Bengaluru: Villgro Innovations Foundation – one of the oldest and most-renowned social enterprise incubators in India – has announced the 12th edition of Unconvention, India’s largest annual flagship conference for the Indian social entrepreneurship ecosystem. In view of the ongoing third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s Unconvention will be held in a virtual format over a 4-week-long period from February 16th till March 11th 2022.
Unconvention 2022, with the apt theme of “Making it Possible”, is conceptualized and designed to provide a platform for dialogue between entrepreneurs and the world’s leading funders, businesses and knowledge powerhouses. The open-for-all event will feature multiple networking sessions for the entrepreneurs enabling them to explore funding and market access opportunities.
Each week at Unconvention 2022 will be centered on a specific theme surrounding which discussions will be convened. The 4 thematic areas are: Climate Change & Circularity, Enabling Capital & Markets for Social Enterprises, Making Healthcare Affordable & Accessible, and Social Entrepreneurship & the State.
Jenaan Lilani, Head of Operations and Diversity & Inclusion, Villgro Innovations Foundation says, “Unconvention has always delivered results for social entrepreneurs. This year Unconvention is focused on two of their most critical challenges — opening pathways to markets, and channeling of larger and more catalytic funding. Entrepreneurs will be invited for curated, relevant interactions with funders and investors. We will hear from entrepreneurs who have played the go-to-market game and won. We will also be bringing Corporate India to the table to advocate for greater collaboration with startups. We are optimistic that all of this will deliver tremendous value for social entrepreneurs across India.”
Narrating how the seeds of his entrepreneurial journey were sown at Villgro’s Unconvention back in the year 2015, Rohan Singh Bais, Founder, Ziptrax CleanTech says, “Attending Unconvention helped me discover the need to create innovative solutions that impact the bottom of the pyramid, which inspired me to launch Ziptrax in December 2016 – focused on enabling e-rickshaw drivers to earn a better livelihood. Interestingly, last year, Ziptrax won Villlgro’s iPitch and is currently being incubated by Villgro.” Unconvention provides a unique platform for social entrepreneurs to accelerate their journey to create impact at scale.
(Economy India)
