The Incubator for Social Enterprises and Entrepreneurs for Development (ISEED) at IRMA organised its three-day annual national conference from 11^th-13^th March 2020. The event had discussions around social enterprises and how they are addressing the agrarian crisis; capacity building challenges faced by Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in engaging with markets and scaling, and how incubators can build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural India.

Over 60 development sector practitioners, social entrepreneurs, civil society organisation heads, financial institutions, academicians and researchers from across the country participated in the annual conference.

The first day was focused on a recent, one-of-its kind book, Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India, which consists of 15 detailed case studies around the current state of social enterprises in India. The panel discussion was moderated by the editors – Dr Ajit Kanitkar from VikasAnvesh Foundation and Prof C Shambu Prasad from IRMA - and featured entrepreneurs like Dinesh Kumar of Earth 360, an incubatee of IRMA as well as co-authors and reviewers of the book.

The second day was directed at the important role of building institutions if FPOs are expected to be the key institutions for improving and doubling farmers’ income. Representatives of various FPOs shared their work on institution building and the insufficient emphasis on capacity building in policies. The event was dedicated to the late Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Das, Founder CEO of Friends of Women's World Banking (FWWB) who is considered the Mother of Indian Microfinance. She passed away on 9th February, 2020.

The concluding day was dedicated to a workshop on Grassroot Entrepreneurship Training (GET) to create an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. ISEED’s Incubation Manager, Ms Shubha Khadke, shared on-going trainings in different parts of the country on GET in the vernacular. Five of ISEED’s social enterprise partners shared their work in diverse fields such as community-based rural tourism, millet processing and appropriate technologies for rural India. The workshop provided space for cross-learning and collaborations among institutions, including an interest in a second volume of Farming Futures focused on FPOs.

Incubator for Social Enterprises and Entrepreneurs for Development (ISEED) at IRMA, started in August 2016, supports and nurtures early-stage rural, social and collective enterprises. ISEED is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

You can contact ISEED on iseed@irma.ac.in

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