17 social entrepreneurs honoured by School for Social Entrepreneurs India and PwC India
New Delhi: The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) India felicitated 17 social entrepreneurs today for graduating from its flagship Social Start-Up Fellowship programme, an initiative supported by PwC India. Attending the programme were Satyavati Berera, COO, PwC India, Shalabh Mittal, CEO, SSE India and Jaivir Singh, Chairperson, SSE India and Vice Chairman, PwC India Foundation.
The graduating class of 2017 -18 is working on social enterprises in fields as diverse as livelihood, healthcare, children and women welfare, disability and technology, education, policy implementation, and community development through arts and cinema and rural development.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), PMO, Government of India said, “There is a sense of satisfaction when you witness, for the second year in a row, a new set of social entrepreneurs graduate with the skills to make a difference in the lives of others through their innovative ventures. I believe that SSE India through its one of a kind nine-month fellowship programme is bringing about social innovation in its truest sense.”
Sharing Dr. Singh’s views, Satyavati Berera said, “Social entrepreneurship is steadily gaining momentum in our country and we are proud to be part of this journey which for PwC began its association with SSE India in 2016. We have derived immense value by mentoring SSE Fellows over their nine-month course. Each mentoring opportunity helped our people interact with those working at the grassroots and built a different perspective, which will have a deep positive impact on the way we serve our stakeholders. The personal experiences gained through these interactions have truly helped in multiple ways, reflecting PwC’s purpose of building trust and solving important problems in society.”
Acknowledging his team’s efforts, Shalabh Mittal said, “At SSE India, we believe in bottom-up social change and help social entrepreneurs work in broken markets or in the poorest of communities. The 17 fellows graduating today make us proud and are testament to the fact that our learning approach has the ability to empower entrepreneurs to start, grow and scale. We build cohorts of fellows with diversity in mind, striving to achieve a balance of backgrounds and helping us keep everyone grounded to the cause and the purpose of social enterprise.”
SSE India’s Social Start-Up Fellowship programme aspires to create an effective generation of social leaders using entrepreneurial approaches to tackle complex social problems. The evening highlighted the relevance of SSE India as a platform that invests in individuals from all backgrounds who have practical ideas for change, and reinforces SSE India’s belief that everybody has the capacity to be remarkable.