Aniket Doegar declared Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) 2022

Aniket Doegar will join community of social innovators in the world affiliated with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Noida: The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the sister organisation of the World Economic Forum and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation of Jubilant Bhartia group conferred Aniket Doegar of Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions with the prestigious ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award – India 2022’. The award was presented by Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Government of India.

Congratulating the winner and finalists and lauding the work of social entrepreneurs, Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports Government of India, said, “In a world driven by uncertainties, geo-political upheavals, the role of social entrepreneurs is increasingly becoming critical to nation building. It is imperative to know investments in environment, sustainability and governance will play a crucial role in not only meeting our shared goal of 5 trillion-dollar economy but also sustainable development goals by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2070.”

He further added, “Social Entrepreneurs put their innovative ideas to action, build a team, align beneficiaries and stakeholders, raise necessary funds and drive the organisations with their passion and energy towards solving critical issues, be it reduction of poverty, education of children, empowerment of women, climate change mitigation, healthcare, etc.”

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The SEOY India Award 2022 winner, Aniket Doegar of Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions is solving the information and access gap between citizens and the government’s welfare schemes at the last mile, through its tech-enabled intervention. Present in 24 states in India it has trained over 22,800 agents and provided benefits worth Rs 4,000 crore for over 20 lakh families and 35,000 micro businesses.

Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder & Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship applauded the work of the social entrepreneurs and congratulated the winner & finalists.

They shared, “Over these last challenging years, we have seen such depth of civic action, entrepreneurialism and innovation in India. Social entrepreneurs are the driving force behind innovations that improve the quality of life of individuals not only in India but around the world. Their role in creating a just, inclusive and sustainable COVID-19 response and recovery is pertinent. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has been proud to partner with Jubilant Bhartia Foundation in recognising the exceptional work of Indian social entrepreneurs in alleviating environmental and social problems over the past 13 years. This year’s winner and finalists of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year India Award represent the ethos of social innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Shyam S Bhartia, Chairman and Founder and Hari S Bhartia, Chairman & Co-Founder, Jubilant Bhartia Group and Founder Directors of Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, shared, “The last two and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic have showcased social entrepreneurs across the world as a different breed of individuals, going beyond the realm of possibility and serving humanity with all their might. Their creativity, resilience, commitment, potential and reach have been simply outstanding. Today we are proud to celebrate and felicitate all our finalists as extraordinary individuals with remarkable achievements and contributions to society. We are proud of our 13 years of unique and rewarding partnership with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Through our partnership, we have been able to give the social entrepreneurs in India a global platform to showcase their work, scale-up their initiatives and cross-learn from an enriching alliance of similar high-spirited individuals from across the world.”

Aniket Doegar, Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions on winning the SEOY Award India 2022, shared, “I want to thank all our Haqdarshaks on-ground. This award will go a long way in supporting us as a young tech company. A big thanks to the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. With this recognition we hope to achieve our goal of reaching 100 million citizens.”

The other finalists for SEOY Award India 2022 were Osama Manzar from Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), Ajaita Shah from Frontier Markets, Wilma Rodrigues from Saahas Zero Waste and Meera Shenoy from Youth4jobs. The winner and finalists of SEOY Award India will also get an opportunity to apply for the Hindustan Times Fellowship for the Stanford Seed Transformation program.

This year the SEOY Award – India celebrates its 13th year. Over the last decade it has established itself as one of the most respectable awards for social entrepreneurs in India. In 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation came together to promote social innovation in India through the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award – India and has since recognised and supported the growing field of social innovation in India.

This year’s jury members for the SEOY Award India included Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson & Editorial Director, HT Media Ltd; Hilde Schwab, Chairperson & Co-Founder, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship; T V Narendran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited; Sudha Pillai, Former Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India; Aashti Bhartia, Non-Executive Director, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited; P R Ganapathy, Regional Director, Stanford Seed, India; Pranshu Singhal, Founder – Karo Sambhav, Winner SEOY 2021.

About the winner

Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions was formed with the objective to address the information and access gap related to the various government schemes at the last mile. The heart of all Haqdarshak’s innovative methods lies in their app-based technology platform. Haqdarshak digitizes information on schemes in 11 simple vernacular regional languages making it available to intended beneficiaries through its various B2C channels and an agent-led model. All its products and services are available in 24 states of India. Over the last six years, they have unlocked benefits worth Rs 1788 crore for over 16 lakh families.

To achieve their objective, Haqdarshak uses a two-pronged approach- i.e., by creating awareness about the applicable schemes for citizens and by training rural entrepreneurs in using their app and providing application support for the citizens. The entrepreneurs trained by Haqdarshak are local agents, who screen the family/citizen to determine the eligible welfare schemes applicable to them. They also have a proprietary ‘scheme eligibility engine’ that can identify entitled schemes based on the profile information provided by the beneficiaries. Haqdarshaks or the field agents track the applications and follow up with the government offices till the benefits are received by the citizens.

Haqdarshaks earn a stipend during an initial program funded by philanthropic or corporate sponsors and are gradually able to earn a sustainable livelihood by using the app and charging a small fee to citizens. Haqdarshak has also built a similar platform to support the 63.5 million micro businesses in India, which form the backbone of the MSME sector.

It has developed a curated list of schemes and documentation requirements for MSMEs along with a dedicated web & mobile platform too. Entrepreneurs can access the schemes’ information including benefits, application process and documentation required to apply, and check their eligibility. It has reached more than 20,000 micro-businesses in the last 12 months.