We are happy to be teaming up as a media partner with Villgro for their UNCONVENTION this week in Chennai. As part of the Villgro Awards, Beyond Profit is in the running in the Media Category. We’re up against DARE and India Today for the media house that covers social entrepreneurship the best. Wish us luck!

Meera Seshadri from Villgro shares her views on the importance of building the rural development ecosystem and why the UNCONVENTION will be a pathbreaking event.

It’s quite a heavy-handed statement to call your first-ever conference the ‘UNCONVENTION.’ Talk about pressure. The expectations and hopes that lie in the details of the day, not to mention in the days that follow, are paramount. But that’s what makes Villgro so special. We’re ready to take on the social entrepreneurship and innovation sectors in a BIG way – we don’t want to take baby steps, we want to make huge efforts to shed light on the ecosystem in a way that has never been done before. And we hope we can create a revolution.

Villgro is bringing something new to the table with the UNCONVENTION. Though there have been numerous forums in India where either innovation or social entrepreneurship have been discussed and knowledge has been shared, there has been no single forum that has addressed both of these ideas – and has brought in the most important element – the rural poor. India houses 70% of her population in her villages. Villgro, with its 9 years of experience in linking innovation, social entrepreneurship, and the rural poor, realizes that they cannot be left behind in the revolution. » Continue reading “The Unconvention”