XLRI enters into partnership with business funding agency to boost entrepreneurship

From The Times of India


The Fr. Arrupe Centre for Ecology and Sustainability (Faces), a centre based at the premier business school XLRI, has entered into a partnership with Freemont Partners, India's first global incubator and accelerator providing mentoring and seed funding to entrepreneurs. The partnership envisions working in tandem to identify, incubate and invest in start-ups which have a sustainability-centric business model. Freemont's experienced management, global access to mentors, partners and alliances provide a value proposition for new and upcoming start-ups before their major round of funding.

Freemont Partners expects to invest in about 25 to 30 companies over the next three to four years, including a few which have a sustainability-centric business model using technology.

Faces is a multi-disciplinary centre at XLRI which envisions providing thought leadership to promote policies, practices and dialogue, which have an impact on holistic and sustainable development of society and enterprises. The center is in the process of building an incubator to support start-ups in this space." Partnership with Freemont Partners will provide young students and entrepreneurs a great platform for mentorship, besides facilitating seed-funding to build a sustainability-centric business," said Faces chairperson Professor Madhukar Shukla.

The centre which has been working consistently on issues concerning social entrepreneurship for years, had organized a meet on the National Rural Livelihood Mission, (NRLM) in July jointly with the India unit of World Bank to get an overall understanding of the NRLM agenda.

The co-founder of Freemont Partners, Ronald D'Souza, said, "Young entrepreneurs in India are looking at building a sustainable ecosystem with innovative products and technology. In partnership with Faces we hope to support this emerging ecosystem, which will have a long term impact on the way we live, work and play." Freemont Partners provides mentorship, strategic direction and access to local and global mentors and partners, said a company functionary.