The document provides information about the Villgro Fellowships program, which is a 10-month program that equips individuals to help build a prosperous rural India. It offers professionals the opportunity to work independently and with Villgro to mentor innovators and help commercialize innovations. Fellows will develop expertise in technology, business planning, and implementing best practices. The fellowship involves classroom training, field work with innovators, visits to social enterprises, and presenting outcomes learned to Villgro. Compensation covers local costs and some travel expenses. The goal is to support fellows in igniting change for rural prosperity.

1. HOW TO
SPARK
A RURAL REVOLUTION
Villgro Fellowships
Your talent. Our space.
PRESENTED BY VILLGRO AND SUPPORTED BY ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION.

2. A CHANCE TO
CHANGE LIVES
IN RURAL INDIA
Ready to make a difference? markets (the “base of the pyramid”) in India, and
has eight years’ experience in enabling such
Rural India needs ideas that can deliver inclusive, innovations to reach rural markets, both through
eco-friendly and sustainable prosperity. A handful technology and business incubation, and through a
of individuals – better known as social dedicated retail chain for innovative products. The
entrepreneurs – are making that difference by L-RAMP programme targets innovators, whose
blurring the boundaries between business and access to technology, funds and markets is
social good. These individuals stand out for their improved through mentoring, networking, seed
vision, purposefulness, passion, leadership, funding and recognition. The Villgro stores targets
innovativeness, risk taking ability, and persistence. the rural poor, by making its portfolio of
innovative, efficient and cost effective products
If you are one such path-breaker in the making, you available at retail points and through Village Level
need to have a space to hone those instincts, a live Entrepreneurs.
laboratory that will help you sharpen your abilities.
Above all, you need an opportunity to prepare
Presenting Villgro Fellowships
yourself to launch your dream venture.
Villgro in association with the Rockefeller
About Villgro Foundation, presents the 2nd Villgro Fellowships, a
10-month program designed to equip individuals
Villgro, a social enterprise, is focused on who dare to follow their dreams and to help build a
innovations with social impact on low-income prosperous rural India.

3. WANTED
PROFESSIONALS WITH
COURAGE
TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
What does the Villgro Fellowship Who can become a Villgro Fellow?
offer you?
Professionals from the corporate sector who want
£
The Villgro Fellowship gives you an exciting opportunity to contribute to the rural poor
to work for 10 months both independently and £ or agriculture graduates with 3-5 years of
Engineers
alongside Villgro professionals. work experience
£ entrepreneurs who wish to hone their
Social
During the programme, you will contribute to rural entrepreneurial ability in a challenging environment
prosperity by: £ entrepreneurs who aspire to understand
Emerging
the rural sector
Mentoring
£ an Innovator and using your
entrepreneurial skills to enable the successful Experience in or exposure to any of the following will be
commercialization of an innovation. an added advantage:
Deploying practical, imaginative and decisive
£
leadership in working with innovators, innovations and New product development, Project Management or
£
rural markets. Business planning
£ in-depth understanding of the innovation
Acquiring £ capital organizations, Rural markets or the
Venture
and social enterprise sectors. Social sector
Developing
£ specific expertise in technology Individuals who have had success in:
£
development and business planning. Spear-heading change management initiatives
Implementing the best (international) practices
£ Business planning and execution
from industry. Social change activities
£ knowledge and familiarity with Villgro and
Gaining Championing new / entrepreneurial initiatives
other social enterprise models by participating in
structured knowledge building programmes. Adaptability to new cultures / environments is a
£
must

4. TEN MONTHS TO
SOW CHANGE
DATE / PERIOD EVENT
15th February 2010 The fellowship begins formally in Chennai with a one week classroom-based induction
programme into all aspects of Villgro and an introduction to the Social
Enterprise sector.
15th – 28th Induction into the work of Villgro with the fellows spending time at the various
February 2010 offices of Villgro and with identified innovators.
1st – 9th March Visit to other organizations in the Social enterprise sector.
2010
10th – 15th March Understanding individual portfolios and defining outcomes and processes for each
2010 with the Villgro team.
16th March – 15th On the ground working on the allotted portfolio and towards the stated deliverables
November 2010
Mid May, July and Interim reviews in April, June and September, primarily to assess the progress and offer
September support where is required
16th – 30th Fellows come back from their projects to spend the next two weeks in putting
November together their learning and outcomes of the work done by them and present the same to
the Villgro team
1st week of Fellows spend time with key role holders in Villgro, deciphering the path forward
December for themselves in the sector and nature of support expected from Villgro to
facilitate the same
In addition, Fellows will also be invited to attend relevant learning sessions that are planned for the year and held at
Villgro offices on the 1st Saturday of every month.
Fellowship Location, Compensation and Compensation for the fellows program is designed to
cover the costs associated with the program, i.e., local
Travel travel to and from the office, accommodation, local
transportation for business needs, food, health
Villgro is pleased to provide you a stipend of Rs. 25,000/- insurance and incidentals.
per month to cover meals, housing and incidental costs.
Villgro will reimburse the to and fro transportation of
The fellows may be required to travel to or stay at the the shortest route for all to Chennai from their place of
location of the innovators they are working with. All domicile at the time of joining and completion. In
travel and stay will be in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu addition, travel expenses to the innovator location, for
and some states in the north. quarterly meetings and any other Villgro meetings during
the fellowship will be reimbursed.

5. FELLOWS WHO
IGNITED
CHANGE IN 2009
David Schafran with Desi Crew
David has appropriate manner. I have three specific projects
completed BA with which I am working: 1. Develop and implement a
in Spanish social impact measurement system 2. Business
from the development, both client acquisition and account
University of management/transitioning 3. Develop new training
Michigan, and modules in conjunction with HR. Additionally, I
have worked work on strategic planning and ad-hoc projects on an
internationally as needed basis.
in various
My mission is to improve the quality of life of the
verticals in the NGO, for-profit, and government
entire world in a BIG way through for-profit
sectors in a push to understand social enterprise as a
methodologies, and am particularly interested in
means towards sustainable development and make a
working on growth and trajectory strategy for start-
meaningful difference in the world.
up social enterprises with "green" and BoP
“I am working one-on-one with the CEO of focuses”.
DesiCrew Solutions on a strategic level to scale the
model and impact more lives in the most effective and
Gautam Mazumdar with IR Guard
Gautam Mazumdar is a post graduate in business “In Villgro I'm working
management specializing in international business with the “IR Guard”
with over seven years of international work project, an innovative
experience in the corporate as well as development herbal formulation
sectors across functions. His responsibilities in product used in the
NGOs, Private sector and Government bodies poultry sector.
involved skills development and capacity building for Project activities
socially & economically disadvantaged for leading a involve developing
life of self reliance. The strategy was through new marketing and
networking with variety of Governmental and business partners in different regions of India”.
Private Resources.

6. FELLOWS WHO
IGNITED
CHANGE IN 2009
Meera Seshadri with Infant Warmer
M e e r a air-flow infant warmer - a technology that was
Seshadri holds developed in-house at Villgro. In addition, I am
a bachelor's developing a user needs study that will reveal the
degree in role of devices such as the infant warmer within the
global public context of neo-natal clinical care in rural Tamilnadu.
health and Through this fellowship, my exposure to the public
s o c i o - and private health sector, as well as to the critical
economic needs of the rural poor, has been incredible. Though
development the challenges have been dense and deep, I've gained
from The George Washington University, and has 3 a tremendous working knowledge of the rural health
years of experience in public health advocacy, systems and had the opportunity to collaborate with
developing health behavior and health awareness and learn from seasoned medical professionals,
campaigns, and project management. entrepreneurs, government officials, and product
“In Villgro, my task is to design and conduct a study designers."
that will validate the safety and performance of the
Manish Kumar with SHREYAS
Manish Kumar is a post graduate in agricultural promotion. The aim of
economics with four years of experience in the enterprise is to
designing projects, fund raising and the organize the market in
implementation of sustainable livelihood small ruminant rearing.
development for rural poor. My work has focused
on the pilot marketing
“In Villgro I’m working on a project called SHREYAS. of this enterprise”.
Working with SHREYAS (a social enterprise) as part
of my fellowship at Villgro was a wonderful learning
experience! It enabled me to enhance my skills in
livelihood enhancement for the vulnerable sections
of society, through the strategy of enterprise

7. A ONE OF A KIND
OPPORTUNITY
WITH US
A Villgro Initiative businesses, globally and nationally. As a Fellow, you
can leverage this for maximum learning.
As a leading incubator of innovations for the Indian
rural sector with a unique social agenda, Villgro is Work on a Real Challenge: Villgro implements
equipped to make a difference to your ambitions. several seed initiatives with the objective of
establishing viable social enterprises. As a Fellow,
Driven by dreams of a prosperous rural India, you will be able to work on various kinds of
Villgro is a not-for-profit entity based in India. challenges, such as marketing, business
Villgro’s mission is to identify and incubate development & technology development.
grassroots technological innovations developed
largely by rural users that can have a significant Pursue a Well-designed Program: The Villgro
impact on rural lives and enable these innovations Initiative Fellowships are designed to maximize
to reach rural markets. Villgro identifies these your learning and growth as a potential social
innovations and helps to develop and market the entrepreneur.
innovations that have commercial potential.
Access Rural India: Through its programmes,
innovation portfolio and network, Villgro opens
the doors to rural India for you.
Leverage Villgro's Ecosystem: Villgro has
developed a mature ecosystem for building viable
innovation-based social enterprises. Villgro's
partners are among the most reputed funding
support agencies, technology institutions and

8. FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
1. How many fellows will be selected for the
programme this year? 4. Are Villgro fellows allowed to take leaves of
absence during the programme?
This year, we plan to have 5-7 fellows for the programme.
This is the 2nd formal launch of a fellowship programme for Villgro fellows are encouraged to take leaves of absence
Villgro. Prior to this, Villgro has housed many Indian and only for reasons of sickness or physical inability to travel to
international volunteers, interns and professionals who work. Fellows are generally encouraged not to opt for
have contributed to the work of Villgro. leave beyond this. However, the request for leave on any
exceptional reasons may be considered on a case to case
2. What is the nature of support that will be basis.
offered for Villgro fellows to settle down at the
place of work if they are from elsewhere? 5. What type of mentoring and support will
Villgro fellows receive during the programme?
Villgro will offer you accommodation in modest but
comfortable premises for the first 10 days of your stay in Each Villgro fellow will be assigned a mentor from within
Chennai. During that time, administrative support will be Villgro to whom they are encouraged to share progress on
provided to you for identifying a suitable accommodation. the assignment, or any other matters they wish to receive
Accommodation will be organized while on tour for official support on. This mentor would not be the person he/she is
purposes. reporting to. Apart from this, Villgro has a very positive
and supportive work culture and you would be free to seek
3. Can Villgro fellows bring their immediate the support of any Villgro employee you choose.
family along with them?
6. Can fellows expect an offer of employment
The fellowship programme will arrange for travel, work from Villgro or its partner organizations on
permits and other items only for one person. However, completion of the programme?
Villgro acknowledges and respects the needs of fellows to
Villgro reserves the right to extend employment to any of
bring their immediate family along with them and fellows
the Villgro fellows. On completion of the programme, if
may bring family or loved ones at their own expense. It
such an offer is not made from Villgro, Villgro would still be
should be noted that fellows will be expected to travel at
able to suggest to the fellow possible organizations that the
short notice and at the schedule dictated by the incubation
fellow can consider for a suitable career, based on Villgro's
plan, and that the program is intensive, time-consuming
assessment of the fellow's performance and potential.
and requires real commitment and flexibility. Fellows
should consider these factors carefully before deciding to
bring family members.

9. DO YOU WANT TO
APPLY YOUR SKILLS
TO UNLEASH RURAL
PROSPERITY?
eminent social entrepreneur and senior staff from the
How to Apply
Villgro selection board.
Send in your detailed resume, along with a one page The decision on the persons selected for the Villgro
summary (not exceeding 500 words) of why you are fellowship and extension of offers to successful
interested in applying for the fellowship, to candidates will be sent before the 2nd week of
fellowship@villgro.org before 20th October 2009. December 2009.
Shortlisted candidates can expect a phone call from us at
Apply now to participate in an
a mutually convenient time informing them of the same.
exciting journey with us!
Finalists would participate in an in-person /
teleconference /video conference interview with an
Villgro Fellowships
Villgro, 20/6, 1st Floor, Lakshmipuram 2nd Street
Lloyds Road, Royapettah, Chennai
Tamilnadu, India 600 014, Ph: +91-44-2811 2108