Community Changemakers – Designing a Social Enterprise
9 – 12
April 2025
Business and Entprereneurship
21 Days
About Project
Every community faces social and economic challenges, from unemployment and discrimination to accessing education and healthcare. Many of these issues persist due to a lack of innovative, sustainable solutions tailored to local needs. In this project, students will act as social entrepreneurs, using their own observations and research to identify a pressing challenge in their local community. They will then design a social enterprise—a business model that balances profit with positive social impact. Using the design thinking framework, students will develop a design for a model of their solution, considering feasibility, sustainability, and scalability. Deliverables include a business canvas, demonstrating their idea, and a social impact plan. Through this project, students will develop problem-solving, leadership, financial literacy, and critical thinking skills while learning how businesses can drive meaningful change.
Expert Profile
Mekin Maheshwari is the Founder and CEO of Udhyam Learning Foundation, a non-profit that has empowered over 16 lakh government school and ITI students across 8 states in India with entrepreneurial mindsets, alongside generating an annual income uplift of ₹20Cr for 5,000 Istri entrepreneurs. A passionate advocate for mass entrepreneurship, he co-founded the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Social Change at ACT Grants, aiming to create a thriving ecosystem where individuals can fearlessly pursue their potential.
An engineer by training from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Mekin began his career at Yahoo!, where he developed data-driven predictive models and analytics, managing systems impacting $100M in revenue. He later joined Flipkart in its early days, scaling it from a two-room operation to a 35,000-strong organization, serving as Chief People Officer and President of Engineering. His leadership in technology and HR helped shape Flipkart into one of India’s leading e-commerce platforms.
As an angel investor and philanthropist, Mekin focuses on human capital and ed-tech, with investments in companies like Urban Company, Quizizz, and Billion Hearts. He serves as an independent board member at TeamLease Services Ltd. and Rang De, and is an advisor at Mentr. Since 2018, Mekin has been an active member of SVP India’s Bangalore Chapter, where his interactions led to the founding of GAME. Through his work, Mekin continues to drive systemic change, fostering innovation and opportunity for emerging communities.
