Building entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural areas: a G20 Startup knowledge exchange roundtable

The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde Business School is partnering with the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India to host a G20 Startup20 knowledge exchange roundtable on ‘Building entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural areas’.

The roundtable will take place on May 30 from 1:30pm – 4:30pm at the Consulate of India, Edinburgh and is also available simultaneously online.

This is part of a larger project funded by the British Council through its Going Global Partnerships: Industry-Academia Collaborative Grant 2022-23 to support entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural India. As part of this, Strathclyde will be hosting an academic team from TISS during the week who are on a knowledge exchange visit to receive exposure to the Scottish ecosystem for social and rural enterprises. The visit is also facilitated by the Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS), which is the UK’s largest and oldest social enterprise support agency.

Objectives of the roundtable are to:

• Identify and document best practices for building entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural areas
• Collate training resources and pedagogies for entrepreneurship education in rural areas
• Understand mechanisms of sustaining entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural areas in the long run
• Create a knowledge exchange network of stakeholders in the space

The roundtable will feature speakers offering insights on the topic from the UK, India, and global perspectives. This will include representatives from Collective Change Lab, Social Enterprise World Forum, Atal Innovation Mission, Udhyam Learning Foundation, Grameena Incubation Centre, Beggars Corporation, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Community Enterprise in Scotland, Challenges Worldwide, Impact Hub Inverness, among others. The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr Sreevas Sahasranamam and Satyajit Majumdar.

Sreevas Sahasranamam, associate professor at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, and lead of this project said, “We are looking forward to learning from global best practices on the building entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas through this roundtable."

Satyajit Majumdar, Professor and Dean, School of Management and Labour Studies, TISS, and co-lead of this project commented, “This is going to be a great opportunity to not only exchange ideas but also to implement for lasting impact. The roundtable would showcase sustainable practices of rural communities”

Published: 24 May 2023