Presenting finalists and winners of ISB iDiya 2012- A National 'Social Venture Competition'

Monday December 10, 2012 , 3 min Read

After 6 rigorous days, ISB iDiya Boot Camp concluded today with 11 finalists pitching their ideas to investors & industry experts. Started in 2009, iDiya is ISB's National Social Venture Competition that aims to stimulate, enable and develop high-impact, self sustaining social businesses in India.

Of the total of 300 applications, the top 11 applications were shortlisted for the iDiya boot camp, between Dec 4^th and 9^that ISB Hyderabad. Inaugurated by Saina Nehwal, the iDiya boot camp had much to offer to the young & vibrant entrepreneurs who are tomorrows change agents. During the Boot Camp, there were sessions on ‘Presentation Etiquette’, ‘Social Networking’, ‘Competitive Strategy’, ’Entrepreneurial Finance’ and ‘Negotiations, and ‘Bootstrapping’. The sessions were aimed at assisting the participants in their final presentations. The star studded jury included Arun Ghore, President and CEO of Grey Ghost Ventures, Paul Basil, Founder and CEO of Villgro, Sadeesh Raghavan, Active VC and Angel Investor, Sriram Gutta, Director of Business Development at Upaya Social Ventures, Subramonia Sarma, Senior Director, PGP Projects at ISB, and Upendra Bhatt, Managing Director of cKinetics. Here is the list of the finalists and winners of ISB iDiya 2012 -

Bio Energy Ventures (1^stPrize: INR 200,000) – leveraging biomass residue in order to convert it into cleaner fuel alternatives.
Sankalp Taru (2^ndPrize: INR 150,000) – an online platform which enables buying of trees that will be planted in the rural communities of Badmer (Rajasthan).
Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (3^rdPrize : INR 75,000) – addressing the quality of education at the bottom of the pyramid preschools for children in Andra Pradesh, using local women entrepreneurs to run the schools so as to increase community involvement.
Amrit Tulya (special honor for most implementable plan in the short term: INR 25,000)- working to solve access to drinking water in the rural areas.
BodhaGuru – focused on increasing the quality of affordable education for children at the bottom of the pyramid by using stories and practical examples for the students to solve and gain a better understanding of the curriculum.
Coinside Technologies – setting up a BPO in prisons in order to rehabilitate prisoners in order to give them employment and tangible skills.
Phoenix Power – giving a better standard of living to the rural people by using low cost renewable energy that will improve rural livelihood.
The Learning Lab – focusing on getting together children to learn in a scientific manner by utilizing a design thinking process to increase problem solving and collaboration between students.
Mlinda – working on electronic vehicles to change the way transportation is done today. They envision a world where people think about how they consume and produce in order to make people custodians of their environment.
Nirantara Livelihood Resources Pvt. Ltd. – bringing together small producers and farmers for skill development and best realization of their market value.
Solar Power Harvester – working on energy development of clean green technology for farmers that helps them overcome their losses by making harvesting more energy efficient.