‘Focusing on nurturing social enterprises’

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Bala Vikasa International Centre (BVIC) is one of the biggest social incubators in the country. It has been hand-holding social enterprises and providing support to early-stage social startups. Grassroot level company Bala Vikasa executive director Shoury Reddy Singareddy speaks about the journey of BVIC with Telangana Today.

Incubator

BVIC is one of the largest incubators in the country. It is about 75,000 sqft. The focus is on nurturing businesses, social responsibility and promoting social enterprises. We nurture ideas that can create a social impact. We offer seed funds ranging from Rs two lakh to five lakh depending on the problem they are attempting to solve. The intent is to have a localised innovation. The enterprise will solve a local problem and at the same time ensure gainful, if not lavish, employment to innovators and founders.

Need

There are incubators for new-age startups. The problems that societies face are varied. Some of them need local solutions. Some solutions also have scope for replication in other locations. These need some hand-holding. We look at the social impact potential of an idea. Our focus is on health, education and agriculture areas. We will nurture the idea and work to take it to the market. We are present in more than 6,500 villages. If the need arises, we will push the product/service in these places. There will be no entry barriers as locals know us and understand our work.

Plans

We are working on forging collaborations with startup ecosystem players. We have plans to tap the CSR spending provisions of companies. In this, the companies will be part of the social innovation or idea and mould them to be social enterprises. They will help startups with business processes too.

Co-working

The startups selected for cohorts can stay at the campus for incubation. We can have about 50 startups. The selection is based on the idea, its scalability and the impact it will create and also the team. We have seen that startups with a co-founder have higher success rates as co-founders share work as per their strong areas. It also allows them to discuss the plans with each other. We also have plans to create workstations for co-working.

Successes

BVIC incubated social startups. We provided training in setting up organisations and also gave some grants, mentoring and networking support. For instance, we worked with Think Sharp Foundation. Its ‘StudyMall’ provides educational infrastructure like digital classroom, modular library, study material, computer education, colorful classrooms and digital library to improve learning outcomes in schools. ‘StudyMall’ has been implemented in 60 rural schools in Maharashtra. Umeed, another incubator, offers skill training to women in line with local industry requirements, conducts awareness sessions on personal and professional growth and work rights. More than 225 women have been empowered.

Social entrepreneurship summit

BVIC with Telangana State Innovation Cell is hosting social entrepreneurship summit ‘Impulse 2022’ on April 8. More than 100 social entrepreneurs will exhibit their solutions. The event will initiate conversations around social entrepreneurship and their impact.