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IIT-Madras has partnered with the UK’s University of Southampton to promote social entrepreneurship.
The two have launched a networking platform for knowledge sharing.
The platform, UK-India Conference on Social Entrepreneurship Education Network (UKISEEN), has been established by the Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CSIE), IIT-Madras, and the Social Impact Lab of the University of Southampton.
This will help the institutions to share best practices, teaching curriculum and research material for entrepreneurship ventures.
The programme will encourage student and faculty exchange programmes as well and is accessible to other colleges and universities.
Social entrepreneurship aims to provide business solutions for social, cultural and environmental problems that benefit the community rather than individuals.
Speaking to BusinessLine on the sidelines of the launch of UKISEEN, Pathik Pathak, Faculty Director of Social Enterprise, University of Southampton, said the UK, with its robust entrepreneurship ecosystem, and India’s strong technical background will benefit both the countries in nurturing social entrepreneurship.
Though social entrepreneurship has been in vogue for a long time in India, it is only in the recent times it gained momentum.
Said Pathak: “The interest has its roots in the shift in consumers’ attitude. They value ethical supply chains and are willing to pay more for it. Also, the Indian government is now encouraging such ventures, which is bringing more investors.”
Richard Everitt, Director Education and Society, British Council, told BusinessLine that the council is helping with the policy infrastructure for such ventures to thrive in the country.
“We are in discussion with policy-makers at the national and state level for removing policy impediments using our experience,” he said.
Nascent trend The UK has close to 70,000 registered social entrepreneurship ventures, generates revenue close to £24 billion and employs close to one million small and medium entrepreneurs, he added.
Joseph Thomas, Project Consultant, CSIE, said having the UK as a partner for social entrepreneurship will benefit Indian universities, especially now when the idea of social entrepreneurship is still rather nascent.
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