Applications invited for Post Graduate Program in Social Entrepreneurship

About the program:

Access Livelihoods' Transforming India Initiative provides a platform through which entrepreneurs & enterprises are equipped to discover, dream, design and develop. The program on offer is a 2-year integrated program consisting of a 6-month theoretical foundational module and an 18-month experiential learning module - practicum where the seekers get exposed to & acquire the various skills needed to run an enterprise through on ground project(s).

 The 2-year program is designed to facilitate holistic development of the seeker and has four pillars that aim at transforming the heart, body, mind and soul. For the first 6 months, seekers will be part of classroom sessions led by experts and social entrepreneurs who will share fundamentals of Self Transformation, Entrepreneurial Skills, Entrepreneurial Mindset and Enterprise Excellence. 

This will be followed by 18 months of Practicum experience wherein seekers will lead their own entrepreneurial initiative within a partner social enterprise. The two years consist of program elements like Travel Workshop, Reflection Workshop, Social Entrepreneur Saturdays aimed at building exposure for the seekers. 

At the end of the program, seekers will be awarded program completion & a 1.5 years’ work experience certificates from the AL Group/ the program partner. 

The 18-month practicum is designed to teach seekers the necessary practical skills necessary to become a social entrepreneur. The seekers spend 18 months on ground with a partner social enterprise where they work on starting and managing an initiative for the enterprise. They will be part of 9 reflection workshops consisting of practitioner led management courses and mentorship sessions by experts. The seekers are assisted by the TII team and industry experts throughout the 18 months. 

Some partners the Seekers are working with currently are Head Held High, Rural Development Trust, Swasti, SAFA, Chitrika etc. The scope of their projects ranges widely from livelihood enhancement, mental health & menstrual hygiene, integrated rural development to reimagining education for govt. schools.

About the organizer

Started in 2005, Access Livelihoods, the parent organisation, is a group of social enterprises with extensive experience in the creation of Farmer Producer Organisations, Dairy Cooperatives, and Artisans’ Collectives, capacity building of rural communities, establishing women led enterprises, CSR projects and consulting for other organizations in the development sector. Access Livelihoods is an AIM-NITI Aayog recognized Established Incubation Centre (EIC) and incubates enterprises owned and managed by the marginalized communities.

Access Livelihoods has incubated over 54 farmer owned start-ups that touch the lives of 65,000 farmers in 5 states of India. The group has worked with 200+ partners for incubating producer owned enterprises, providing consulting services, entrepreneurship promotion, marketing and finance. NSDC, UNDP, SFAC, NABARD, Tata Trusts, OXFAM, Bank of Baroda, FWWB and Yunus Social Business are some of Access Livelihoods’ partners.

For more details, visit our website   

Objective of the Programme:

Most conventional MBA programs lay extensive emphasis on theoretical learning and students spend most part of the two years in a classroom. Only a small portion of the two years is spent on ground in an internship.

As opposed to this, 'seekers' (participants) of these programs spend only 25% of their time in the classroom and spend the rest of the program with a partner enterprise working on setting up a new social initiative or vertical for the partner enterprise. 

They lead an entrepreneurial initiative in the social enterprise by setting up a new vertical or scaling up an existing project. The CXO, AL Group team and industry mentors create a support ecosystem for the seeker to achieve this challenge. 

The 2-year program also includes spaces for exposure and theoretical proficiency- with 6 travel workshops across India, 30 social enterprise interactions, 20 practitioner taught courses and project-based assessments.

The curriculum is delivered by industry experts and practitioners who mentor the seekers during their program journey. 

The seekers leave the program post completion with inspiration, relationships, advice, learnings, and connections that they can count on for the rest of their lives. At the end of the program, the seekers are supported with seed funding, incubation support or placement opportunity, and ecosystem of support based on the path chosen by an individual.

Benefits:

• Participants would learn about starting & running a social entrepreneurship in a hand-on /experiential manner
• Participants will get an eco-system of support to design and start their own social enterprise
• Participants will get the opportunity to get placed in leading social enterprises
• Scholarships: The program cost is approx.  INR 15 Lakhs. On this, we offer a minimum of 50% scholarship for everyone, so maximum any candidate has to pay is 7.5 lakhs exclusive of taxes. We ensure equal access to the program; we offer additional scholarship up to 100% for the eligible candidates. (Means and Merit based scholarship)
• Stipend: Seekers also receive a stipend of INR 16,000 per month for the time duration of practicum. 

Post Program Support

• After completion of the program, seekers get to choose the path they want to take – entrepreneurship or placement
• Seekers who pursue entrepreneurship are supported with seed funding, incubation support (conditional on fulfilling their requirements) and mentoring and the others are provided with placement assurance.

Who is it for/eligibility?

The minimum requirement for the Program is a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. 

Registration/submission procedure:

• The four stages of the application process include:
• Application Form
• Online aptitude test
• Phone Interview
• Direct Assessment (3 tasks and In-depth Personal interview)

Visit for more details – https://tii.alcindia.org/index.php

Fee details (if any):

The overall cost of running the 2-Year program is INR 15,11,500 per participant. A minimum scholarship of 50% is provided for all participants. Therefore, the maximum fees for the 2-Year program (which includes the 6-month Facilitated Learning module and the 18-month EPGDSE)  is INR 7,50,000 excluding GST.  Additional scholarships (up to 100%) are available for deserving candidates (based on a Merit and Means criteria).

Phase Deadline

June 23rd, 2022.

Contact information:

Neha Niharika 

Email: tii@alcindia.org

Phone: +91 96521 57058

Official link of notification 

LINK: Register now