Schaeffler India Selects These 11 Impactful Ideas For Social Change; Rewards Them With Rs 15 Lakh Grant

The ball and roller bearing manufacturing company Schaeffler India had announced the ‘Social Innovator Fellowship Program’ in the third quarter of last financial year, inviting applications from areas of education for health & nutrition, the underprivileged, and the underprivileged, among others.

The procedure of nomination began in September 2021 and the company received applications from 557 young innovators across the country.

Out of the total 150 shortlisted entries from a total of 557 in the fellowship program, Schaeffler India finally announced 11 winning ideas for the program on July 7, 2022.

The first winning idea received monetary support of Rs 5 lakh, while the remaining 10 winning ideas received a sum of Rs 1 lakh each.

Here’s everything you need to know about Schaeffler India’s Social Innovator Fellowship Program.

Schaeffler India’s Social Innovator Fellowship Program

In September last year, the leading industrial and automotive supplier Schaeffler India invited applications for its Social Innovator Fellowship Program.

The program invited ideas from young innovators in areas of:

• health & nutrition,
• underprivileged,
• health & nutrition,
• renewable energy & environment, and
• waste management

For the whole program, the company tied up with the country’s largest scholarship platform Buddy4Study. This platform connects scholarship and education loan providers with seekers of the same to facilitate the initiative.

Schaeffler India is actively pursuing its ESG strategy to drive holistic development and growth, stated a report.

The selection process began in Sept 2021 and the nomination round of the program received applications from 557 young innovators from throughout the country.

Of these applications, 167 candidates were shortlisted in the primary check round, after a rigorous three-step selection process, which consisted of interviews and presentations to the jury panel and leaders of Schaeffler India.

In the second round, 42 candidates were shortlisted from 150, conducted by Schaeffler employees from different locations.

For the 3rd round, 11 students were shortlisted. In the final round, these candidates presented their solution to an august jury panel, comprising of Schaeffler India leaders and a social entrepreneur. 

Prize Money Won By 11 Winners

The winning prize money was Rs 5 lakh, and the remaining 10 winners were aw2arded Rs 1 lakh each.

All the 11 winners will undergo an eight-week hybrid mentorship at the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM Ahmedabad, which will help these candidates to further develop and scale their solutions.

Harsha Kadam, MD & CEO, Schaeffler India said, “Innovation and development leads to growth, but equitable innovation is key to inclusive growth. It is heartening to see so many passionate ideas aided by technology, potentially impacting the social fabric in a positive way. We are seeing technology disruptions all around us promoting growth and holistic development and at Schaeffler India we are conscious of this fact and therefore announced this platform.”