SocioConnect is an initiative by US Consulate General, Mumbai and BVCSRB in partnership with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, to support and mentor social startups and connect them with Corporate Social Responsibility Opportunities. 10 promising social startups working in the domains of poverty reduction, health and sanitation, women and girl empowerment, environment, and digital connectivity were shortlisted after screening over 200 applications from the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa.
A 2-Day Workshop was held at TISS, Mumbai to train and mentor these social enterprises in order to help them scale their businesses and forge new partnerships.
The top 10 social startups are now ready to take the stage at the Grand Finale to present their innovations in an effort to form new alliances with key stakeholders of the sector.
Founder - Mr. Rahul Nainani
RaddiConnect (Swacch Sustainable Solutions Pvt. Ltd) is managing all categories of municipal solid waste. They have different models to collect different categories of waste; it is like the Uber for Raddiwalas. They are managing city waste with the help of municipality and using Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to keep it plastic neutral. They aim to make circular economy models, where the waste can be converted into resources and reused by waste generators.
Founders - Ms. Vanita Prasad and Mr. Rajneesh Prasad
REVY Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is providing Sustainable Solution for Waste Water Treatment along with Energy Recovery. Their product, REVY-S, is an Anaerobic granulated sludge consist of more than 650 types of bacteria. This consortium is proven to treat wastewater along with energy recovery. The treated water can be used for irrigation purposes.
Founder - Mr. Asim Bhalerao
Fluid Robotics Pvt. Ltd. is providing products and services that enable better management of water and wastewater infrastructure. Through the use of Robotics and Information Technology, the company is helping cities take control of water pollution caused due to untreated wastewater mixing in the lakes, rivers and groundwater.
Founder - Mr. Nageshwar Panchal
Go On India Pvt. Ltd. is providing menstruation products in the remote villages of India through a proper preventive healthcare fellowship program. Their vision is to reduce health care expenditure by 50 percent in rural Madhya Pradesh. They also committed to the mission of providing some genuine feminine health care products up to the last person in the queue.
Founder - Mr. Inir Pinherio
Grassroutes Pvt. Ltd. is working to create livelihood opportunities for rural communities through Community Based Rural Tourism. Here, the tourist experience is entirely owned, managed, and run by the community. It provides an additional source of income to the villagers and a decent wage. Their model is socially inclusive, financially profitable and environmentally sustainable.
Founder - Mr. Suman Kumar
Jay Sardar Krushi Vikas Farmer Producers Limited (product name ‘Santushta’) is creating an agro-processing infrastructure near the farmlands. They aim to provide free trade services to farmers, adequate storage facilities, education and support, eliminating middlemen, and create awareness among the farmers regarding the right market and better price for their produces.
Founder - Ms. Ila Bhatt
Shri Gujarat Mahila Lok Swasthya Sahakari Mandli Limited (LSM) is addressing the gap in access to healthcare, especially for women. In the informal sector, women face financial, geographical and knowledge barriers while accessing healthcare services. They placed women workers at every rung of the value chain, whether it is the collection of raw material, production and processing, or marketing and sales. Their work in Ayurvedic products functions similarly, with women participating at every step of the value chain, owning and operating it.
Founder - Ms. Devina Kothari
Program JAYA is a digitally powered program that uses GIS Technology for better immunization data collection and analytics. It collects data on denominator/beneficiary and provides analytics that helps in increasing the efficiency of ASHAs/mobilisers. It leverages the rapidly digitizing Indian landscape and is designed keeping in mind the low-tech awareness and education levels of ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists). JAYA can be downloaded from the Android App store and used in any entry-level smartphone.
Founder - Mr. Santosh Phad
Thinksharp Foundation is working to provide digital learning tools to rural government schools in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra alone, there are more than 50,000 rural schools that are required to upgrade for 21st-century education skills. Digital learning is essential in these schools to enable better interaction between students and teachers, interactive learning, motivation, attendance, and improved learning outcome.
Founder - Mr. Pratik Shetty
VideoWiki is working to make knowledge accessible for the millions of Indians with limited literacy. They are creating multi-lingual information videos for it. Their open-source technology allows non-experts to create, update, and translate videos to local languages. Wikipedia is using VideoWiki's technology to add wiki-based videos to its encyclopedia and related articles.
Bala Vikasa Center for Social and Responsible Business (BVCSRB) was established in 2014 with a focus on social entrepreneurship and responsible business. BVCSRB is part of SOPAR-Bala Vikasa, a Canadian NGO that began in 1977. Over the past 40 years, Bala Vikasa has been at the forefront of community-driven development with programs in more than 6 thousand villages and 5 million beneficiaries across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai is a branch of the U.S. Diplomatic Mission to India. It is under the direction of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The Consulate represents the United States in Western India, which includes the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Goa.
The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is a multi-campus public funded research university in Mumbai, India. TISS is Asia’s oldest institute for professional social work education. It was founded in 1936 in the then Bombay Presidency of British India as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
