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Request for help: MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

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Updates (3)

Hello,
Those who know me probably would have heard of my project dHive: Rural Design studio, that I initiated as a SBI Youth for India Fellow. Since its inception in 2015, I have been putting my blood, sweat and tears to build a rural innovation model where children design and build solutions to local problems with locally available resources. I am really excited to see how dHive, that started in a remote tribal village of Lobhi is now unfolding towards a global scale, as I get my letter of acceptance today to the highly selective and prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Innovation and Entrepreneurship BootCamp 2018.

Crossing every hurdle with a great leap of faith, my friend Shreyas and I have taken this work as our life’s calling to bring children to the forefront of social innovation. Your contribution could help me get rigorous training by MIT experts through one week intensive program to scale up the project into a startup and maximize impact not only in India but to under served communities around the world.

Impact:
The young innovators at dHive have defied the popular opinion that children just play with toys and perform science experiments. With our unique design thinking process for children, tailored to low resource areas, they have designed and developed ingenious solutions that have not only solved problems that their community has faced for generations, but has also created alternative livelihood opportunities for women Self Help Groups.

Mentors:
Guided by a panel of highly experienced mentors - Prof. Arvind Gupta (Indian Toy Inventor and Padma Shri Awardee), G.G. Sohani (President, BAIF Development Research Foundation) and Mrs. Meenakshi (Expert in Indigenous pedagogy, Auroville). We operate through a growing network of content creators who volunteer towards what they believe could bring hope for underprivileged communities.

Achievements:
- 3M- CII Young Innovator Challenge Award 2017 at the 13 th Innovation Summit
- Best Youth Award 2016, Illaignarkal Education Centre, Auroville
- Selected one among top 20 Social Innovators of India at the National Conference on Social Innovation 2016

Recognition:
It was a proud moment indeed when the team was officially invited by Nobel Foundation to the Round table conference with four Nobel Laureates on ‘How Science Impact Lives’ at the Nobel Prize Series 2018.

Our award winning work has previously received support from the Science and Technology Park (DST- Govt. of India) and 3M India in establishing our low cost makerspaces.The project has also been widely recognised by NDTV, The Better India, The Deccan Chronicle, Hello Educator PodCast series to name a few.

Costs for attending the Boot Camp:
The MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp costs me a total of $8500 (Rs.5,70,515 INR) to participate.

Tuition = $6000 (Rs. 4,02,717 INR)
- $2000 (Rs. 1,34,239 INR) due on May 18th to secure my place
- $4000 (Rs.2,68,478 INR) due on June 28th

Air Travel cost: $2500 (Rs. 1,67,798 INR)

I believe that only by creating a paradigm shift in the way our children are educated, we together as responsible adults can make a better society. Help us bring our vision to become more than just a dream. Your contribution can make a difference!

Kumudham Article (in Tamil)

Recieiving the 3M- CII Young Innovator Award 2017

Letter of Admission to MIT Bootcamp

Sakal Times Cover page article

dHive Team

Testimonial on my work

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9th July 2018

I am really excited and grateful to share I have successfully completed the fundraiser goal of $6000, to attend the highly prestigious MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Boot Camp. I am thankful to all of you who believed in dHive and went out, shared my campaign with your networks and made this possible. The Milaap campaign was backed by 22 individual donors- friends, family and some humble people who did not want to reveal themselves, raising $1630 and was granted a sponsorship of $4370 by SRM University.

It was heart warming when many of my dear Youth for India fellows came up to contribute towards the cause without giving it a second thought, in spite of the financial challenges they face. In fact some of the fellows even went beyond their limits, using up their savings to help dHive scale up. I was struck with surprise and wonder when a friend of friend contributed Rs. 10,000 without even knowing me personally, just hearing about the story of dHive from his networks. I am proud to say that the very university I graduated from, has made me their Brand Ambassador, granting me a sponsorship of Rs. 3 Lakhs. It is the hope and unshakeable trust that you all have on dHive, that defines our success. Thank you for being part of our tribe, dreaming big, well into the future of shifting paradigms of change for the children of India.

25th June 2018

Hello Everyone,
I am really grateful for your contribution. Thank you for helping me to go a step towards my dream. I will make the most of the faith you all have on me. Thank you once again.

19th May 2018

I am feeling grateful for all the donors so far, who have contributed towards dHive and its mission, in fueling our dreams forward. I am really delighted to see the scale of trust and traction the project has gained. as the contributions summed up to Rs. 72,000 within the first ten hours of launching the campaign. I am also thankful to all the supporters of the campaign who helped it reach far and wide. I wish I could connect to the anonymous donors, who humbly and generously contributed to a large share of the funds raised.

I have a heartfelt gratitude towards SRM University, where I pursued my bachelors, to have sanctioned me a sponsorship of Rs. 3 Lakhs and to regard me as SRM's brand ambassador.