SAP Establishes Faculty Fellow at IIMA to Drive Entrepreneurship

SAP NEWSBYTE, December 10, 2014 /3BL Media/ —  SAP today announced that as part of its on-going corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives across the country, it will establish an SAP Faculty Fellow at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) to undertake research in the areas of entrepreneurship and social innovation.

With the initiative, SAP’s commitment to developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India gets an added impetus. With a focus on becoming a significant accelerator of growth for emerging social entrepreneurs, the Faculty Fellow will operate on a funding of Rs.1.50 crore over a period of five years. Aside from establishing best practices in the area of entrepreneurship, the initiative will involve policy makers, administrators, academia and corporates among others to work in a collaborative manner to support Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Family Run Businesses (FRB) and Growth Stage Enterprises in the areas of healthcare, agriculture, education and skills development, renewable energy, and sustainable public services.

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem is a tremendous generator of employment and innovation and a substantial contributor to GDP growth. Through the Faculty Fellow at IIM-Ahmedabad and the associated incubation cell, SAP aims to create a knowledge base that will significantly help policy makers, administrators and other constituents of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to work in a collaborative way to enable high-growth social enterprises, emerging startups, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and Small and Medium Businesses.” said Ravi Chauhan, Managing Director, SAP India.

“SAP’s desire to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship is in line with IIMA’s long-term goals, and we are delighted to partner with them. This will help the institute to strengthen its impact and maintain its quality. As we continue to connect with practice, I am confident the institute will benefit from access to current management practices and challenges; and also support for high-quality research,” said Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIMA

Over the last few years SAP has been instrumental in accelerating the growth of social enterprises through training, mentorship, and technology consulting. This SAP Faculty Fellow furthers SAP’s vision and mission of fostering social entrepreneurs to bolster a sustainable and inclusive economic environment in India.

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contacts:

Rathnam Subramanyam, SAP Labs India, +91 7829411779, rathnam.subramanyam@sap.com, IST

Sandeep Deb Varman, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, +91 9916020191, Sandeep.varman@bm.com, IST

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