solutions and test in the market by piloting and conducting field trials, in parallel to GTM readiness.
Instructional Huddle 4 – Go-To-Market Readiness:

Understanding the techniques for sales, marketing and customer service.

Investor Pitch Week
Final pitch presentation to be presented to the specially constituted investment committee and potential external investors. Graduation ceremony leading to start-up announcement.

Program
Timelines

Nov 2019- Jan 2020
Selection & Identification Process
May 2020
Program Start Date
Apr 2021
Program End Date

Selection &
Recruitment Approach

We are partnering with leading universities to help us identify and support the best entrepreneurial minds on-campus. Our favoured partners are universities that:
  • Encourage students to opt for entrepreneurship by instituting deferred placement options
  • Have an on-campus culture of entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Enable students to opt for fellowships and other alternate career opportunities
Our recruitment process involves:
  • Information session/ pre-placement talk/ interaction with the students
  • Recruitment Day: Interviews with Social Alpha stakeholders

For any assistance needed in filling the form, please reach out to us at

e4i@socialalpha.org