30 January, 2017
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the TATA group hosted the Thinking Social Seminar at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC), Lavale, Pune on January 30th, 2017. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges. The speakers of the seminar comprised of eminent and social entrepreneurs, investors and academicians who have already established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people.
The speakers consisted of an esteemed panel of entrepreneurs including Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, Founder and CEO – Rural Relations; Mr. Ramesh Menon, a veteran journalist, author, documentary film maker and a corporate trainer and a recipient of Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism; Mr. Shekhar Prabhakar, Co-founder – Hasiru Dala Innovations; Mr. Sushanth Kodela, Co-founder – Uncancer India, and Ms. Janhavi Joshi, Co-founder – Bleetech.
The seminar commenced with the welcome address by Dr. Ruchi Jaggi, Director of SIMC, who praised the initiative for bringing a social dimension to innovation and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Lokhande started off the technical sessions by recounting his journey from transforming a small idea to what is now known as Gyan Key, a rural library. The story of Mr.Lokhande is that of a humble entrepreneur, who’s passion drove the project which was a very strenuous process with no immediate returns on efforts put in. He urged aspiring innovators to create not for demand by for need.
Ramesh Menon addressed the students on the topic of why social thinking is absolutely necessary for India. “One thinks of money and more money as soon as you hear entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship seems like lost money, but that’s wrong,” Mr.Ramesh commended the youth for being full of ideas, and encouraged them to come up with interesting ideas in the social sector. “Our youth is not only looking at a better quality of life but also a better India.”
Hasiru Dala Innovations, an initiative by Mr. Shekhar Prabhakar, is his social enterprise that very cleverly changed the perception of a social group – transforming them from ‘waste-pickers’ to environmentalists. According to Mr. Prabhakar when one talks about social impact “There needs to be a quantum change in the scope of social change.”
The second half of the seminar introduced Sushant Kodela, who moved the audience with his touching and very personal story about how he overcame cancer and that experience led him to ideate platform that he hopes will change healthcare in India. “When you are facing death, your entire perspective about life changes, that’s what happened to me. I wanted to relish something and feel appreciated. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything. That bothered me. We don’t relish what we have access to. I was sure that I wasn’t going to die like this.” Being a cancer patient himself, he found that this group of individuals face many challenges in the way they have access to information or the decisions they make accordingly. “Our aim is to be along with the patient throughout the treatment. Today, we don’t do any marketing. Word of mouth worked for us. When they talk to other survivors then they get some hope.” Sushant urged the audience to start working with people who create social change to tackle social issues, “Entrepreneurs should have empathy, integrity.”
The last speaker of the day was Ms. Janhavi Joshi, who co-created an app that answered one simple problem: what if there was no music? Her innovation, Blee, allowed deaf dancers to hear music through vibrations. Although it was success, she spoke about the need for this type of technology to branch out to other aspects of life that could benefit their community. She expressed the need for technology like this, since there’s no innovation for the deaf community but there are technological advances for menial things in life. The duo’s main aim is the make affordable tech for a community that truly deserves it.
The seminar ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the students but faculty as well.
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