FEC India has partnered with the IFMR (Institute for Financial Management and Research) Trust, an initiative of ICICI Bank, the second largest bank in India, to develop, support and incubate “Network Enterprises” that aims to give small producers a platform to engage with the markets. The Network Enterprises (NE), designed to reach very large scale, will work in close partnership with CSOs to help in aggregation of small primary producers, giving technical and managerial support and delivering basic services, in sectors such as craft, dairy, water, education, foods, energy, skill development, health and others.

 

Ashoka will leverage its experience of building connections between social entrepreneurs and private companies to accelerate the growth of the NEs through relationships with the Indian Ashoka Fellowship. FEC has focused on understanding the needs of NEs, assessing solutions that exist in the India Ashoka Fellow community, and building and implementing an engagement process for integrating these Fellows and the NEs. These relationships range from advisor relationships to becoming a part of the NEs network.

FEC is also surveying the Ashoka India Fellowship to identify Fellows who may themselves become Network Enterprises, and is creating linkages between the Trust and these Fellows to transform them into Network Enterprise investments for the Trust.

 

FEC recently conducted a roundtable on “Innovations in education” for Spark – the education NE supported by the IFMR trust.Seven Ashoka fellows participated in the event, shared their work and brainstormed on sustainable models in education that Spark and the Trust could support.