ISB, SAP team up to help start-ups in social space

The Indian School of Business (ISB) and SAP Labs India have entered into a collaboration that will focus on ventures working in areas that have relevance to national priorities, to nurture technology-based start-ups in the social space.

Titled Jumpstart Social Enterprise Accelerator, the programme aims to identify and support 10 early-stage and five growth-stage ventures by providing guidance, mentorship and by scaling up their technology solutions, to have a large-scale impact on the lives of common people.

Start-ups targeting sectors such as education, healthcare, water and sanitation, energy, agriculture, financial technology, infrastructure, livelihoods and others are eligible to apply for the programme.

"The ISB SAP Jumpstart accelerator programme is an initiative to support promising entrepreneurs in thinking big and help scale their businesses to create an impact in areas of national priority and help build a better tomorrow,” Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, ISB said in a release issued here on Thursday.

Dilipkumar Khandelwal, Managing Director of SAP Labs India and Executive Vice-President, Enterprise Cloud Services, SAP SE said: "Through this initiative, we are supporting creation of investible and growth-oriented social enterprises that can contribute to the economic development.’’

Start-ups will be short-listed through a nation-wide selection process based on their innovativeness, social impact and scalability. Shortlisted finalists would be invited for a business plan pitch and interview by a panel consisting of business experts, investors, faculty and members of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ISB and SAP.

Further details can be had from http://www.isbdlabs.org/accelerator-jse