AIC-GIM Foundation takes a step towards sustainability by launching ESG Startup Week

While corporate social responsibility has been a part of business culture for larger organisations, little attention was paid by small and medium enterprises on this front. Whether it is about environmental challenges or social impact issues, all stakeholders (larger corporations, MSMEs and Startups) must come together and work for the greater good of society.

In a bid to raise awareness on the subject, Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM) in collaboration with Climate Collective has launched ‘ESG Startup Week’. The initiative is aimed at empowering entrepreneurs towards the significance of environmental, social, and governance objectives for entrepreneurial and social benefits.

AIC-GIM Foundation, supported by Niti Aayog, has been working towards building a conducive environment for startups in Goa. A non-profit organisation, Climate Collective is consistently working towards the global goal of sustainability. Both these organisations have now come together to raise awareness towards global sustainability goals.

What is ESG Startup Week?

Multiple events, masterclasses, roundtable discussions, talk shows, workshops, fireside chats and more are set to take place during the week. The ESG Startup Week — set to take place in a hybrid mode — aims to raise awareness and find new-age solutions to tackle various environmental and social challenges.

Rajesh Joshi, CEO, AIC-GIM Foundation says, “Revolving around the global sustainable development goals, this event will exhibit a host of activities, inter-alia, panel discussions, awareness campaigns, and clean-up drives.”

Reiterating the same, Prof Ajit Parulekar, Director, GIM says, “GIM has consistently been committed to creating an ecosystem that fosters sustainable practices and creates positive social impact. Adopting sustainable practices is at the core of GIM’s mission and we have been taking adequate measures for the past decade.”

Key activities

Launch of Hub-CE at Goa: Before the startup week commences, Dr. Pramod Sawant, Honorable Chief Minister, Government of Goa, unveiled Hub-CE @ Goa. Hub-CE @ Goa is a collaboration between Atal Incubation Centre at Goa Institute of Management (AIC-GIM) and Climate Collective Foundation (CCF). It is India’s first dedicated centre for promoting Collaboration & Entrepreneurship in the Climate & Environment sector. With Hub-CE @ Goa, the aim is to create a physical ecosystem to promote and support innovation in the sector. It will not only support local entrepreneurs and startups but will also attract the community across India and Globe from the climate sector. In a few years, the goal for Hub-CE is to become the nucleus of climate sector Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This Goa-based centre is first-of-its kind in India.

Social Impact Photography Challenge: This creative challenge on Instagram curated by Centre for Social Sensitivity and Action(CSSA) at Goa Institute of Management was aimed at capturing the raw, unfeigned and oppressive reality of society to convey a powerful social message. This was strategised on various themes such as sustainable development goals, the challenge calls for pictorial appropriation of poverty eradication, zero hunger, gender equality, peace, and justice, among others.

Climathon Panaji: A key virtual event set to take place from October 23-30, Climathon Panaji will host extensive discussion and activities around the theme ‘Data Analytics for the climate’. Students, researchers, data analysts and professionals are invited to host discussions on how to develop data analytics solutions for climate. Experts believe that the adoption of new tech tools AL, ML, IoT, and Data Cloud can help tackle the environment and climate problems with new-age startups at the forefront. Panaji(Capital of Goa) is presently among 7 Indian cities hosting Climathon by Climate-KIC.

Matchathon: Industry feedback is taken into consideration to understand various problem statements in regards to ESG. Further, startups with solutions to those problems are identified. A Startup Dossier with ESG(Environment, Social and Governance) startups is being prepared which will be submitted to Industries, Government Departments and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(MSMEs). The aim is to connect the industry and business stakeholders with startups who can provide innovative solutions to tackle various climate, environmental and social issues at the business level.

AIC-GIM Foundation, launched the WE-nurture program for Women Micro-Entrepreneurs of Assonora Village(Goa) . AIC-GIM will assist them in brand building, social media marketing, product redesigning and creating distribution channel strategy. Foundation’s contribution and efforts were noted by Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi in an interaction with beneficiaries of 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat Swayampurna Goa'.

Creating a new generation of climate warriors

Events are curated and designed in a manner to stimulate action in a positive direction.

“Seeking to create the next generation of climate-conscious business leaders, this event will give impetus to both, contemporary business solutions and social responsibility propositions. To achieve this feat, the clean-tech ideology is a pervasive theme in all the events scheduled for the power-packed week. Climate Collective’s contribution is a welcome prospect, especially given its expertise in strengthening startup ecosystems through ‘circular economy’,” adds Rajesh.

Expressing his views on the collaboration and the event, Pratap Raju, Founder, Climate Collective says, “The ESG Startup Week encapsulates both, clean-tech provisions, and the concept of a circular economy. While the former indicates the use of technologies aimed at improving environmental sustainability, the latter is a more specific notion to re-think the take-make-waste concept, employing a model of production and consumption which involves leasing, sharing, refurbishing, recycling, and reusing existing materials to minimise waste generation and the resulting environmental implications.”

India Startup Weeks by AIC-GIM

AIC-GIM, a Goa-based incubator was set up to provide startups with the opportunity to scale their ventures by providing them access to finance, talent, subject matter experts and market. ESG Startup Week is the second of a total of four events planned under the India Startup Weeks by AIC-GIM. Each week has a specific theme and a focus area. The event commenced with ‘WISE’ - week of investments, startups, entrepreneurs and was focused on raising investments across India. More such activities are planned for the upcoming months.

Click here to know more about AIC-GIM.