by Suman Gupta
Small steps to this bold journey by awarding Four Climate startups $20,000 each
Mumbai, India, Oct 25, 2023 – One of the Global South’s largest convening on impact entrepreneurship, the 15th Sankalp Global Summit 2023, hosted by Aavishkaar Group and Intellecap at Westin Powai (Mumbai), positively engaged over 600 diverse stakeholders across the impact ecosystem.
Through 24 sessions they convened to discuss, define, and drive forward the critical levers of climate finance towards resilience, adaptation and mitigation. Celebrating 15 years of impact, the Global Summit, themed around ‘The Great Transition: Financing Climate Action for the Global South”, urged all Global Leaders, Industry practitioners and climate visionaries to collaborate and be intentional about building climate solutions, driving advocacy, commitment to reduce carbon footprint, supporting enabling ecosystems and scaling innovative technologies.
The Summit featured renowned leaders like Wendy Werner of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Pradeep Tharakan from Asian Development Bank (ADB), Liz Lloyd of British International Investments (BII), Ajay Rao from U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), LV Vaidyanathan of P&G- India and SE Asia, Dr, Naresh Tyagi from Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited, Kiran Sarkar from Mahindra & Mahindra, Satish Mandhana of Eversource Capital and Shalabh Tandon from IFC (World Bank Group). It also featured government representation early to growth-stage innovators, renowned investors as well as capacity builders.
Some key highlights were the gamut of leaders at the summit who took a pledge to build on this momentum of climate action. Aavishkaar hosted the first-ever climate-focused Sankalp Global Awards where 4 startups (Revy Environmental Solutions, Hasiru Dala Innovations, Angaza Foods, Strawcture Eco) were awarded with cash prizes of $20,000 each in partnership with Artha Impact. A Global Impact Hackathon was launched to inspire innovations addressing critical challenges under housing, health and energy consumption, where Niramai emerged as the winner. The climate deal room enabled 10 entrepreneurs to connect with 15 investors. An exclusive gathering of climate financiers enabled leaders from DFIs, banks and private equity investors to share learnings and identify areas of collaboration. Lastly, the Summit took the initiative to reignite collaboration amongst global convenors through an exclusive roundtable focused on creating more intentional forums.
According to Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap, “The 15th Sankalp Global Summit is a testament to our shared commitment in building an enabling ecosystem which places Entrepreneurship and Capital at the heart of solutions for people and planet. We’re convinced that this year’s convening will provide a blueprint for all ecosystem stakeholders to build innovative solutions that are sustainable and scalable.”
“It has been a journey of immense pride to witness how the 15th Sankalp Global Summit materializes our collective vision. Our objective has always been to foster a world where Entrepreneurship melds seamlessly with Capital, becoming the catalyst for meaningful change. As we convened at this pivotal juncture, our hope is that this summit doesn’t just serve as an annual gathering, but a continuous beacon of inspiration, driving sustainable and scalable innovations for a brighter, greener future.” opined Pramit Banerjee, Manager, Sankalp Forum.
Supported by global partners like Artha Impact, Energy Catalyst, British International Investment, World Bank Group in collaboration with Korean Green Growth Trust Fund, Greening of Finance by Women Network, and International Development Research Centre (Canada), the forum catalysed collaborative capital, facilitated discussions on people centric approaches and incentivized private sector to adopt climate smart solutions.
About Sankalp Forum: Sankalp Forum was initiated in India in 2009 by Intellecap, part of the Aavishkaar Group, to create a thriving ecosystem for business-led inclusive development. Over the past 15 years, Sankalp has built one of the world’s largest impact enterprise-focused platforms that has showcased and discovered 2350+ entrepreneurs, through 32 editions and has connected them to 1000+ investors. Sankalp has enabled enterprises and entrepreneurs and has helped raise over USD 800 million in funding and disbursed over USD 1.2 Million in cash grants. Sankalp Forum engages with Governments, Corporations, influential platforms like WEF, GIIN, G8 and G20, media and civil society to drive a paradigm shift in inclusive development approaches.
About Intellecap: Intellecap a part of the Aavishkaar Group is a pioneer in building enabling ecosystems and channelling capital to create and nurture a sustainable & equitable society. Founded in 2002, Intellecap works across critical sectors like Agriculture, Livelihoods, Climate Change, Clean Energy, Financial Services, Gender & Inclusion, Healthcare, Water and Sanitation, and has delivered over 700 global engagements across 60+ countries and syndicated investments of over $1.1 Billion USD in Capital. Intellecap through its presence in India and Africa provides a broad range of Consulting, Research and Investment Banking Services, to Multilateral Agencies, Development Finance Institutions, Social Enterprises, Corporations, Investors, Policy Makers and Donors. Our common action platform, Sankalp Forum, one of the largest global inclusive development platforms, brings together the ecosystem to shape the way markets work for delivering the SDGs 2030. Select clients of Intellecap include the USAID, World Bank, Ford Foundation, The Hans Foundation, Doen Foundation, GIZ, DFID, Hindustan Unilever, P&G, International Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
