Telangana Aims At Setting Up 5K Startups in Five Years

A new establishment in the space of Social Impact— Telangana Social Startup Network (TSSN) was launched by Shri. Somesh Kumar, IAS, Honorable Chief Secretary to Government of Telangana on Wednesday (10th February 2020), at Social Impact Confluence organized by Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) in collaboration with AIC-IIITH. The event was also graced by Principal Secretary of IT & IC, Shri Jayesh Ranjan, and Principal Secretary to Agriculture, Shri P. Janardhan Reddy.

Telangana Social Start-ups Network (TSSN) is an initiative with a notion to build a solid ecosystem for Social Startups as an all-inclusive and cohesive body to foster entrepreneurship and support for each other and the overall upliftment of the startups and civic society in Telangana. The goal of the body is to create 5000 startups in the state in the next five years. One of the major activities as a part of the ecosystem would be the launch of Social Innovation Policy to streamline the process of establishment of social startups, recognition, public procurement, government-pilot, and mobilizing the diverse stakeholders of Social Impact.

Speaking at the event, about the Government engagement for such an ecosystem Shri Somesh Kumar, IAS, Chief Secretary, said, “Government engagement with social entrepreneurs is the need of the hour during the tough times we are going through. Government officers in the recent past have become sensitive enough in welcoming the startups solving the crucial issues. I do presume that this is going to be the way forward in building sustainable societies, more with establishments like TSSN, which can lead to considerable growth contribution by social startups in this financial year for Telangana.”

Speaking about a focused approach towards social startups, Principal Secretary of IT & IC, Shri Jayesh Ranjan said that the paradigm of social startups should be looked at with the lens of a bottom-up approach, gender sensitivity, and citizens-first perspective. He further added, “The idea of social impact ecosystem is to fill the gap of receptivity to these startups from Government and streamline the process of procurement. TSSN while is an establishment today, it will keep growing beyond borders.”

Chief Innovation Officer of TSIC, Ravi Narayan said that TSSN’s way is to stitch the smaller pieces of work being done across the state and eventually build a network of 5000 startups in 5 years. He said, “The activities like Boot camp, Social Cafes implemented with the inclusion of incubators and Government Departments are the real testimony to the idea of inclusive the ecosystem we are aiming to create.”

Viiveck Verma, Senior Advisor at TSIC, who is spearheading the body, shares, “Telangana Social Startup Network (TSSN) is first of its kind initiative any state in India would be taking, to build, enable and amplify social impact ecosystem in Telangana. Our belief at TSSN is to, converge all the diverse social stakeholders from startup to investors, and academia to NGOs who are currently working in an individual capacity for a collective effort.”

We are live with T - Social Impact Confluence !! Telangana state takes a new leap today in building the most inclusive Social Impact Ecosystem, with the formal launch of TSSN & @IiithAic
Watch athttps://t.co/GnCZDCxrdq@KTRTRS @jayesh_ranjan @ravignarayan @viiveckverma

— Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) (@teamTSIC) February 10, 2021