SUCCESS STORIES
When it comes to the journey of scaling heights, upskilling or staying ahead of the curve, organisations or the government tend to face unexpected roadblocks that pause them on the way. At such times, SIF steps in to be the nudge that brings in clarity, access and empowerment.
STEM for Girls with IBM
Surge Impact, through its T-SIG Group, played a pivotal role in connecting IBM with the Telangana Government to come up with an upskilling program for girls in Telangana. As part of a national level collaboration between IT behemoth IBM and QUEST Alliance, 30,000 high school girl students from across Telangana acquired new-age tech skills through the IBM skills accelerator program. The CSR initiative, centered around ‘STEM for Girls’, provided technical training to selected girls, in areas such as cloud, cognitive intelligence, IT security, and data science. The Telangana government partnered with the program through its department of education as well as the Telangana Welfare Residential Schools.
English Language and Life Skills Education for Rural Telangana with Ignis Careers
Rennis Joseph and Imma Mary Joseph set up Ignis Careers, a social enterprise to develop capacities in English communication, and life skills. Since its inception in 2009, it has focused on the children of first-generation learners belonging to low-income communities. Ignis has impacted over 10,000 teachers and 250,000 underserved children across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi.
But as with most start-up journeys, Ignis also got bogged down when they reached the stage of scaling up their operations. It was precisely, at this vulnerable stage of Ignis’ evolution, that help arrived in the form of SIF’s Acceleration Program. Surge Impact helped transform the start-up’s outlook, and develop an effective business model. Now, Ignis has successfully scaled up its operations on the back of a sustainable social enterprise model that SIF has devised for them.
Economic empowerment of rural women with Allika
The non-descript town of Tenali in Andhra Pradesh is home to Allika, the social enterprise which converts water hyacinth weeds to usable products. Allika has given hundreds of local womenfolk a chance to earn regular income. The brainchild of Shaik Abdul Mujeeb, this social enterprise has grown bit by bit over the years. But Abdul has also had his fair share of trials and tribulations.
Fortunately for Abdul, Surge Impact Foundation took him under its wing. Access to a peer network, led to synergies in innovation and expanding their product range. For instance, Allika collaborated with Vijayasri Jute Designs, which led to the development of a whole new range of products that incorporated jute and water hyacinth.
Freedom Hyderabad 10K Run
SIF was the cause partner for Freedom Hyderabad 10K Run, organised by Events NOW with the support of Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of I&C and IT Departments in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with an aim to promote the SDGs and create awareness for the public and all the stakeholders. The aim of this partnership was to promote SDGs and create awareness among the communities.
Young changemakers in India program
SIF partnered with Skilled Impact to provide expertise for their Young Changemakers in India program, jointly hosted by Skilled Impact and Learning Curve Life Skills Foundation who are based in Hyderabad.The program aimed at creating an immersive experience for 16 French students and their teachers in India and included an interactive mix of excursions, trips and workshops centred around the following themes: Gender Inequality, Disability, Livelihoods, Youth Leadership, Women Empowerment and Global Citizenship.
Athlete 365 Business Accelerator Program
SIF supported the Yunus Sports Hub in delivering personal mentoring to an athlete as a part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) official business acceleration program. The purpose was to coach, monitor and motivate the athlete, supporting them in the launch and growth of their business.
Humanitarian Response Drive
Save the Children India’s ‘Humanitarian Response Drive’ for Hyderabad Floods provided Food Security, Hygiene & Dignity and Learning Kits to 11,000 families affected by the Floods in Hyderabad in 2020, with the support of Coca Cola Foundation. The drive was carried from December 2020 to January month 2021. T-SIG played a key role from the inception till successful closure of the project.
Partnership with ICRISAT, Hyderabad to support Agri-based organisations
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Surge Impact Foundation entered into a partnership aimed at building on the synergy of both parties to identify and nurture grassroots innovations in the agricultural sector. The Agri-Business Incubator (ABI) of Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (API-ICRISAT) was the focal unit representing ICRISAT under this collaboration.