Engineers for Social Impact Fellowship - Call for Applications
Released on: February 4, 2008, 11:40 pm
Press Release Author: Engineers for Social Impact
Industry: Non Profit
Press Release Summary: A unique fellowship program to connect the best engineering talent to the most credible social enterprises that drive market-based solutions to development in India.
Press Release Body: Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) is a unique fellowship program that connects the 5 best candidates from premier Indian engineering schools to 5 credible social enterprises that drive market-based solutions to development in India. E4SI provides a prestigious opportunity for current undergraduate students to do a summer internship at a social enterprise, gain understanding and make an impact.
E4SI will select candidates from BITS Pilani, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, NITK Surathkal, NIT Trichy, NIT Warangal and NSIT.
"Since these candidates are key influencers in their peer groups, they can drive a new awareness of sustainable opportunities in social initiatives. The highly selective nature of the fellowship and the associated brands will make this a coveted opportunity for current students and future leaders," said Nitin Rao, Founder at Engineers for Social Impact. "It is in the interest of these social enterprises to attract the best talent, and in the interest of the best talent to differentiate themselves. We believe that Fellows of this program could go on to lead or found organizations that accelerate development through enterprise."
In February-March 2008, an eminent panel of judges will select 5 E4SI Fellows to gain from challenging immersion experiences in partner social enterprises. In addition, Fellows will join a select cohort of outstanding young leaders committed to social impact and build valuable relationships with leaders in the development sector. E4SI partner for-profit social enterprises (founded by alumni from schools such as Harvard, Wharton, INSEAD and IIT) are leaders in the sectors of Education, Energy, Health, Micro-finance and Multiple Bottom-line Investment Advisory. They include iDiscoveri, Intellecap, SELCO India, Ujjivan and Vaatsalya.
Ideal E4SI applicants are students with a demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship and development through enterprise. Applications instructions are detailed in http://www.e4si.org/apply. Applications (curriculum vitae and essays) must be submitted on or before March 2, 2008.
About Engineers for Social Impact Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) is a unique fellowship program designed to connect the best engineering talent to the most credible social enterprises and create awareness of emerging opportunities in development. The E4SI philosophy lies in for-profit entrepreneurship as a sustainable approach to issues of development. The E4SI network comprises organizations and individuals who share a strong conviction in enterprise solutions to development.
For more information, please visit http://www.e4si.org
About iDiscoveri Founded by alumni of Harvard University, INSEAD and XLRI, iDiscoveri is a learning, teaching and research organization that works at making learning more experiential and more meaningful. It develops and disseminates a curriculum that focuses on experience and self-discovery and guides people towards realizing their potential. It is dedicated to filling the gaps in education in economically emerging societies, notably India. iDiscoveri's work spans a wide range of experiential education initiatives that targets children, families, schools, adults and executives. It also delivers programs that exclusively address women's issues.
For more information, please visit http://www.idiscoveri.com
About Intellecap Established in 2002, Intellecap is one of the fastest growing strategic services firm in the international development sector. Intellecap aims to build intellectual capital dedicated to facilitating investments into socially motivated businesses and to assist these businesses in becoming more profitable and achieving greater scale through consulting and advisory inputs. Working in both indirect strategic advisory roles and direct design and execution modes, Intellecap leverages its understanding of mainstream, profit-oriented business models to create unique solutions that generate both financial and sustainable social returns.
Intellecap has undertaken pioneering initiatives in the field of finance and strategy in the microfinance sector, and seeks to leverage this experience to other areas that benefit social and economic development. Intellecap is committed to value creation by accumulating and disseminating knowledge, providing strategic support to development initiatives and incubating new ideas that will shape the development industry.
For more information, please visit www.intellecap.net
About SELCO India The Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO India) came into being in 1995 as a subsidiary of SELCO, USA, under the leadership of Dr. Hande and Neville Williams, president of SELCO, USA. When Dr. Harish Hande started the SELCO he set out to dispel three myths that were associated with solar technology: 1) Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies; 2) Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies; 3) Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities. Over the last 12 years, with a customer base of over 80,000 SELCO and 20 branches spread across South India and Gujarat, he has proved that this is not impossible. It is a rural energy service company, registered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
The main focus of the company is to provide reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy services to homes and businesses, specifically in the rural areas. SELCO is not only involved in the sale and maintenance of solar systems, but also provides innovative financial schemes for customers to pay for these services by working with local financial institutions and microfinance companies. What makes SELCO different is its model to combine door-step service with door-step financing with a focus on providing a complete package of alternative technology, finance and services to the clients under one umbrella and empower the lives of the underserved. The bottom to top approach of SELCO has helped it to create specific need based products - products that meet the needs and expectations of the end-user. The grassroots level approach has also led to a governance structure which is transparent and based on ground realities. SELCO's success of being a sustainable company while promoting energy services to the poor lay in its ability to innovate: creating linkages between technology, appropriate financing, energy services, income generation and quality of life. SELCO India has partnered with various technical, financial and academic institutions to disseminate alternative energy services. By establishing partnerships to continuously innovate it recognizes the need to inter-connect products and services and of adding value through a network to subscribe to an open model of innovation rather than an insular one.
For more information, please visit http://www.selco-india.com/index.html
About Ujjivan Ujjivan commenced operations as a non-banking financial company in November 2005. It provides financial services to the economically active poor in India by combining successful models in microfinance with the technologies and efficiencies of modern retail banking. Through in-depth market research, Ujjivan has created a range of diverse financial products for poor urban women in India. While currently focusing on Bangalore, it expects to expand nationally and provide microfinance to more than 600,000 clients by 2011. Additional key Ujjivan investors include K. R. Ramamoorthy, Samit Ghosh, Nucleus Software, Ravi Bahl, Jaithirth Rao, and Ashok Vaswani.
For more information, please visit http://www.ujjivan.com
About Vaatsalya With passion, commitment and leadership, Vaatsalya is the new face of healthcare in India. While 70% of India is living in semi-urban and rural areas, 80% of our healthcare facilities are located in urban/metro areas. Vaatsalya is bridging this gap by building and managing hospitals in semi-urban and rural areas and bringing healthcare services where it is needed most. Vaatsalya has hospitals in Hubli, Gadag and Karwar (North Karnataka) and is expanding to 100 other locations across the country with a vision to directly benefit 2.5 Million families.
For more information, please visit http://www.vaatsalya.com
Media Contact: Nitin Rao Engineers for Social Impact
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