Rural India needs ideas that can deliver inclusive, eco-friendly and sustainable prosperity. A handful of individuals – better known as social entrepreneurs – are making that difference by blurring the boundaries between business and social good. Supported by Rockefeller Foundation, the Villgro Fellowship is a 10-month program designed to equip individuals who help build a prosperous Rural India.

The Villgro Fellowship offers an exciting opportunity to work for 10 months both independently and alongside Villgro professionals. Since the launch of the Villgro Fellowship in 2009, 7 fellows with varied professional backgrounds and experiences from around the globe, having worked in France, Brazil, the United States, Bangladesh and India have joined the program. During the program, Villgro Fellows contribute to rural prosperity by:

• Mentoring a social enterprise with innovative products or service models, serving the rural markets, by providing their expertise in strategizing, process design and implementation, marketing & business development to name a few, and thus enabling a large scale rural impact;
  
• Deploying practical, imaginative and decisive leadership in working with innovators, innovations, social entrepreneurs and rural markets;
• Acquiring in-depth understanding of the innovation and social enterprise sectors;
• Developing specific expertise in process management, product development and business planning & strategy;
• Implementing the best (international) practices from industry.

Established in the year 2001, Villgro is a not for profit company and incubator empowering rural development by actively identifying and incubating innovations that have the potential to cause social impact on rural markets. In its effort to impact rural life, Villgro actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that empowers social entrepreneurship by means of seed funding, mentoring, networking and recognition. Villgro has impacted over 360,000 rural users with technology & solutions reaching the grassroots. Villgro has identified and activated more than 2,000 social innovators.

Call for June 2010 Villgro Fellows

June 2010 fellowships commence from June 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011. The last date to receive applications is April 20, 2010. For more information, please visit the Villgro website or download the Villgro Fellowship broschure here:

Spark a rural revolution!
Villgro Fellowship Broschure