Telangana government launches India’s first social innovation centre

Hyderabad: Telangana government launched the Kakatiya Hub for Social Innovation in Nizamabad on February 5, which is expected to be up and running by September. Funded by the Telangana government, Kakatiya Hub, which will function like a rural incubator to encourage entrepreneurship at grassroots level, is claimed to be India’s first social innovation centre. The incubator will be run through Kakatiya Sandbox, a centre that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation modelled after Deshpande Foundation’s Hubli Sandbox.

“There are a large number of problems to be solved in rural areas and people who are familiar with them should be in the best position to solve the problems,” said Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan.

“However, rural entrepreneurs need structured guidance and an incubator is the best way of providing a necessary ecosystem and support to them.”

He added that the government will make sure the rural incubator in Telangana will be run in the same manner as any other incubator like Hyderabad’s T-Hub, which is also backed by the Telangana government.

Serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist from the silicon valley, Gururaj Deshpande, who brought the concept of Sandbox to India 10 years ago, said, “People in impoverished communities see a problem and feel helpless about it. However, those in vibrant communities see opportunities in problems. The objective of the Sandbox is to encourage problem-solvers.”

Kakatiya Sandbox was co-created three years ago by Raju Reddy, founder and former CEO of Sierra Atlantic and Phanindra Sama, Co-Founder of Redbus.

Source:The Economic Times