The Hindu Business Line : ISB biz plan contest

THE Indian School of Business (ISB) here is hosting the Asia semi-finals of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), for the first time on Saturday.

GSVC is a business plan competition that provides a global forum for student entrepreneurs to showcase groundbreaking social ventures.

It began in 1999 as a student-led initiative at the Haas School of Business in Berkeley, California, US.

The partners who run GSVC are the Haas School of Business, the Columbia Business School, the London Business School, and the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Last year, the ISB was invited to be the International Affiliate of GSVC.

The Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development (WCED) at the ISB has promoted competition in the Asian countries, in the run-up to the event. Professor V. Chandrasekar, Executive Director of WCED said, "We have received as many as 66 registrations from various Asian countries such as the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Australia, and India."

After a preliminary evaluation at the ISB, 16 business plans have been shortlisted for the Asia Semi Final of the GSVC.

The shortlisted teams will present their projects before a distinguished, international panel of judges. The panel of judges includes Sara Olsen (SVT Consulting), who first took the initiative to launch GSVC as a Haas student.

The projects will be evaluated based on two important criteria:

Clear and quantifiable social objectives and impact.

Financial sustainability, i.e., being profitable and self-supporting through revenue generation.

Professor V. Chandrasekar said at the semi-final evaluation, the judges will select 10 teams for the finals to be held at the Columbia Business School.

The WCED at the ISB will provide mentoring and nurturing support to the selected 10 teams to prepare them for the finals. The mentoring workshop commences at the ISB from Sunday he added.