Knowledge Bank – cfe

Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts: The Making of Ashoka University

Author: Mukesh Sud, Dr. Priyank Narayan, Medha Agarwal

In 2006, four entrepreneurs, including Vineet Gupta, Ashish Dhawan, and Sanjeev Bikchandani, embarked on creating Ashoka University, a pioneering liberal arts institution in Sonipat, Haryana. Their innovative model, bolstered by the Young India Fellowship and extensive networking, aimed to transform higher education in India, akin to the impact of IITs and IIMs.

This case study, published in IIM Ahmedabad Case Centre (2019) is available in Harvard Business Review Store.

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Goonj: Growing in the Face of a Pandemic

Author: V. Kasturi Rangan and Dr. Priyank Narayan

Founded by Anshu and Meenakshi Gupta in 1999, Goonj evolved from a disaster relief organization using the “Cloth for Work” model to a broader initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic. By 2022, with $20 million in raised funds and a return to normalcy, Anshu Gupta faced strategic decisions for the organization’s future.

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Leapfrog: Six Practices to Thrive at Work

Author: Dr. Priyank Narayan, Mukesh Sud

Leapfrog offers six evidence-based insights to accelerate career success, including developing grit, embracing boredom, and making better choices through behavioral economics. It introduces the Personal Journey Map (PJM) to help individuals implement these practices and thrive professionally and personally.

Available in 2 translations and audiobook.

Book

Audiobook

White Paper on Smart Cities and Startups – Innovation in Policy and Practice

Author: Centre For Entrepreneurship, Ashoka University

The AIM Smart City Accelerator, established in 2015, supports startups developing innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive smart cities through a 24-week program in collaboration with Ashoka University, ISB-Hyderabad, and Microsoft Accelerator.  White Paper on Smart Cities and Startups highlights the challenges startups face, including bureaucratic hurdles and funding issues, while also offering recommendations to foster a more supportive environment for these ventures.

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Ashoka ChangeMakers Radio

Ashoka ChangeMakers Radio started out as a Research Practicum project conducted by an MLS student at the Centre. The theme of the first season of the podcast was ‘Passion, Pandemic, and Pivot’ with an aim of indulging in conversations with entrepreneurs from various fields and understanding their adaptive strategies of working during the lockdown. The main agenda was to cover the functions during the pandemic for the business owners that were invited to the podcast. 

The guests for the 6 episodes were: 

Shreya Soni– Founder of Delhi Secret Supper Club (DSSC) that offers experiential dining and networking 

Pooja Dhingra– Founder of Le 15 Patisserie, a bakery chain 

Dhruv Singh – Founder of Pagal Haina Records, a record label

Rushil Mohan– Founder of Pidge, a personal delivery service) 

Sameer Ramesh – Founder of My Captain, an online education platform with live online classes 

Vishal Punjabi– Founder of The Wedding Filmer that offers wedding filming and videography

The Season 2 of Ashoka ChangeMakers Radio has been themed ‘Pride, Diversity, and Innovation’ and captures some candid conversations with social entrepreneurs who have been a part of the Innovations Marketplace for Gender Equality, a one of its kind incubation program by the Centre in partnership with UNDP in India. The motive of these conversations was to understand the social impact these entrepreneurs are trying to create, their journey, motivation, and struggles. These conversations were hosted by Entrepreneurship students at Ashoka.

The guests for the 4 episodes were:

Dr. Pragati Singh – Founder of SAMHA – Sexual And Mental Health Association,  cultivating an inclusive professional & workplace culture for LGBTQ+ community & women.

Shorya Mittal – Founder of Humans of Safe Places (HOSP) which aims at creating safe places, awareness & breaking social stigmas for the LGBTQ+ community.

Megha Bhatia –  Founder of Our Voix. a youth led not for profit organization working on the Primary Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.

Gowtham Balajee – Queerbatore which is a non-funded, non-profit collective run by the queer society of Coimbatore with an aim to create online and offline safe spaces for the local LGBTQ+ community.

OPEN RESOURCES

Here is the list of free educational resources curated by InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship.

a. Inclusive Youth Entrepreneurship Guidebook by InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Youth Co:Lab

The “Inclusive Youth Entrepreneurship Guidebook” is created for Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) in Asia and the Pacific. Its purpose is to help ESOs promote and advance Inclusive Entrepreneurship through their programmes.

 

b. UNDP Springboard Amplifier by Youth Co:Lab

The InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship participated in the Youth Co:Lab Springboard Amplifier 2023 being conducted by the Youth Co:Lab. The aim of the program was to share best practices & co-create a knowledge base for Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs).

 

c. How Entrepreneurs Can Make a Real Change? by Dr. Priyank Narayan

In his article, Dr. Priyank Narayan discusses how entrepreneurs, driven by empathy and problem identification, can create significant social impact and drive change. He emphasizes the importance of understanding real problems and leveraging multidisciplinary education to foster innovative and sustainable solutions.

 

d. Why you need to invest in celebrating small wins at work by Mukesh Sud and Dr. Priyank Narayan

Mukesh Sud and Dr. Priyank Narayan highlight the significance of celebrating small wins at work, emphasizing that these incremental successes build momentum and engagement toward achieving larger goals. They draw parallels with concepts like progress bars in video games and the incremental goals in Alcoholics Anonymous to illustrate their points.

 

e. Future Of Campus Entrepreneurship In 2028 by Dr. Priyank Narayan