MIT Student & Young Indian entrepreneur, Shweta collaborates with MIT Sloan School of Management to launch a Social Entrepreneurship scholarship in India

There are a few entrepreneurs like Shweta Aprameya who are redefining the path with their unique ability to build ventures that make a positive social impact in the lives of millions

Shweta is a dynamic leader who has not only held several leadership roles in multinational corporations in UK & India across Digital Transformation, Financial Inclusion & Digital Credit across financial institutions before transitioning to entrepreneurship. From a young age, she has been involved in working to develop social innovation models and being an active member in the entrepreneurial community in India. Her successful ventures – YTS, ARTH & HAPPY have been great examples of delivering value at scale for underserved markets

With a vision to encourage more entrepreneurs and attract top international talent looking to create smart market-based solutions for delivering impact, Shweta, who is a MIT Sloan alum herself, instituted a personally funded- AIM Scholarship for graduates of the school. She set up a fund pooled with her own personal savings combined with an excellent mentor network to kick start a unique program. This scholarship program is the first of its kind and has been specifically designed keeping the UN SDGs in mind

“The goal of the fund is to support entrepreneurship & innovation among MIT Sloan Fellows and solve some of the world’s most critical issues. I feel that by supporting thinkers, creators, problem solvers the opportunity to create social impact & improve the lives of millions around the world will be multi fold and the process of meeting development goals can be accelerated. I am so happy that I could collaborate with my school and grateful to the entire community of Sloan for supporting this initiative all along” says Shweta

In addition to financial support, the scholarship provides access to industry experts who serve as a collective of advisors to guide from their real-world experiences in the impact space to take the ideas from concept to execution. The entire selection process is handled by programs team at MIT Sloan School Management and students are chosen by an excellent jury especially set up at the school

This year, after a rigorous process of selection, Heejae Cho MIT Sloan Fellow MBA has been chosen as the first AIM scholar 2019 for her unique project VIRIDIS RS. The genesis of her project - VIRIDIS RS lies in the agricultural challenges that India faces. Says Heejae Cho, on being awarded the scholarship “I am deeply humbled by the faith AIM has bestowed me with this scholarship. As a first-time entrepreneur and non-Indian it’s a daunting task to start a new tech-based start-up here in India. The incredible network I have been able to into as a part of the scholarship will undoubtedly be the key to our success"

Truly, a journey towards global impact begins

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About AIM

The Action, Impact and Motivation (AIM) Scholarship is awarded every year to MIT Sloan Fellow to support entrepreneurship and innovation that make a positive global impact and work towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The winning project will be granted a one -time award of 10,000 USD upon arrival in India, with an additional honorarium of 1,000 USD per month, per person, during the implementation phase to cover the cost of living in India

The scholarship has been funded and instituted by emerging Indian entrepreneur and an MIT Sloan MBA fellow herself, Shweta Aprameya (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shweta-aprameya/), to support Sloan Fellows conducting social impact projects through her trust – Anusha Welfare Trust. The Anusha Welfare Trust has been set up by Shweta in the name of her parents Anup & Usha, the name Anusha means “a star.” A family of working professionals with humble background, Shweta & her family has been involved in social good in their home state and continue to make efforts to help others in need. The work of the Trust is to support and conduct grassroots social work in diversified areas, thereby contributing to the welfare of our society. The Trust engages with communities, government institutions, and like-minded individuals to nurture a self-sustaining eco-system that works collaboratively to improve the world.

About AIM Scholar -Heejae Cho & Project VIRIDIS RS

Qualified actuary and reinsurance underwriter with 18 years of experience in property and casualty insurance Fellow of institute of Actuaries and BA Hons in Mathematics from University of Cambridge, graduated from MIT’s Sloan fellow mid-career MBA program in June 2019. Her project VIRIDIS RS focusses on crop loss owing to disease and pests

It is estimated that close to 30 % of crops are lost to pest /disease every year and absence of intelligent data to insurance companies makes agricultural insurance infeasible/expensive for farmers.

VIRIDIS RS aims to bridge the information gap by collecting the farmer data via airplane and providing underwriting /claims data to insurance companies for better risk coverage simultaneously providing alerts to farmers via extension services

Website: www.aimscholar.net