Global business services firm Accenture and software giant Microsoft recently disclosed the launch of a joint initiative, Project Amplify, that will work with 33 startups focused on social impact and sustainability across the Asia-Pacific region. The goal is to help them to scale up their emerging solutions and business models in order to boost the region’s potential—while also improving the lives of millions of people by solving an array of environmental, social, and governance challenges.
"Social enterprises face many challenges, including access to technology and innovation expertise to scale their solutions," said Sanjay Podder, Managing Director and Technology Sustainability Innovation Lead at Accenture. "By leveraging the technology expertise and networks of both Accenture and Microsoft, we can help bridge this gap. As these social enterprises expand their reach, we hope to see significant improvement in the status of vulnerable groups in our communities that need support in sustainability, healthcare, education and agriculture."
The investment pertains to ten social startups from India: Jaljeevika, eKutir, Everwell, Fluxgen, Docturnal, BrainSight AI, Fresh On Table, FreshR, Rocket Learning, and Blink Foundation. All of these companies are actively developing products and services focused on ESG initiatives.
The selected startups have already successfully demonstrated how their products, services, and operations will be game changers in the ESG sector. All will be given the opportunity to access leading technology as well as expertise and mentoring from both Microsoft and Accenture. The two companies will assist the startups in testing and validating proof of concepts to expand the social benefit and impact of their solutions.
Accenture’s focus will be on guiding startups in applying technologies to address critical ESG challenges and advance their sustainability agendas, while Microsoft’s involvement comes as part of its Global Social Entrepreneurship program, with a goal of helping social enterprises build and scale their companies to meet the ever-growing need for change in the world. The Global Social Entrepreneurship program offers startups access to technology, education, customers, and grant funding.
