Haqdarshak’s Aniket Doegar gets Social Entrepreneur of Year award
Haqdarshak has trained over 22,800 agents across 24 states, providing benefits worth ₹4,000 crore to over 2 million families and 35,000 micro businesses.
: Aniket Doegar of Haqdarshak, a tech platform that connects citizens with their eligible government welfare schemes, was on Thursday awarded the 13th Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award-India, established by Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Haqdarshak has trained over 22,800 agents across 24 states, providing benefits worth ₹4,000 crore to over 2 million families and 35,000 micro businesses.
Speaking on the occasion, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said that entrepreneurs build a company but social entrepreneurs build a nation, as he lauded contributions worth over ₹1 lakh crore by businesses in fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities.
“Social entrepreneurship is an endeavour to develop solutions to the existing socioeconomic, environmental, health care and cultural issues,” Thakur said. “In 2014-15, India became the first country in the world with a legislated corporate social responsibility (CSR), with a spending threshold of up to $2.5 billion, or around ₹15,000 crore. As of March 2022, Indian companies have spent more than ₹1 trillion in CSR since its inception.”
The Union minister also gave away mementos to the finalists — Osama Manzar of Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), Ajaita Shah of Frontier Markets, Wilma Rodrigues of Saahas Zero Waste, and Meera Shenoy of Youth4Jobs.
DEF, a non-profit, has impacted over 30 million people across 24 states by empowering them through digital literacy. Frontier Markets, through its rural distribution platform, is driving access to the products and services that the rural population wants delivered at their doorstep. Saahas Zero Waste is a socio-environmental enterprise providing decentralised end-to-end waste management services. Youth4Jobs Foundation works to transform lives of people with disability by skilling and linking them to sustainable livelihoods.
Congratulating the winner and the finalists, Shyam S Bhartia, chairman and founder, and Hari S Bhartia, chairman and co-founder, Jubilant Bhartia Group, and founder directors of Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, said: “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 towards society...”
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, congratulated the winner. “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 Jubilant Bhartia Foundation is a not-for-profit established in 2007 to bring social change through a strategic multi-stakeholder partnership in four key areas — universalising elementary education; improving health indices; escalating employability; and enabling conducive environment for social entrepreneurship.
Doegar said the award would encourage them to work harder and achieve more. “I want to thank all our Haqdarshaks on the ground. This award will go a long way in supporting us as a young tech company.”