Whether you bring funds, a fresh idea, or an unsolved problem from the community you serve, the lab has a way to work with you.
Help make the lab more robust and sustainable, so it can keep closing the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged. Indian contributions are eligible for 80G tax exemption.
Contribute now →A professional on a break, or a student with the passion to bring change? Take an idea from the drawing board to a working pilot through the Social Innovations Lab's mentoring programme.
How mentoring works →NGOs, CSR teams, foundations and universities: bring a long standing problem from the community you work with, and we will help design and implement an innovative, replicable solution together.
Share your problem →Like any industry, the development sector needs to keep innovating. There is no shortage of ideas, only a shortage of places to refine and test them. The lab is that place.
With more than twenty years of experience and over ten models in use and replicated widely, OASiS has mentored more than ten past mentees, two of whom went on to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. The lab is open to passionate people of all ages who want to test their ideas on the ground, whether you arrive with a brilliant solution or simply with the drive to solve an old or new age social, developmental, environmental or economic problem.
Current mentees include Ayushi Mishra, an ex public sector banker working on credit access for small rural businesses, and Dr Kasturi Bose, a sociologist working to connect urban children with local sustainability through social entrepreneurship.
Apply to be mentored → or WhatsApp +91 98932 74407.
Ayushi Mishra is a former public sector banker now working in the development sector. Her expertise is in MSMEs and livelihoods, with over a decade of experience developing credit solutions for small businesses. Her problem statement: small businesses and rural India have very limited access to the formal business ecosystem, capital, skills, technology and markets.
Dr Kasturi Bose holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Policy from the University of Southampton and an MA in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, after an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Sophia College, Mumbai. With six and a half years in the social sector, she implemented education, sustainability and livelihood projects as Senior Program Lead at the RPG Foundation. Her problem statement: the growing disconnect between urban children in the transitional age group and local sustainability issues, and how that will affect marginalised populations, and how to connect them so they become environmental champions in their own localities through social entrepreneurship.
Mentees set their own timelines after each session and are expected to keep to them, barring health reasons, so that the work moves continuously. If a timeline slips, the mentor agrees a compensatory measure with the mentee. If a mentee is a habitual procrastinator, the mentor decides whether to continue.
Institutions wanting to run a social innovation lab on their own campus can start a SEPICA Lab, which brings industry’s real social and environmental problems to students and faculty.
Whether you bring funds, a fresh idea, or an unsolved problem from the community you serve, there is a way in.
