Boost workshop conducted in India to strengthen early stage clean cooking enterprises
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, in conjunction with the India Clean Cooking Forum 2016, conducted the first ever Boost Workshop in New Delhi in December.
The Boost Workshop series, developed by the Alliance and the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) housed at Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, is intended to help social enterprises in the developing world apply for grants, investments, awards, and capacity development programs.
Fourteen enterprises attended the India workshop, including cookstove manufactures, distributors, clean fuel entrepreneurs, and NGOs. Over the course of the two-day program, which was supported by Shell, participants worked through a series of “learn by doing” modules, learning concepts as they developed a business plan. Modules topics included social impact modeling, targeting markets, value propositions, marketing, sales and partnerships, financial modeling, and growth strategy.
“The Boost program not only helped me in preparing for applications for funding, but also made me think deeper and scrutinize my business and overall strategy,” said Ketaki Kokil, Product Designer with Eco-Sense Appliances Private Limited, a pellet manufacturer based out of Aurangabad, India.
As part of the program, which was facilitated by Ennovent, a global innovation company for low-income markets, participants presented an executive summary of their new business plans, and after receiving feedback, developed an “elevator pitch” to use with investors and on applications. Following the workshop, participants expressed confidence that the program will help them produce higher quality applications to incubators, accelerators, and potential funders as well as identify gaps in their business models.
The next Boost Workshop in India will be held in Goraj, Gujarat on January 19th and 20th, 2017 as part of the Solar Cookers International World Conference. Learn more about the conference and the workshop here.