SOCIAL IMPACT

Upaya defines a job as a full-time or part-time engagements that helps people work themselves out of extreme poverty. People employed through Upaya’s portfolio companies:

increase their daily food expenditure for their families,
earn a reliable income that enables them to save for future needs,
receive training to strengthen their skills,
are able to purchase assets like motorcycle/bicycle or refrigerator.

Upaya has invested in companies that:

directly employ the extreme poor as employees (Saahas Waste Management has on its payroll waste collectors);
provide income as suppliers (Tamul Plates provides income by purchasing arecanut leaves from local residents) or
help develop skills for the poor to enable them to get better jobs (Maitri trains and places caregivers securing employment for women from disadvantaged Northeast communities.)
provide substantial increase of income through aggregation (Krishi Star increases and stabilizes farmer incomes by building a food brand that focuses on value-added processing and market linkages).

PROGRAM BENEFITS

Accelerator Program benefits include:

Access to Upaya funding (up to $50,000 equity investment in each company). Upaya selects up to three enterprises for investment from each cohort.
Additional access to investors through pitch and networking opportunities to bring on co-investors.
4-month long program, involves three class room workshops focussing on helping companies improve their business model in three functions – Finance, Social Impact & Communication and Organizational Development
Additionally, offline support in helping companies refine their business plan, pitch deck and financial model.
Provide access to network of experts, investors and mentors.

The cost for travel and logistics for the program will be covered by Upaya Social Ventures.

TIMELINE

Selection

Upaya will select the final 8-12 entrepreneurs by the first week of May, 2019.

Accelerator Program:

First Workshop: 12th - 14th June, 2019
Second Workshop: 20th – 22nd August, 2019
Third Workshop: 9th - 11th October, 2019

The Upaya team plans to visit each of the selected enterprises to work with the enterprises in identifying key challenges and gaps in the business and providing assistance in addressing challenges around social impact and financial management.

The investment decision will be announced at the end of the third workshop.

PROGRAM SUPPORTERS

2019 SELECTION COMMITTEE

Amit Antony Alex, Upaya India Country Director
Kate Cochran, Upaya CEO
Patricia Devereux, Upaya Board Chair
Sandhya Nakhasi, Investment Manager, Tondo Foundation
Sachi Shenoy, Upaya Chief Impact Officer and Co-Founder
Gwen Straley, Executive Director, 3rd Creek Foundation
Caroline Vance, Director, Deutsche AM Global Social Finance Group