Action for India to bolster the economy through social innovations

Action for India’s (AFI) 3rd Annual Forum 2014 themed, ‘Building Social Innovation Ecosystems for Mega Impact’, was hosted in the capital on 11th and 12th January 2014 at the Om Shanti Retreat Centre in Gurgaon and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

The Forum saw the launch of many new AFI initiatives, including a network of five social innovation hubs, which will be built with the support of business champions like Raju Reddy of Sierra Atlantic, Lt. Gen Rajender Singh of the DLF Foundation, Sangita Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, Srini Raju of Peepul Capital and Dilip Modi of the Spice Telecom / EkSoch Foundation. These Hub Champions will drive the launch of a social innovation hub in each of five locations across three states - Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Graced by 100 key influencers, comprising impact investors, CSR professionals, technology titans, business leaders, IAS officers and government officials, the Forum lured the participation of 100 India’s pioneering social innovators aiming to make a significant difference in the lives of individuals from the weaker socioeconomic strata, through social entrepreneurship.

One of the more popular social innovations discussed at the Forum was NGO Aakar’s, application of technology in manufacturing biodegradable sanitary napkins to advocate the cause of menstrual hygiene. Emergency Dressing, the first-ever haemostatic solution, led by Axio Biosolutions, was another innovation aimed at saving the lives of accident victims by preventing uncontrolled bleeding.

Sam Pitroda (Adviser to the Prime Minister of India in Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations), and Desh Deshpande (Adviser to U.S. President Obama and Founder of Deshpande Foundation), were among the many distinguished influencers who were present at the forum to advocate the cause of social enterprise and entrepreneurship in the country.

The key note panel titled, ‘A Primed Pump? Examining The Current State of the Social Enterprise Sector’ was led by Sam Pitroda, Desh Deshpande and other eminent speakers including Ronnie Screwvala (Founder and CEO of UTV) and Shiv Khemka (Vice Chairman of the SUN Group). The panelists highlighted the significance of the social innovation hubs in promoting social entrepreneurship to accelerate the pace of development in the country. 

The AFI Forum 2014 aims at partnering with young social innovators and entrepreneurs across multiple sectors to facilitate actionable progress with social ventures through technology to scale operations, encourage dialogue with power brokers and policy makers, and cultivate a network of mentors to provide prudent advisory support to young business leaders who are keen on empowering people at grassroots-level communities, pan-India.

AFI Founder, Sanjay Kadaveru said, “We are excited to host the Forum for the third year bringing 100 of India’s leading social innovators and key influencers onto one platform. We will launch several new initiatives in the coming year. We are particularly thrilled about the functioning and expansion of the national network of regional social innovation hubs across the country.”

The hub network is inspired from the success of Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox project in Hubli, across Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, to support emerging social ventures. The Sandbox project initiates a critical mass of activity to spur innovations in India through forward-looking insights from social enterprises in Silicon Valley.

In a related move, the AFI has embarked on an ambitious mission of “20 by 2020”, which will see the development of twenty social innovation hubs by 2020.

Sam Pitroda, Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation Adviser to the Prime Minister of India, and Honorary AFI Forum Chairman said, “The idea is to bring innovators and investment communities together to network, share their experiences, and showcase examples of success and learning. Ultimately, the aim is to create products, wealth and jobs with social conscience and social benefits. Economic Slowdown gives an opportunity to innovate, the aim is to find a good regional champion and the result will definitely be path-breaking.”

Desh Deshpande, Adviser to U.S. President Obama and Founder of Deshpande Foundation, said, “If we are able to combine the execution excellence of for-profit organizations with the compassion of not-for-profit organizations, we can do magic. India needs to come up with solutions that are cost-effective and scalable. We can achieve this by setting benchmarks to raise the aspirations of social entrepreneurs, and collaborate with the government, private sector and financial institutions. AFI Forum is an excellent platform to bring all these parties together. Connections are made. People pursue those connections to do what they want to do, and AFI helps facilitate that.”

Also, at the Forum was a group of burgeoning entrepreneurs, who were announced as AFI Silicon Valley Fellows, after a selective competition that was conducted during the two-day event.