Four Finalists for the prestigious Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2010 Announced

This is a press release from Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship today announced the finalists of the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Awards 2010. These include Aajeevika Bureau (founded by Rajeev Khandelwal and Krishnavtar Sharma), AISECT (founded by Santosh Kumar Choubey), LifeSpring Hospitals Pvt Ltd (founded by Anant Kumar) and Vaatsalya Healthcare Solution Pvt. Ltd (founded by Ashwin Naik). The four finalists have been chosen after a rigourous selection process and the winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on November 13, coinciding with the India Economic Summit.

The SEOY Awards identifies and celebrates visionary social entrepreneurs who have demonstrated systems-change models and are at the stage of scaling/replicating their ideas across India and in other countries. Each of the selected finalists is doing commendable work to move the fields of financial inclusion, health and rural education to their next curve of innovation and impact.

Congratulating the finalists, Vivek Prakash, Co-ordinator, Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, said “The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation had collaborated with the Schwab Foundation to provide unparalleled platforms at the national level for leading social innovators that highlight social entrepreneurship as a key element for Inclusive Growth. Our finalists are tenaciously developing solutions in key growth areas. Jubilant Bhartia Foundation aims to collaborate meaningfully with them by supporting them with linkages and networks to increase their impact and scale."

According to Vivian Gee, Head of Asia, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Associate Director, World Economic Forum, “Aajeevika Bureau, AISECT, LIfeSpring Hospitals and Vaatsalya demonstrate that inclusive growth, precisely what social entrepreneurship achieves. Through their products and services, the marginalized as well as the rural and urban poor are integrated into a value chain of services in healthcare, education, technology and formal sector employment. With business pragmatism and a heart for societal progress, these finalists are bridging the economic development divide and ensuring that people are not left behind."

Applications to the India SEOY Awards 2010 opened in May this year. The response was positive, and the quality of applications was very competitive. The finalists of this year’s awards were identified through an intensive three step process. Out of the 104 social entrepreneurs who submitted their applications, 25 semi-finalists were moved to the next round of the competition. The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and the Schwab Foundation teams thereafter identified six applications for the next stage of the competition – i.e. the due diligence visits.

The four finalists, further selected from this pool, are extraordinary social entrepreneurs who are shaping and scaling large-scale solutions to building an inclusive India. They will meet the jury of the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award on November 12, 2010 in New Delhi. The jury will comprise eminent members from the corporate, media and the civil society sectors.

Brief Description of the Social Change Models Developed by the Finalists

AAJEEVIKA BUREAU

Social entrepreneurs: Rajiv Khandelwal, Krishnavtar Sharma

Field(s): Migration, Employment

Established in 2005, Aajeevika Bureau develops financial products, 'photo-identity’ services, skill training programs and partnerships with local governments and businesses to help rural seasonal migrants succeed in difficult economies. Aajeevika’s solutions are designed to support seasonal rural migrants both at the source (i.e. resource-poor rural economies) and the destination (i.e. exclusionary urban markets) of their migration cycles.

ALL INDIA SOCIETY FOR ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY (AISECT)

Social entrepreneur: Santosh Kumar Choubey

Field(s): Rural Technical Education and Vocational Training, Livelihoods and Enterprise Creation

AISECT has pioneered ICT-based education in rural India that has opened up entrepreneurship and new employment opportunities for more than 1 million rural youth in their local eco-systems.

LIFESPRING HOSPITALS PVT LTD

Social entrepreneur: Anant Kumar

Field: Health

LifeSpring Hospitals is a chain of small, low-cost maternity hospitals that provides quality, affordable healthcare services to women from low-income groups in Indian cities.

VAATSALYA HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS PVT LTD

Social entrepreneur: Ashwin Naik

Field: Health

Vaatsalya Healthcare Solutions Private Limited is a chain of low-cost, no frills hospitals that provide primary and secondary healthcare services which are accessible and affordable to middle and low-income families in Tier III and Tier IV towns in India. Vaatsalya focuses on the semi-urban and rural population that has limited access to good quality healthcare services.

Note to the Editors:

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a not-for-profit, independent and neutral organization, founded in 1998, with the purpose to advance social entrepreneurship and to foster social entrepreneurs as an important catalyst for societal innovation and progress. The Foundation is under the legal supervision of the Swiss Federal Government and is headquartered in Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland.

Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, the social wing of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, was established in 2007. As a part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, the foundation focuses on conceptualizing and implementing the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives for the group. The foundation’s objectives include various community development work, health care activities, cultural & sports activities, environment preservation initiative, vocational training, women empowerment and educational activities. www.jubilantbhartiafoundation.com