Social Enterprise Incubation Learning Forum and Immersion Program
6th – 10th of April 2015, Delhi – Ahmedabad - Delhi
Social Enterprise Incubation Landscape
Globally, the social enterprise support ecosystem has been rapidly evolving over the last years. Social
enterprise incubators have been pioneers in successfully combining various elements of support services
- mentoring, funding, business development and infrastructure support – to aid the growth of innovative
social enterprises and startups.
India is often seen as a hub for social innovation and social enterprises with a mature eco-system of
social enterprise incubators, accelerators, impact oriented investors and other specialized enablers and
service providers. Over the years, different incubation models have emerged that provide different kind of
support to social ventures: Social enterprise incubators vary by the type of enterprises they focus on (forprofit v/s not-for-profit enterprises), focus sectors, nature of services provided (mentoring, funding, coworking space, business service support) and stage of enterprise growth (idea-stage, prototype-ready,
post-revenue, growth stage). Variations in the focus of social incubators have also led to emergence of
unique operating and financing models of these social enterprise incubators.
With the emergence of a vibrant and diverse social enterprise incubation landscape globally, there is
potential for more dialogue and exchange of experiences and ideas between social enterprise incubators
and other eco-system players from across the world.
Social Enterprise Incubation Learning Forum and Immersion Program
As a virtual incubation platform that has partnered with more than 24 incubators across India,
StartupWave facilitates an immersion program for interested participants from around the world
to showcase the diversity in the social enterprise incubation landscape in India and start a
dialogue and knowledge exchange with like-minded institutions.
Through the program participants can
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Learn from different social enterprise incubation models globally
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Seek out opportunities for partnership and collaboration across geographies
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Lay the foundation for developing a network and knowledge exchange platform
Immersion Program Outline
Key highlights of the 5 day programme
On-site visits to
prominent social
incubators in India
Interaction with
enterprises incubated by
the social incubators
Ideas exchange on social
incubation experiences
across geographies
In collaboration with:
Discussion with social
impact investors,
corporates and other
thought leaders
Opportunity to attend
the India’s largest social
enterprise convention –
Sankalp Forum
Target Participants
Participants from Europe, Africa, Asia that are interested in social enterprise support and incubation:
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Social enterprise incubators
Social enterprises
Impact investors/ investors in social businesses
Donor agencies
Research and advisory bodies
Corporates focusing on building social businesses
Immersion Program Takeaways
Network Building

StartupWave team to facilitate participants’ meetings with prominent social incubators in India.

Engage with social enterprises and impact investors in India.
Introduction to the Social Enterprise Landscape in India

Participation in Sankalp Forum – India’s largest social enterprise conference – and attend
sessions organized in partnership with Villgro, ANDE and NESTA

Interaction with incubators across sectors and geographies – learn about various incubation
models contextualized across rural and urban markets and for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises
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Interaction with social enterprises across sectors and stages of growth operating across both forprofit and not-for-profit models through on-field visits and interactions with Sankalp Awards
nominee enterprises
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Interaction with investors to understand social enterprise funding models and role of social
enterprise incubators in expanding capital flow
Cross-Geography Knowledge Exchange and Learning Forum

Share experiences of social enterprise incubators from various geographies – learn about
innovations and challenges in each geographies
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Brainstorm on introduction of successful global social enterprise incubation models in India

Ideate on potential collaboration

Seed ideas for solving for common challenges such as sustainability, funding, measurement
impact created by social enterprise incubators etc.
About StartupWave
StartupWave is a virtual incubation platform that has been built as an infrastructure for the Indian start-up
incubation eco-system, conceptualized by Intellecap in partnership with Government of UK’s Department
for International Development in India and GIZ on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ). As a collaborative platform, it aims to "democratize incubation" and
is a one-stop service, providing a blend of virtual and in-person support to take start-up enterprises from
idea to investment stage. This platform is designed in consultation with and is being used by incubators,
corporates, funds and start-ups.
In collaboration with:
Agenda
Evening 5th of April
Participants will start arriving in Delhi. We will get together in the evening for a Welcome Dinner.
Monday 6th of April
The day starts early morning with a flight to Ahmedabad, the home of Gandhi and globally recognized
center of social innovation. We will visit one of India’s number one public incubators, the Center for
Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) located on the Campus of the Indian Institute of
Management, one of India’s top business schools. We will kick-off our immersion journey with an
introduction to the program by Intellecap, an overview on the Indian social enterprise and impact investing
landscape, before hearing CIIE’s journey and experiences. We will hear about different incubation models
in India and current efforts of the CIIE-GIZ Social Incubation Initiative that aims to increase India’s
incubation capacities beyond the metro-cities through an innovative approach of “incubating incubators”.
We will meet social entrepreneurs from the region and interact with investors. We will continue our
journey with a visit to GIAN, an incubator for grass root innovation and traditional knowledge. Participants
will have the opportunity to share their own stories; jointly we will reflect what we have seen during the
day and share own learnings and experiences. We will visit Gandhi's ashram, before we travel back to
Delhi in the evening.
Tuesday 7th of April
Delhi’s capital city is full of innovative approaches to incubation and initiatives that are aimed to bring the
social enterprise eco-system forward: We will start the day with a visit to 91Springboard, one of Delhi’s
recent private incubators that has already replicated in three Indian cities – Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
We will discuss and exchange experiences on how to build a sustainable model for providing startup and
incubation services. Post lunch you will have the opportunity to meet a variety of eco-system players in a
roundtable discussion, co-hosted by GIZ, bringing together investors, innovative service providers and
advocacy bodies to jointly discuss the role of collaboration for creating a eco-system for social
entrepreneurs. You will be meeting the Indian Impact Investor Council, representatives of the National
Association of Social Entrepreneurs, innovative start-up service providers such as Ennovent and
StartUp! and Unltd India as well as representatives of the Indian Angel Network, India’s largest angel
network. We will end the day with a dinner with a group of Delhi’s investors and social entrepreneurs.
Wednesday 8th of April
We will start the day with a field visit to local social enterprises in the Delhi region. In the afternoon, we
will meet Villgro, one of India’s first social enterprise incubators. We will zoom into questions around
incubating investable enterprises. The afternoon closes with a reflection on the past three days. The
evening is free to discover Delhi and get some rest before the Sankalp Global Summit starts.
Thursday and Friday 9th and 10th of April
You will spend two days at the Sankalp Summit, interacting with more than 1000 participants from India
and around the world. You will meet India’s best social entrepreneurs, interact with Indian and global
investors, engage with policy makers, corporates and other enablers and dive into deeper conversations
that are aimed to bring the global social entrepreneurship eco-system forward. You will be part of
focused sessions that are organized with Villgro, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs
and NESTA, where we will discuss learnings and innovations around incubation models.
In collaboration with: