Bhavan’s SPJIMR student wins a National Level award – a prestigious TATA Social Enterprise Challenge award
Mumbai: Satendra singh Lilhare, a student of SPJIMR’s PostGraduate Programme for Development Management (PGPDM) has won the prestigious TATA Social Enterprise Challenge award. Mr. Lilhare won this Challenge for his social enterprise ‘Bastar se Bazaar tak’ which provides agri-based employment opportunities to people in the rural areas of Bastar, Chattisgarh. Along with the winner’s certificate and a sum of Rs. 2.5 lakh, Singh won seed fund from Tata Sons of Rs 25 lakh, and IIM-C Innovation Park topped it up with a seed fund of Rs 5 lakh.
The TATA Social Enterprise Challenge, a joint initiative by the TATA group and IIM Calcutta, is a national-level challenge to find India’s most promising social enterprises. This award aims at encouraging youth to come forward and set up social enterprises and raise awareness about entrepreneurship in the social sector. The Grand Finale and Summit was held on 15th May, 2021 and more than 3,000 enterprises participated from across India/abroad, in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, water and sanitation technology and development, education and skills development, housing, handicrafts, energy, and microfinance. Post several selections rounds, 24 enterprises were selected for the semi-finals and eventually, 12 enterprises reached the final round.
Talking about Satendrasingh’s achievements, Mr Prabhat Pani, Chairperson PGPDM programme said, “It is hugely rewarding to see our students being agents of change in the society. We are really proud of Satendra for winning this prestigious award, and adding lustre to our programme. We are committed to fostering a culture that prepares the future social sector leaders of tomorrow.”
SPJIMR’s PGPDM programme is a unique 18-month Executive Management program, for professionals working in the social sector, and is accredited by Association of MBAs UK (AMBA). It combines the best practices from the field with contextualised management practices to build capabilities, and amplify organisational and individual impact. https://spjimr.org/pgpdm
Satendrasingh’s enterprise provides employment opportunities to rural tribal forest-dwelling farmers through post-harvest management. The enterprise enhances the livelihoods of local forest dwellers by reducing post-harvest losses and supplying high quality, unadulterated, processed forest produce to urban consumers at a fair price. Bastar se Bazaar Tak (“From Bastar to the Market”) promotes custard apple and other forest produce, such as tamarind, jamun, amchoor, and herbal gulal. The Chhattisgarh-based company aims to provide additional income with employment opportunities to rural tribal forest-dwelling farmers through post-harvest management, value addition, and marketing of processed Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) products.