Eklavya India Foundation – Social Entrepreneurship

Active

Eklavya India Foundation

Catalyzing development leadership from the grassroots

Headquarters

Maharashtra

Thematic area

Education

Region(s) of work

Ladakh, Maharashtra

Company Size

Sub-Theme(s)

Children and Youth, Employment, Skill Development

About the Organization

Eklavya aims to democratize access to quality higher education and leadership opportunities among rural and tribal students through information, mentoring and coaching interventions. Since 2017, Eklavya has helped over 700 first-generation learners get admission into top-notch universities and development fellowship programs. Eklavya is on the mission to empower 20,000 students through quality higher education and leadership opportunities by 2030. Their long term vision is to build grassroots leadership in different sectors and enable social mobility in underserved communities.

Active Founder(s)

Raju Kendre Raju Kendre is a first-generation student who hails from the Nomadic Tribe community in the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. Raju has been engaged with tribal and rural community development for a decade. He has been recognized as Forbes India's 30 Under 30 in 2022, Hindustan Times Young Achiever 30 Under 30 2022, nominated for the CNN-News 18 Indian, and featured in Linkedin's Top Voices in Social Impact 2022. He is TISS Alumni and recently finished his MSc Development Studies at SOAS, University of London, on the prestigious Chevening Scholarship. His own lived experience with the problem motivated him to start Eklavya in 2017.

Prashant Chavhan Experienced development professional with a Master of Social Work (MSW) focused on Rural Development from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). He has s5 years of experience where he worked with government functionaries, universities, non-profit organizations, and startups like DeHaat. He belongs to a tribal community in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. His lived experience with the problem of access to higher education among rural students motivated him to join Eklavya in the foundation year. He loves traveling, making memes and watching movies.

Smita Tatewar Smita is a Social Work Graduate and completed Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Rural Reconstruction. Recently got selected for the Young Women Leaders Fellowship 2022 offered by The Red Doors. Smita completed SBI Youth for India Fellowship 2021-22. She has also been part of Aspire Leaders program offered by Aspire Institute associated with the University of Harvard. She is also the Gram Panchayat (village council) vice president of her village in Yavaymal. She is alumni of the foundation batch of Eklavya in 2018. After completing her SBI YFI fellowship she joined full-time in EKlavya and now been promoted as co-founder at Eklavya.