Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014

CORPORATE

Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014

17 investment commitments, 100+ mentoring connections and over 422 organizations attended 

Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014

The extremely productive 3-day Summit saw over a 1000 people around the world congregate in Mumbai to discuss, deliberate and build a roadmap for the year towards driving inclusive development through business

 

Mumbai, Apr 15, 2014: Sankalp Forum, an Intellecap Initiative, led the sixth edition of its annual global Summit in Mumbai from Apr 9-11, 2014. It brought together social entrepreneurs with investors, big businesses, philanthropists, policy makers and academia to break new ground in collaboration. The Summit focused on how various stakeholders – working through their unique approach – towards a common goal can work together.

 

Aparajita Agrawal, Director – Sankalp Forum, said, “It was great to see the Sankalp platform being used by various development practitioners. It is a democratic platform, and I was especially excited to have so many new stakeholders engaging meaningfully with us and each other, not just for these three days, but beyond as well.” She added, “We have always heard our delegates say that coming here enables them to get 4 months’ worth of meetings done in 3 days, and I expect to see a lot of partnerships and collaborations arising out of these.”

Some of the big highlights follow:

1)     Powerful keynote addresses: Sir Ronald Cohen of the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce, Dr Aravind of Aravind Eye Care and Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Health led the stellar line up of over 100 speakers.

2)     Path-breaking launches: Several firsts for India, Impact Investment Industry and entrepreneurs in the launches unveiled at the Sankalp Summit:

i) Launch of PRISM: Arguably the first fund rating tool for impact investment funds

ii) Launch of an Impact Investment Report: Arguably the first report that takes stock of the evolution of impact investment in India, this report was launched by leading global social advisory firm Intellecap.

iii) Global Simultaneous launch of Deloitte's Report: Beyond the Pioneer

iv) Power of connecting: 17 investment commitments made to social entrepreneurs, 100+ mentoring    connections were facilitated and over 422 organizations attended Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014

3)     Notes from sessions:

i)                 Reverse pitch: Large Corporates Convince Social Enterprises to work for them

In a first of its kind affair, the Sankalp Summit invited Google, Bosch, Unilever and Cisco to pitch to social startups on why they should choose them as partners. Bosch talked about helping startups scale their technology + delivery offerings, Unilever pitched business partnerships and Google welcomed content focused startups with freebies and distribution support. Cisco

ii)                How can CSR be channelled into social enterprises: As the call to Corporates is becoming stronger to participate in a more inclusive approach, the question that everyone is asking if the MNC and Large Indian Corporate are making real strategic choices and thinking about building real businesses from the inclusive agenda. We are looking at inclusion from many angels including direct product or service development or delivery that ether reduces the vulnerability of the Base of the Pyramid or create livelihood opportunities or indirect support through incubation, alignment, investment or acquisition to scale smaller social enterprises that have better understanding of the inclusive opportunity.

The Summit also saw volunteers from 16 countries that were selected through a rigorous process.

About Sankalp Forum:

Sankalp Forum, an Intellecap Initiative, aims to influence the global inclusive development discourse through its work with entrepreneurs, impact investors and inclusive businesses in developing markets. Keeping entrepreneurs and the social impact that they create at its core, Sankalp engages Governments, corporations, influential platforms like the G8 and G20, media and civil society to drive a paradigm shift in inclusive development approaches.

Sankalp’s global Summit, held in India annually, brings together over a 1,000 of these engaged stakeholders from around the world to discuss, debate and create a roadmap for development. The Forum expanded to Africa in 2013, and is actively looking to engage with other developing markets in Asia. Since its inception in 2009, it has connected over 400 enterprises to investors and funders, and built an engaged community of over 23,000.