Sankalp Forum Extends the Closing Date for Nominations for 'Sankalp Awards 2014'

NEW DELHI, November 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Awards Call Nominations From Early-stage Businesses in Seven Categories. Last Date Nov 27

Sankalp Forum, an Intellecap initiative, today announced the extension of the deadline for filing nominations for Sankalp Forum Awards 2014 - India's leading social enterprise recognition platform. The last date for filing for the awards earlier was November 20, 2013. It has been now extended till November 27, 2013. Sankalp Awards are inviting applications from early-stage businesses in seven high-impact categories: agriculture, food and livelihoods, clean energy, technology education and vocational training, financial inclusion, health, water and sanitation, technology for development, women empowerment.

The initial analysis of the data has revealed that about 80% of applicants are first generation entrepreneurs out of which 30% of entrepreneurs are under the age of 30 years. Furthermore, 10% entrepreneurs targeting the BoP population are based outside of India.

"It's exciting to see that social entrepreneurs are quietly defining new paradigms in their own right. We hear that India is not a Silicon Valley for first generation entrepreneurs but you only have to see our numbers to know that's not the case here. Over 80% of our applicant pool this year fits this bill. And a third of them are under 30," said Aparajita Agrawal, Director - Sankalp Forum. "We are also taking a more targeted approach to driving gender equity in business. We tested the waters with this last year, and our winner, Namita Banka of Banka Bio Loo went on to win several other awards across the world," she added.

Instituted to discover and bring to the spotlight leading social innovations for wide scale impact, the Sankalp Social Enterprise Awards are also designed create a holistic nurturing environment for early-stage businesses and address key issues faced by entrepreneurs. Furthermore, with its expansion to Africa, the Forum opens up knowledge corridors and business opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs there.

Also on offer for enterprises are strategic mentoring, access to sector knowledge, media visibility and above all, the opportunity to fundraise. The Sankalp Finalists will also have the opportunity to present to a global audience of donors, investors, foundations and enablers at the world's largest social enterprise event, the Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2014.

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About Intellecap

Intellecap is a pioneer in providing innovative business solutions that help build and scale profitable and sustainable enterprises dedicated to social and environmental change. Intellecap provides a broad range of investment banking, consulting and knowledge services to clients around the world.

Our unique positioning at the intersection of social and commercial business sectors allows us to attract and nurture intellectual capital that combines the business training of the commercial world with the passion and commitment of the social world to shape distinctive solutions. Founded in 2002, we have worked with more than 60 clients on over 250 engagements across 15 countries.

For more details, www.intellecap.com

About Sankalp Forum

Sankalp Forum, an Intellecap initiative, recognizes and supports innovative, sustainable, high impact social enterprises. It builds an enabling ecosystem for early-stage businesses, channels impact investments, and engages over 11,000 stakeholders globally through collaborative year-round initiatives. It mobilizes a community of entrepreneurs, investors, enablers and policy-makers to encourage innovation, facilitate scalability, and drive consensus on matters that aid social enterprise development.

Sankalp's Annual Summit is the largest social enterprise focused gathering in the world, and in 2013 it partnered with Unconvention to become the Sankalp Unconvention Summit. The Summit brings together more than 1,000 delegates, thought leaders, industry experts, policy makers from around the world to voice, discuss, debate issues, trends and solutions that aid social enterprise development.

Sankalp Awards have sourced over 450 sustainable enterprises, enabled 200 mentoring connections and facilitated over USD 120Mn of equity investments into more than 30 enterprises. Vetted through a rigorous 3-month process by a panel of global investors, the Awards bring recognition to the most sustainable and scalable social enterprises that are doing business across India.

For more details, www.sankalpforum.com

Primary Media Contact: Shashank Sethi, [email protected], 91-9958196997