Xavier School of Management (XlRI) to host the ‘7th National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship’ from January 30 to February 1, 2015 at XlRI campus.
With this year’s theme being — ‘The Young Changemakers: Youth as Social Entrepreneurs, the two-day long conference aims to provide young social entrepreneurs and sector professionals a platform to share their stories, challenges and innovations – and to learn from each other and co-create new solutions and partnerships.
Explaining the theme, Prof Madhukar Shukla, Chairperson of XlRI’s Fr Arrupe Center for Ecology & Sustainability and the coordinator for the conference, said, “India is a country of youths: 27% of the population is between the 20-35yrs range and 18% make up the 25-35 year segment. While many young people continue to look for a secure job as a career, during past few years, an increasing number amongst them show an urge to do something different, something which is personally meaningful. Though many of them have grown and got educated in secure urban environments, they are acutely aware of the social disparities and concerned about them. During last few years, many of them have chosen to move out of their comfort zones, follow their passion, and have created ventures to address the social issues which concern them.”
The conference organised by Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology and Sustainability (FACES) and SIGMA, XlRI’s students’ committee for social initiatives, shall witness senior social entrepreneurs Anshu Gupta (Founder & Director, GOONJ), Ashraf Patel (Co-Founder & Director, Pravah) and Rahul Nainwal (Co-Founder, MITRA ivolunteer) along with a host of young professionals like Aarti Mohan (Editor-in-Chief, The Alternative), Anirban Gupta (Co-Founder & CEO, Dhriiti Professional Services), Anoj Viswanathan (Co-Founder & CEO, Milaap), to name a few.
XlRI has been organising the National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship under the aegis of Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology & Sustainability & SIGMA since 2009. The purpose of this initiative has been to showcase innovative social entrepreneurship ventures by individual entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporate CSR initiatives, and Government agencies, and to provide a common platform for sharing experiences, issues and concerns. The Conference aims to provide a platform for leading Social Entrepreneurs, NGOs/CBOs to share their work, network & collaborate, and to promote social entrepreneurship among students and the community. The conference is attended by about 170-200 social entrepreneurs, development sector professionals, academicians and other stakeholders.