ISB, Helios in tie-up to promote social venture

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has entered into an exclusive partnership with Helios & Matheson Information Technology Ltd, a Chennai-based healthcare focused IT services organisation, to promote the 'Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC)'.

GSVC is one of the high-profile competitions for scripting innovative business plans and setting up social ventures that have clear and quantifiable social objectives and are financially sustainable.

The two-day Asia Semifinal Presentation Round of the GSVC will be held at ISB from March 9, 2007.

"We are excited to partner Helios & Matheson as we share the same ideology, which is to create a lasting change in society in a viable and sustainable manner," Ajit Rangnekar, deputy dean of ISB, stated in a press release.

According to Helios & Matheson chairman, V Ramachandiran, the focus of GSVC is to encourage social entrepreneurship. A total of 118 business plans were stated to have been sent from 26 schools in seven Asian countries for the preliminary evaluation round.

Part of the entry requirement was that the business plans should include a 'Social Return on Investment' (SROI) analysis, which would require the teams to think through how their social impact could be quantified. A separate prize would be awarded to the most innovative SROI analysis.

Sixteen teams have been short-listed through preliminary evaluation. The winning presentations will be competing with entries from other continents in the finals to be held in Haas at Berkeley, USA, in April 2007.

"GSVC creates a rich ecology of professionals who can think and innovate business situations that can create sustainable social impact. Entrepreneurs as social evangelists have become an important dimension of the business landscape," managing director of Helios & Matheson, GK Muralikrishna, said.