Raj Melville

Lowell Ma, Jan 27, 2022 – The Deshpande Symposium, founded in 2012 by the Deshpande Foundation and the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell), is excited to announce a deepened collaboration with VentureWell, a national non-profit organization on a mission to cultivate a pipeline of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven to solve the world’s biggest …

VentureWell Enters Agreement to Manage the Deshpande Symposium Read More »

Digital divide is prevalent globally.  In our initial research in and around Hubballi region when the pandemic hit showed that primary school children do not have access to their parents’ cell phones. They were missing out on all the learning in person as well as remote learning at homes.  We decided to leverage the radio …

EarlySpark Katha Kalarava (Stories) – Broadcasting education to the last mile Read More »

The Deshpande Foundation and its partner organizations have joined others in going virtual in response to the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe. The Deshpande Foundation in India held productive discussions with local administrative authorities including the District Commissioner, the Police Commissioner, Zilla Panchayat CEO, Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Commissioner, and the District Health officer about harnessing …

Deshpande Foundation Harnesses Resources to Support Covid-19 Crisis Efforts Read More »

While moving its programming and accelerators online, EforAll reacted quickly to address the needs of hundreds of its alumni who have been forced to close or have seen dramatic fall in revenues. It has compiled an Entrepreneur Resource List online of support resources for startups and entrepreneurs, created a weekly webinar series to cope with …

EforAll addresses needs of alumni and startups during Covid-19 crisis Read More »

“EforAll fosters local entrepreneurship by supporting aspiring small-business owners who have ideas but lack capital and connections.” The article titled “Helping Towns by Seeding Their Own Backyard With Start-Ups”, written by Wealth Matters columnist Paul Sullivan for the New York Times, features Desh Deshpande, who with his wife Jaishree founded EforAll in Lowell and Lawrence; …

EforAll’s Work Seeding Start-ups Profiled in New York Times Read More »

On February 2, 2020, the Vice President of India, the honorable Shri Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the Deshpande Skilling center, one of the largest in India. Speaking at the occasion he said that while over half of India’s population consists of youth, it is both an opportunity and a challenge. Most youth lack the skills to …

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu Inaugurates Deshpande Skilling Center During Development Dialogue Read More »

The Dunin Deshpande Queens Innovation Center has launched the Spread Innovation Challenge to encourage teams to develop innovative solutions to address the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis. Teams selected will be able to participate through the summer to flesh out their ideas. The Mayor of Kingston in his recent daily brief encouraged the community of …

DDQIC launches Spread Innovation Challenge to tackle Covid-19 Read More »

Be.For.Change (B4C) Ventures is a program of the Pond-Deshpande Centre in New Brunswick, Canada which provides programs and services for social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs face a conundrum regarding their work: do you look to maximize the impact you are having or the profit you’re generating? To address this issue, B4C convened a gathering of alumni …

Be.For.Change Tackles Profit vs Impact for Social Ventures Read More »

Thanks to a partnership with the Deshpande Foundation, and at the invitation of its founder Gururaj Deshpande, for the fourth year in a row Dunin Deshpande Queens Innovation Center sent a delegation of 8 Queen’s students and alumni to the Development Dialogue Conference. The entrepreneurs selected for the delegation are each leading their own start-ups …

DDQIC Entrepreneurs Attend Development Dialogue 2020 in Hubballi, India Read More »

The Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GDC) at IIT Madras conducted the eighth cohort under its flagship I-NCUBATE program at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India. Eight start-up teams based on deep-tech ideas from diverse sectors such as MedTech, AI, Data Analytics and EdTech participated in the cohort. At the Finale held on …

Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre Completes Eighth Cohort of I-NCUBATE Program Read More »