CIIE develops social enterprise fund for entrepreneurs

“We have been talking to people and there seem to be a fair bit of interest among the potential funders. So,it will happen soon but there is no timeline,” Professor Basant said. “We are trying to create a social venture fund,initially a small one and if it works,then a larger one.”

CIIE is an incubation centre established under IIM-A,which helps start-ups – new businesses – market their products and establish networks and also assist them in research and development,besides providing funds.

Till date,CIIE has been incubating largely high-technology start-ups – ranging from internet-based ventures to robotics companies. It also has a similar programme for start-ups in renewable energy called RE-Search.

Details of how the fund will function or what kind of social enterprises will be chosen for incubation are not yet ready and still “very much in the realm of ideas”,said Professor Sriram,who teaches Social Entrepreneurship at IIM-A and co-authored the book — Beyond Micro-credit: Putting Development Back Into Micro-finance.

“The broad idea is to find,incubate and fund social businesses – the ones that work for a purpose,on commercial lines,but do not distribute profits,” he said.

Once the fund is ready,CIIE will look at new ventures,not established ones. A mechanism for ensuring accountability will also be developed,Professor Basant said: “The issue of accountability is a big one. We will certainly be looking at self-sustaining models.”

The new initiative is hoped to provide experience for the institute’s students as well,as CIIE’s incubates traditionally work with the students. “We will write cases on them and then do research on them. So,combining research,teaching and incubation will remain. Only the nature of enterprises would change,” Professor Basant said.