Event details
Where: Arbor Brewing Company, Bangalore, India
When: Sunday, July 23, 2017
Who: GSBI Alumni and other interested parties in the social enterprise space
On a Sunday afternoon in July, GSBI alumni gathered together at the Arbor Brewing Company in Bangalore. Karen Runde, GSBI Program Manager, and Andy Lieberman, Director of New Programs, hosted the first official GSBI Alumni meet-up in India. Since its inception in 2003, Miller Center has worked with over 70 social enterprise alumni and participants who are either based in, or operating in India. From Delhi to Mumbai to Kolkata, the alumni are spread out across the vast country. Karen also hosted informal meetups in Delhi and Mumbai before hosting the official meet up in Bangalore, where 27 people attended. In addition to alumni, members from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Unitus Seed Fund, and Miller Center’s Energy Access Program were in attendance. The meet-up was informal but warm and was a chance for people to network, share, and engage with fellow alumni. This event was well received, and a handful of SEs flew to Bangalore for the weekend just to attend the event.
During the meetup, Andy Lieberman provided an overview of the work and opportunities available to the entrepreneurs by Miller Center. The most recent graduates of 2017 GSBI Online, Best of the Bump, and DevNRG, as well as current GSBI Online participant, VayuGrid and GSBI Accelerator participant, Hippocampus were introduced and welcomed to the alumni community.
It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, as well as new ones. The overall sentiment from the attendees was that social enterprises appreciate having meet-ups like these and hope that there will be more of them to come in India. Starting this fall, Miller Center will begin hosting a series of regional alumni events like these designed to facilitate networking, knowledge sharing, and collaborative action.
Want to learn more about the GSBI Alumni? Click here.
