21 social enterprise firms compete for Rs.5 crore awards

Twenty-one companies will compete for the Sankalp Social Enterprise Awards, which offers funding of Rs.5 crore to firms working for social welfare in various fields.

Organised by Sankalp Forum, which aims at creating a platform that would aid the work of socially relevant small and medium enterprises, the award will recognise the best social enterprise models in five categories - agriculture, food and rural business, clean energy/technology, education and vocational training, healthcare, water and sanitation, technology for development.

The winner will get funding of Rs.5 crore and find mentoring from an industry expert.

In addition, the winner of the Sankalp-Artha Grand Prize will also receive a cash prize of $40,000, a company official said.

All the finalists will attend a rigorous training bootcamp at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. The awards will be presented at Sankalp Unconvention Summit April 16-18 in Mumbai.

The summit is expected to bring together more than 1,000 delegates, including industry experts and policy makers from around the world.