Eclairez - The Social Entrepreneurship Competition

Eclairez 2008-09 is a Social Entrepreneurship Challenge aimed towards those individuals who have the gumption to empower those at the bottom of the pyramid as well as earn profits for themselves while doing so. This competition aims at the amalgamation of students, NGOs, incubators, social entrepreneurs, venture-capitalists and corporations to develop and encourage the spirit of Social entrepreneurship. It is a platform for Social entrepreneurs to showcase their innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. The event will span over a year with regular workshops, mentoring sessions and frequent field visits. The participants will get a chance to perk up their business plan with our mentorship board and convert it into a successful social venture. The mentorship board will consist of Social Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists that are ready to join hands to improve society, innovatively. The funding for the start-ups will be provided by Angel Investors. This event also encourages submissions from working professionals and grass root connectors.

Social Entrepreneurs are people who recognize a social problem and use entrepreneurial principles to create, organize and manage a venture to result in fortification of the social fabric. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for a wide-scale change. In the words of Bill Drayton, social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish, they are people who will not rest until they have revolutionized the whole fishing industry.

Eligibility

• The competition is open to all Indian citizens.
• The plan that has got start up registered cannot participate.
• There is no restriction on the team size. The team can be composed of a single individual or a group of individuals.
• One person can be part of more than one team.
• More than one plan can be submitted, but a separate registration is required for each plan submitted.
• The plan submitted in other competitions can be submitted in Eclariez and the plan submitted in Eclariez can also be submitted in other competitions.
• The product must be the teams original effort. Plagiarism shall not be tolerated. Any contestant suspected of plagiarism will be debarred from future events.

Submission Details

In the first round,the teams will have to submit an online summary of their idea before on or before 25th October. Along with the summary, the team's name and names of the members along with contact of at least one member of the team should be provided. The summary shall describe the social problem your plan deals with, the innovation in your idea and the social return from the idea. In this summary you don't have to describe the financial part of your plan. The summary should not exceed 500 words. The initial round of judging will then commence and teams that qualify in the first round will then proceed on to the next round.

After winning the first round, the teams will be provided with mentorship. After gaining experience and ideas from their respectiv mentors,they will have to submit their detailed business plan before 31Dec. The teams will have to submit the soft copy as well as hard copy of the final plan. The teams finally will have to make a presentation of their plan at the time of E-Summit in January 2009 and this presentation will be open to all audience. The final results will be announced on the final day of E-Summit.

The final summary will contain the following details in specified order:

• The first page should have the names of all team members along with their contacts (at least one), the social problem plan is dealing with(just the name ) and names of their respective mentors (if any).
• Complete description of the problem the idea is dealing with. You have to illustrate the ground work you have done to understand the problem.
• A complete summary of your solution to the problem illustrating the innovation in your idea.
• Description of the economic feasibility and financial sustainability of the venture.
• Illustrate the change the idea will make in the society.
• There is no limit on the length of the final business plan.

The final presentation will consist of 25 minutes. The time will be divided as(10+5). 15 minutes for presentation of the idea and 10 minutes for the question-answer session with judges. The judge's decision would be final and binding. All the winners will be awarded certificates of participation, in addition to the cash prizes.