The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) jointly with Zinnov, Citrix, Ericsson, Harman International and technology business incubator, IKP EDEN has launched SIGMA, a social accelerator programme. The programme was launched on 18 July 2017 in the presence of industry leaders, sustainable development think tanks, impact investors and social start-ups. SIGMA, which stands for Social Innovation, Grow, Multiply and Accelerate, aims to create an ecosystem to nurture social impact start-ups in India who are developing leading edge solutions in the areas of education, clean tech, healthcare, smart agriculture and sanitation. The four-month programme will offer social start-ups with mentorship in business, technical, functional and domain specific areas. Start-ups will also get access to customers, partners, co-working space, tools and platforms, technology support, and business advisory services.
The programme was launched under the framework of the Strategic Alliance, a Public Private Partnership between GIZ, Bosch, Intellecap and Reckitt Benckiser, which aims at fostering corporate engagement in start-up incubation.
Social for-profit start-ups working in the area of education, clean tech, healthcare, smart agriculture and sanitation can apply till the 4 August 2017. The programme will start on the 26 August 2017. The selected start-ups will each receive a stipend of INR 15,000, and on graduation, the top three start-ups will receive seed grants.
