Incubator for Social Enterprises and Entrepreneurs for Development (ISEED) at IRMA, started in August 2018, supports and nurtures early-stage rural, social and collective enterprises. ISEED encourages individuals and institutions to experiment with empathy helping them innovate new products, services and institutions that impact livelihoods. We incubate social, grassroots and collective enterprises. We work with our Social Enterprise Partners (SEP) and Ecosystem Partners (EP) to co-create a dynamic and vibrant social entrepreneurial ecosystem. Supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), ISEED is one of the few germinators and incubators that see the need for India’s start-up ecosystem to be pro-actively inclusive by working with both for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises.

Small farmers, tribals and artisans who constitute India’s excluded millions need an empathetic ecosystem for the entrepreneurial revolution to take roots. Such enterprises require active mentorship and networking appropriate to their journey. Incubators, we believe, need to design customized solutions for their yet to be empowered customers in rural India. Navigating complex problems and driving social change require a pro-active approach and co-creating spaces beyond the limited competitive environment of awards and pitches.

ISEED provides a nurturing and empathetic entrepreneurial ecosystem through stage appropriate mentoring and networking support, training and capacity building, creating new knowledge through collaborative research and supporting innovations and building an entrepreneurial ecosystem

• That entrepreneurship is not all about technology or only about start-ups. Thinking entrepreneurially is important for rural livelihoods.

• Rural and social enterprises work in complex environments and incubators can add value by taking mentorship and networking seriously.

• Every social enterprise needs a customized solution. We do not prescribe any particular organizational forms but enable entrepreneurs to think through and explore a range of possibilities.

• We believe in the need to empathize with the contextual knowledge of the entrepreneur or enterprise.