 "Zarina & Ronnie Screwvala interacting with school students")
Entrepreneur and investor Ronnie Screwvala’s Swades Foundation has filed a fund-raising draft at the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) to raise Rs 10 crore, which it intends to use to empower rural communities in Maharashtra.
The not-for-profit founded by Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala said that it will be the highest issue size by an NGO at the NSE’s SSE. And it is expected to open around mid-July this year. The NGO operates in Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra.
Swades Foundation claims that it has touched the lives of 1.1 million people over the last 10 years, with an outlay of Rs 500 crore into rural empowerment.
It is now planning to raise funds through “zero-coupon, zero-principal bonds” for empowering rural communities with a focus on sustainable livelihoods via livestock rearing. This includes women’s empowerment.
Swades Foundation is also focusing on health and hygiene with safe sanitation in homes. The other initiatives include youth education and employability.
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“At Swades, our family contributes a lot and there are also many donors. But to me, actually supporting the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) was critical, as it provides a profile of the organisation and you get a new set of investors,” said Ronnie Screwvala in an interview.
“The Social Stock Exchange (SSE) is building a very strong platform. SEBI and NSE have done their due diligence. You have to declare a lot of (information) and be accountable for it afterwards in terms of impact. So credibility is there,” he said.
The NGO said its holistic approach covers all aspects of individual and community development through four key verticals. These include health and nutrition, education, water and sanitation and economic development. The organisation said that its strength is the strong team comprising over 10000 community volunteers and 270 full-time staff.
In 11 years, Swades has reached out to 3,313 hamlets across Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra, the NGO claimed.
It is currently working in seven blocks of Raigad and four blocks of Nashik.
