Students of PES University, Bengaluru, won the 6^th edition of Azim Premji University’s National Level Social Enterprise Idea challenge organised at University Campus, Bengaluru.

The Social Enterprise Cell of Azim Premji University organises the Idea Challenge event every year with the purpose of providing students of Colleges and Universities across India an opportunity to explore social entrepreneurship and share their innovative social impact ideas in a rigorous and competitive manner.

The event also acts as a great networking platform for young minds to meet each other, exchange thoughts, and showcase their talent and skills to some of the early-stage mentors and funders.

In the sixth year of the event, more than 100 teams participated and submitted their innovative social impact models in the first round. The submissions were broadly in the domains of education, livelihood, health, sustainability, and governance.

16 teams were shortlisted for the final round which was held at the University campus on 30 April, Saturday.

The jury members for the event were

1) Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan, Executive Chairperson, LabourNet

2) Dr. Suresh Nair, Chief Technology Advisor, Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, an initiative of Tata Trust

3) Dr. Richa Govil, Director, School of Development, Azim Premji University

Team Sitara from PES University, Bangalore, won the 1^st Prize

Team Members: 1. Shriya Shankar 2. Srushti Jayaraman 3. Ananya V

Summary of the Idea: Sitara is proposed to be a for-purpose nonprofit organisation working towards helping children from underserved communities become self-sufficient, through an equitable education. They want to leverage their processes through YouTube and WhatsApp, and use the power of local language communication, to bring about improved learning outcomes in the children.

Team Abyaan from College of Vocational Studies, Delhi University won the 2^nd Prize

Team Members: 1. Riddhi Oberoi 2. Shrutika Gambhir 3. Arsh Bhatia 4. Pranav Hoon

Summary of the Idea: Project Abyaan aims to address the problem of disposal of Used Cooking Oil (UCO), which usually ends up blocking drainage pipes or sewers, contaminating landfills, leading to soil pollution. They aim to use this to make soaps and other products.

Team Khwab from Ramjas College, Delhi, won the 3^rd Prize

Team Members: 1. Manya Vats 2. Vanshikha Gourisaria 3. Navya Garg

Summary of the Idea: Khwab aims to fight the menace of plastic pollution and unsustainable consumption. They create a range of sustainable products for personal care, substantially reducing non-biodegradable waste. They make ​“zero-waste” alternatives to everyday alternatives like shampoo, deodorants, etc.

Nazrul Haque, Mentor for the Social Enterprise Cell at Azim Premji University, said, ​“It is always encouraging to see that young students are disturbed by social issues around them and are not only complaining but actively thinking about how they can contribute towards solutions. In the last 5 years, the Idea challenge event has become a brand name in the social enterprise ecosystem.”

About our Social Enterprise Cell:

In 2016, we launched a national-level Social Enterprise Idea Challenge for college and university students across India.

The Idea Challenge was designed as a yearly flagship event for the Social Enterprise Cell with the following objectives:

• To provide students from all parts of the country an opportunity to explore social entrepreneurship and share their innovative ideas in a rigorous and competitive manner.
• To provide a platform for students to shape their ideas through mentorship support and networking with other budding entrepreneurs in the social entrepreneurial circuit.

The shortlisted teams are then invited to the final event at Bengaluru. They present to a panel of three-member jury consisting of one internal and two external panelists who select the final winners: three winners and sometimes a special category or mention.

The ones who do pursue the idea benefit from the media coverage and the award resulting from the competition and most have gone on to receive additional financial or mentoring support from incubators and other organisations such as IIT Kanpur, IIM Bangalore, YCombinator.