PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Feb 12: XLRI Jamshedpur successfully concluded the seventh edition of its Social Entrepreneurship Conclave (SEC) held yesterday, bringing together key stakeholders to explore the theme of “Tribal Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Transformation.”
The event saw the participation of more than 200 individuals including students, members of tribal communities, current social entrepreneurs, field experts and faculty.
The Conclave and the award were organized by Team SIGMA-oikos, a student committee and Centre for Inclusiveness of XLRI Jamshedpur.
Pravir Krishna, retd. IAS officer and former managing director of TRIFED, delivered the keynote address, sharing his insights on building a tribal enterprise strategy for India’s development.
He highlighted the impact of initiatives like MSP for forest produce, Van Dhan Yojana, Retail & Marketing, emphasizing the role of collaboration and digital interventions in scaling them up.
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Two panel discussions on tribal enterprise strategy
Two panel discussions provided diverse perspectives on this crucial topic.
The first, moderated by Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, saw panellists Pravir Krishna, Akshay Soni (The / Nudge Institute), Nitish Kumar Sinha (SPM, JSLPS, Govt. of Jharkhand), and Father Joseph Marianus Kujur (Director, XISS, Ranchi) discussing “Leveraging Government Policy and Corporate Houses for Tribal Entrepreneurship.”
Key takeaways included the need for micro-gains, way forward lying in facilitation and assistance rather than imposing policies, and an ecosystem respecting tribal values to resolve the dissonance between modern development and traditional development.
The second panel featured successful tribal entrepreneurs. Doman Tudu (Rusicaa Group), Kumar Abhishek Oraon (The Open Fields), Ruby Gupta (Duosis Bio-innovations), and Mohit Mohan Samad (Ong Apparels).
They openly discussed challenges like financial access and overcoming stereotypes, showcasing how they used innovation and partnerships to achieve growth.
Social Startup Pitch Competition
SIGMA-oikos also organized Catalyst, a Social Startup Pitch Competition powered by The/Nudge Institute. Final rounds of the startup pitch contest that saw participation from more than 25 teams were conducted where the finalists presented their ideas to Akshay Soni and Prof. Kalyan Bhaskar.
The pitches were judged on their idea, scalability, clarity, feasibility of implementation and impact on society.
The winners received attractive cash prizes and critical expert input.
XL-JESEY Awards
The day culminated with the presentation of the inaugural XLRI Jamshedpur Emerging Social Entrepreneur of the Year (XL-JESEY) Awards 2024.
Doman Tudu, founder of Rusicaa Trends Pvt Ltd., received the top honour for his work bridging tribal traditions with mainstream markets.
Significantly, the conclave highlighted XLRI’s commitment to fostering impactful social change through entrepreneurship and empowering tribal communities towards a sustainable future.
