School for Social Entrepreneurs India

Choosing the right programme

SSE India's main route for founders across India is the Social Start-Up Fellowship Programme. If you work on water, sanitation and hygiene in Odisha, the WASH Fellowship Programme Odisha is the more specific fit. The fellowship is a learning and mentoring programme with monthly in-person learning blocks, not a workspace-based incubator, so it suits founders who can commit to attending in person.

How applications work

• The fellowship uses a short application form that you download, complete and email to the organisation's general inbox.
• Check the fellowship page before you start: at the time of writing the application process is closed, and the organisation asks people to watch for future intakes.
• The programme is open to people from all backgrounds, ages and locations within India, and applicants must be at least 18.

How selection works

• After the written application, shortlisted applicants have a telephone interview.
• This is followed by an in-person interview before final selection.

What to plan for

• Selected fellows pay no tuition or accommodation costs, but cover their own travel to the monthly learning blocks in the Delhi NCR region, so factor that travel in before you apply.

School for Social Entrepreneurs India (SSE India) is a capacity-building organisation that supports people starting or scaling a social enterprise, charity or social business. It is the India arm of the global School for Social Entrepreneurs, a network with schools in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and India, and it is registered as its own body in India. It works from a learning centre in Bengaluru and runs its flagship fellowship in the Delhi NCR region.

SSE India invests in people rather than premises. Its main offering is a cohort-based learning and mentoring programme, built around study sessions, action learning and mentoring, rather than a physical incubator with workspace. It is a registered non-profit: the organisation states that donations to it are eligible for benefits under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act and that it can issue 80G certificates.

What they support

SSE India works with aspiring and early-stage social entrepreneurs who have an idea to address a social or environmental challenge. Its flagship fellowship is open to individuals from all backgrounds, ages and locations within India, provided they are at least 18 years old. Alongside the national fellowship, it runs a thematic fellowship for water, sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs in Odisha.

Programmes

The Social Start-Up Fellowship Programme is SSE India's flagship. It runs for nine months with 24 to 30 contact days, delivered through monthly in-person learning blocks in the Delhi NCR region and built around study sessions, action learning and mentoring. The programme does not provide workspace. At the time of this review its application process is closed, with the organisation inviting people to watch for future intakes.

The WASH Fellowship Programme Odisha supports water, sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs in Odisha to develop their business models, create and scale their enterprises and build a wider ecosystem of WASH and social entrepreneurship. It is delivered in partnership with the Pantiss Foundation, supported by Unicef.

Track record

SSE India's figures for its fellowship differ between its pages because they cover different periods. Its current fellowship page states that more than 150 fellows have taken part over seven years, with a footprint across about 20 states. An earlier three-year commemorative book, covering 2016 to 2018, records 61 fellows and a footprint in 19 states. Read these as the organisation's own counts for different windows rather than a single running total.

Who runs it

SSE India is part of the global School for Social Entrepreneurs network, which it describes as spanning social innovators in India, the UK, Canada and Australia, using a methodology developed over more than 25 years and tested through independent evaluations. Its own founding date is reported inconsistently: its about page describes a launch in February 2016, while other material on its site refers to the organisation being registered in 2015 and marks ten years of SSE India in 2026.

Locations

The organisation lists a Bengaluru office and learning centre in the Panduranga Nagar area, and runs the monthly learning blocks for its flagship fellowship in the Delhi NCR region.

How to apply

Applications to the Social Start-Up Fellowship Programme are made by downloading a short application form and emailing the completed form to the organisation's general inbox. Selection then moves to a telephone interview followed by an in-person interview. Successful applicants pay no tuition or accommodation costs, which are covered by partners, but are responsible for their own travel to the monthly learning blocks in Delhi NCR. The intake is currently closed, so prospective applicants should watch for the next round. For general queries, the organisation uses hello@the-sseindia.org.