CHENNAI, December 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Acumen Founder, Jacqueline Novogratz, discusses the need for 'Patient Capital' and 'leaders who reject the status quo' at Unconvention|L Chennai, organised by Villgro and Tie Chennai.
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"We are in a moment of history where we are seeing growing opportunity for equality. But what we need is 'patient capital', which gives us the space to make mistakes and learn," said Novogratz, Founder of global venture fund Acumen, in Chennai on Wednesday. "When it comes to companies tackling poverty, we need to invest early but dream big."
Delivering the keynote address at the Unconvention|L Chennai, a social enterprise event organised by Villgro and TiE Chennai, Novogratz also said the need today is to seek out, nurture, celebrate and invest in the "leaders who are rejecting the status quo." She added that only then can the big problems in sectors like education, housing and sanitation in India be addressed.
Over 200 people, including students, academics, NGO and corporate professionals and entrepreneurs, participated in the one-day event, which seeks to unearth and nurture social entrepreneurs in Chennai, build the ecosystem and grow the social enterprise movement in India.
Other speakers and panelists included Paul Basil, Founder of Villgro, Lakshmi Narayanan, President, TiE Chennai, Dr. Sailakshmi Balijepalli, Founder of Ekam Foundation, Rema Subramaniam, Co-founder of Ankur Capital, Vipul Rawal of Elevar Equity and Padma Chandrasekaran, Angel Investor.
The event also saw the announcement of the winners of Impact-a-preneur Quest, a business plan competition for entrepreneurs with businesses or ideas that have social impact; the process included several months of selection, evaluation, mentoring and a final closed-door pitch to an expert jury on Tuesday.
The joint winners are LiQuid (developing a portable, affordable water purifier for rural communities) and Project iHeal (developing a test device for managing lung disease), who will receive Rs. 2 lakhs in cash, while the runner-up, Mother Diagnostic Systems (developing a portable X-ray device for rural communities), will receive Rs. 50,000. All three companies will receive mentoring support from TiE Chennai, TiE membership, a Sankalp Unconvention Summit pass and the opportunity to be evaluated by Villgro for incubation and investment.
Unconvention|L Chennai was held on December 10, 2014, at Taj Connemara, Egmore, Chennai from 9 am to 2 pm.
Unconvention|L Chennai is part of a series of 15 event events being organised by Villgro all over India. Now in its third year, Unconvention|L has seen 21 events, over 1300 attendees, 60 speakers and 45 partners.
For more information, visit: http://unconvention.co.in/unconvention-l
About Villgro
Villgro Innovations Foundation is one of India's oldest and foremost social enterprise incubators, supporting innovators and social entrepreneurs during their early stages of growth. Since 2001, Villgro has incubated 103 such enterprises, generated around 4000 jobs, secured Rs. 873 million in follow-on funding, and touched over 6.8 million rural lives.
Website: www.villgro.org
About TiE Chennai
TiE is a not-for-profit organisation that has its origin in Santa Clara, California, USA. Today it has 61 chapters spread across 17 countries, with 13,000 members and over 2,500 charter members. TiE Chennai is a vibrant chapter with 165 charter members and more than 600 associate members. The chapter conducts many events throughout the year with focus on entrepreneurship development. TiE Chennai has won 'The Best Chapter Award' for the year 2014 among 61 chapters across 17 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.chennai.tie.org/
Media Contact : Aditi Seshadri, [email protected], +91-44-66630400, Villgro
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