Admittance of Tech-Business Incubation (TBI) as a valid CSR (Corporate Social responsibility) in 2014 has had a very positive impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. The objective of this mandate is to encourage interaction between innovative start-ups and corporates to advance India’s development sphere in terms of access, affordability & transparency.
Salim J Vali, SVP — Catalytic Capital, CIIE
Initially, prospecting for Catalytic Capital encountered all the hurdles that a new concept faces in its nascent stages. Even the strong early adopters were in a predicament, as their CSR policy did not explicitly detail support to a TBI. However, few visionary CSR leaders wanted to experiment, and I wish to thank Mahindra Finance, Bajaj Electronics and TAKE Solutions for being the trailblazers. Over time, Corporates have discerned that CSR spending is not an outlay but an investment. And like any other investment, CSR also needs diverse approaches/portfolios. Entrepreneurial solutions are an approach that offers a unique proposition that has sustainability built into its concept.
Impetus to foster entrepreneurship and encourage mettlesome entrepreneurs has been gaining ground. Catalytic Capital at CIIE has come a long way and is poised to disrupt the norm by helping build wealth for bottom 50% of India. CIIE’s Catalytic Capital initiatives include support to entrepreneurial programs fostering innovations, strategic support to innovative start-ups/entrepreneurs and futuristic open access technologies with potential to impact masses.
Corporate CSR does not have a strong collective preference for any particular sector but few have shown strong preference for Agri-Tech and Healthcare start-ups. CIIE-IIMA offers diverse CSR engagement models that create sustainable impact aligned to business strategies and philanthropic interests of our partners.
CIIE is very buoyant on the prospect of current partnerships growing and new partnerships coming together to co-create disruptive entrepreneurial solutions, that will not only aid in progress and create value for society but also will be the bulwark of sustainability. Our motto is exemplified in the words of Henry Ford who believed that — Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.