SPARK HOW TO

Villgro Fellowships

PRESENTED BY VILLGRO AND SUPPORTED BY ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION.

Your talent. Our space.

A RURAL REVOLUTION

A CHANCE TO

CHANGE LIVES IN RURAL INDIA

Ready to make a difference?

Presenting Villgro Fellowships

Rural India needs ideas that can deliver inclusive,

eco-friendly and sustainable prosperity. A handful

of individuals – better known as social

entrepreneurs – are making that difference by

blurring the boundaries between business and

social good. These individuals stand out for their

vision, purposefulness, passion, leadership,

innovativeness, risk taking ability, and persistence.

If you are one such path-breaker in the making, you

need to have a space to hone those instincts, a live

laboratory that will help you sharpen your abilities.

Above all, you need an opportunity to prepare

yourself to launch your dream venture.

Villgro in association with the Rockefeller

Foundation, presents the 2nd Villgro Fellowships, a

10-month program designed to equip individuals

who dare to follow their dreams and to help build a

prosperous rural India.

About Villgro

markets (the “base of the pyramid”) in India, and

has eight years’ experience in enabling such

innovations to reach rural markets, both through

technology and business incubation, and through a

dedicated retail chain for innovative products. The

L-RAMP programme targets innovators, whose

access to technology, funds and markets is

improved through mentoring, networking, seed

funding and recognition. The Villgro stores targets

the rural poor, by making its portfolio of

innovative, efficient and cost effective products

available at retail points and through Village Level

Entrepreneurs.

Villgro, a social enterprise, is focused on

innovations with social impact on low-income

WANTED PROFESSIONALS WITH

COURAGE

What does the Villgro Fellowship Who can become a Villgro Fellow?offer you?

£Professionals from the corporate sector who want

to contribute to the rural poor The Villgro Fellowship gives you an exciting opportunity £Engineers or agriculture graduates with 3-5 years of to work for 10 months both independently and work experience alongside Villgro professionals.£Social entrepreneurs who wish to hone their

entrepreneurial ability in a challenging environment During the programme, you will contribute to rural £Emerging entrepreneurs who aspire to understand prosperity by:the rural sector

£ Mentoring an Innovator and using your Experience in or exposure to any of the following will be entrepreneurial skills to enable the successful an added advantage: commercialization of an innovation.

£ Deploying practical, imaginative and decisive £New product development, Project Management or leadership in working with innovators, innovations and Business planningrural markets. £ Venture capital organizations, Rural markets or the £ Acquiring in-depth understanding of the innovation Social sectorand social enterprise sectors.£ Individuals who have had success in: £Developing specific expertise in technology

Spear-heading change management initiatives development and business planning.Business planning and execution £Implementing the best (international) practices Social change activities from industry.Championing new / entrepreneurial initiatives £ Gaining knowledge and familiarity with Villgro and

other social enterprise models by participating in £Adaptability to new cultures / environments is a structured knowledge building programmes.must

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

TEN MONTHS TO

SOW CHANGE

Fellowship Location, Compensation and Travel

Compensation for the fellows program is designed to cover the costs associated with the program, i.e., local travel to and from the office, accommodation, local transportation for business needs, food, health

Villgro is pleased to provide you a stipend of Rs. 25,000/- insurance and incidentals.per month to cover meals, housing and incidental costs.

Villgro will reimburse the to and fro transportation of The fellows may be required to travel to or stay at the the shortest route for all to Chennai from their place of location of the innovators they are working with. All domicile at the time of joining and completion. In travel and stay will be in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu addition, travel expenses to the innovator location, for and some states in the north. quarterly meetings and any other Villgro meetings during

the fellowship will be reimbursed.

DATE / PERIOD EVENT

15th February 2010 The fellowship begins formally in Chennai with a one week classroom-based induction programme into all aspects of Villgro and an introduction to the Social Enterprise sector.

15th – 28th February 2010

Induction into the work of Villgro with the fellows spending time at the various offices of Villgro and with identified innovators.

1st – 9th March 2010

Visit to other organizations in the Social enterprise sector.

10th – 15th March 2010

Understanding individual portfolios and defining outcomes and processes for each with the Villgro team.

16th March – 15th November 2010

On the ground working on the allotted portfolio and towards the stated deliverables

Mid May, July andSeptember

Interim reviews in April, June and September, primarily to assess the progress and offer support where is required

16th – 30th November

Fellows come back from their projects to spend the next two weeks in putting together their learning and outcomes of the work done by them and present the same to the Villgro team

1st week of December

Fellows spend time with key role holders in Villgro, deciphering the path forward for themselves in the sector and nature of support expected from Villgro to facilitate the same

In addition, Fellows will also be invited to attend relevant learning sessions that are planned for the year and held at Villgro offices on the 1st Saturday of every month.

D a v i d h a s appropriate manner. I have three specific projects

completed BA with which I am working: 1. Develop and implement a

i n S p a n i s h social impact measurement system 2. Business

f r o m t h e development, both client acquisition and account

University of management/transitioning 3. Develop new training

Michigan, and modules in conjunction with HR. Additionally, I

have worked work on strategic planning and ad-hoc projects on an

internationally as needed basis.

i n v a r i o u s My mission is to improve the quality of life of the

verticals in the NGO, for-profit, and government entire world in a BIG way through for-profit

sectors in a push to understand social enterprise as a methodologies, and am particularly interested in

means towards sustainable development and make a working on growth and trajectory strategy for start-

meaningful difference in the world. up social enterprises with "green" and BoP

“I am working one-on-one with the CEO of focuses”.

DesiCrew Solutions on a strategic level to scale the

model and impact more lives in the most effective and

David Schafran with Desi Crew

Gautam Mazumdar is a post graduate in business “In Villgro I'm working

management specializing in international business with the “IR Guard”

with over seven years of international work project, an innovative

experience in the corporate as well as development herbal formulation

sectors across functions. His responsibilities in product used in the

NGOs, Private sector and Government bodies p o u l t r y s e c t o r .

involved skills development and capacity building for Pro ject act iv i t ies

socially & economically disadvantaged for leading a involve developing

life of self reliance. The strategy was through new marketing and

networking with variety of Governmental and business partners in different regions of India”.

Private Resources.

Gautam Mazumdar with IR Guard

IGNITEDCHANGE IN 2009

FELLOWS WHO

M e e r a air-flow infant warmer - a technology that was

Seshadri holds developed in-house at Villgro. In addition, I am

a bachelor's developing a user needs study that will reveal the

d e g r e e i n role of devices such as the infant warmer within the

global public context of neo-natal clinical care in rural Tamilnadu.

hea l t h and Through this fellowship, my exposure to the public

s o c i o - and private health sector, as well as to the critical

e c o n o m i c needs of the rural poor, has been incredible. Though

development the challenges have been dense and deep, I've gained

from The George Washington University, and has 3 a tremendous working knowledge of the rural health

years of experience in public health advocacy, systems and had the opportunity to collaborate with

developing health behavior and health awareness and learn from seasoned medical professionals,

campaigns, and project management. entrepreneurs, government officials, and product

“In Villgro, my task is to design and conduct a study designers."

that will validate the safety and performance of the

Manish Kumar is a post graduate in agricultural promotion. The aim of

economics with four years of experience in the enterprise is to

designing projects, fund raising and the organize the market in

implementation of sustainable l ivelihood small ruminant rearing.

development for rural poor. My work has focused

on the pilot marketing “In Villgro I’m working on a project called SHREYAS. of this enterprise”. Working with SHREYAS (a social enterprise) as part

of my fellowship at Villgro was a wonderful learning

experience! It enabled me to enhance my skills in

livelihood enhancement for the vulnerable sections

of society, through the strategy of enterprise

Meera Seshadri with Infant Warmer

Manish Kumar with SHREYAS

IGNITEDCHANGE IN 2009

FELLOWS WHO

A ONE OF A KIND

WITH USOPPORTUNITY

A Villgro Initiative businesses, globally and nationally. As a Fellow, you

can leverage this for maximum learning.

As a leading incubator of innovations for the Indian Work on a Real Challenge: Villgro implements rural sector with a unique social agenda, Villgro is several seed initiatives with the objective of equipped to make a difference to your ambitions.establishing viable social enterprises. As a Fellow,

you will be able to work on various kinds of Driven by dreams of a prosperous rural India,

challenges, such as marketing, business Villgro is a not-for-profit entity based in India.

development & technology development.Villgro’s mission is to identify and incubate

grassroots technological innovations developed Pursue a Well-designed Program: The Villgro largely by rural users that can have a significant Initiative Fellowships are designed to maximize impact on rural lives and enable these innovations your learning and growth as a potential social to reach rural markets. Villgro identifies these entrepreneur.innovations and helps to develop and market the

innovations that have commercial potential.

Access Rural India: Through its programmes,

innovation portfolio and network, Villgro opens

the doors to rural India for you.

Leverage Villgro's Ecosystem: Villgro has

developed a mature ecosystem for building viable

innovation-based social enterprises. Villgro's

partners are among the most reputed funding

support agencies, technology institutions and

1. How many fellows will be selected for the programme this year? 4. Are Villgro fellows allowed to take leaves of

absence during the programme? This year, we plan to have 5-7 fellows for the programme.

This is the 2nd formal launch of a fellowship programme for Villgro fellows are encouraged to take leaves of absence

Villgro. Prior to this, Villgro has housed many Indian and only for reasons of sickness or physical inability to travel to

international volunteers, interns and professionals who work. Fellows are generally encouraged not to opt for

have contributed to the work of Villgro. leave beyond this. However, the request for leave on any

exceptional reasons may be considered on a case to case

2. What is the nature of support that will be basis.

offered for Villgro fellows to settle down at the place of work if they are from elsewhere? 5. What type of mentoring and support will

Villgro fellows receive during the programme?

Villgro will offer you accommodation in modest but

comfortable premises for the first 10 days of your stay in Each Villgro fellow will be assigned a mentor from within

Chennai. During that time, administrative support will be Villgro to whom they are encouraged to share progress on

provided to you for identifying a suitable accommodation. the assignment, or any other matters they wish to receive

Accommodation will be organized while on tour for official support on. This mentor would not be the person he/she is

purposes. reporting to. Apart from this, Villgro has a very positive

and supportive work culture and you would be free to seek

the support of any Villgro employee you choose. 3. Can Villgro fellows bring their immediate family along with them?

6. Can fellows expect an offer of employment from Villgro or its partner organizations on The fellowship programme will arrange for travel, work completion of the programme? permits and other items only for one person. However,

Villgro acknowledges and respects the needs of fellows to Villgro reserves the right to extend employment to any of

bring their immediate family along with them and fellows the Villgro fellows. On completion of the programme, if

may bring family or loved ones at their own expense. It such an offer is not made from Villgro, Villgro would still be

should be noted that fellows will be expected to travel at able to suggest to the fellow possible organizations that the

short notice and at the schedule dictated by the incubation fellow can consider for a suitable career, based on Villgro's

plan, and that the program is intensive, time-consuming assessment of the fellow's performance and potential.

and requires real commitment and flexibility. Fellows

should consider these factors carefully before deciding to

bring family members.

FREQUENTLY ASKEDQUESTIONS

DO YOU WANT TO APPLY YOUR SKILLSTO UNLEASH RURAL

PROSPERITY?

How to Apply

one page

summary

eminent social entrepreneur and senior staff from the

Villgro selection board.

Send in your detailed resume, along with a The decision on the persons selected for the Villgro

(not exceeding 500 words) of why you are fellowship and extension of offers to successful

interested in applying for the fellowship, to candidates will be sent before the 2nd week of

fellowship@villgro.org before 20th October 2009. December 2009.

Shortlisted candidates can expect a phone call from us at Apply now to participate in an

a mutually convenient time informing them of the same.

exciting journey with us!Finalists would participate in an in-person /

teleconference /video conference interview with an

Villgro FellowshipsVillgro, 20/6, 1st Floor, Lakshmipuram 2nd Street

Lloyds Road, Royapettah, Chennai

Tamilnadu, India 600 014, Ph: +91-44-2811 2108