Schulich is known as Canada’s Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business is ranked #1 in Canada and among the world’s leading business schools by a number of global MBA surveys, including The Economist, Forbes, CNN Expansión and Corporate Knights. The Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program is ranked #8 in the world by The Economist and #4 in the world among joint programs by QS MBA. Schulich (York University) is already deeply committed to our larger academic partnership with the Government of India. Each year, our Schulich Campus in Hyderabad welcomes 55 students to our MBA in India Program (with their first year in India and second year in Toronto, Canada).

Schulich is deeply invested in developing entrepreneurial leaders for the future. Its ‘Schulich Startups’ community includes 3,000 members and 150 Schulich-founded companies. ‘Schulich Startups’ is led by the Co-Director of the Entrepreneurial Studies Program, Chris Carder - himself a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.

Schulich has also demonstrated an exceptional ability throughout COVID-19 to move with lightning speed, partner effectively, and make an entrepreneurial impact. As a key partner in the Digital Main Street ShopHERE Initiative during the pandemic, we rallied 100 Schulich Student Leaders to support the program within weeks, helping bring tens of thousands of small businesses online and partnering with Shopify, Google, Facebook/Instagram, Microsoft, and Mastercard Canada.

Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation (Ekonnect) was established by Dr. Prasad Modak in 2012 as a section 8 not-for-profit company with a mission to build a more responsible and sustainable world. Ekonnect offers awareness, capacity building, education and entrepreneurship programs in environmental management and sustainability. Apart from the above, Ekonnect also undertakes policy research and supports CSR interventions with community orientation to catalyse innovations and foster green investments. Ekonnect holds a registration under 12A, 80G, and FCRA. Ekonnect is also registered with MCA under Registration of Entities for undertaking CSR Activities (Form CSR-1).

Ekonnect has experience working on various projects and engaging with a diverse group of stakeholders at all levels, including Government, Business, Academia and Communities Focus of the work is on eco entrepreneurship and capacity building. Recently Ekonnect was awarded by UNOPS and UNEP, a unique project called Circular Angul supported by the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in the State of Odisha. 

Ekonnect is also India hub of SEED (see www.seed.uno) that is an initiative launched by UN and ICUN in 2012 to promote eco entrepreneurship.

By now, Ekonnect has mentors more than 250 startups in different stages with impressive results.. With its multidisciplinary team, including Social Sector Experts, Environmental Scientists, Environmental Engineers, Geographers, Environmental Planners, Economists and GIS/RS specialist, Ekonnect has the capability to conduct impact assessments on regional scale such as districts. Ekonnect holds several noteworthy MoUs in India as well as abroad to bring in both research and practice experience in some of the coveted and frontier topics in environmental management and sustainability.

Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to build a strong ecosystem that is conducive for the growth of startup businesses, to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. The Government through this initiative aims to empower startups to grow through innovation and design.

Several programs have been undertaken since the launch of the initiative on 16th of January, 2016 by Hon’ble Prime Minister, to contribute to his vision of transforming India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers. These programs have catalyzed the startup culture, with startups getting recognized through the Startup India initiative and many entrepreneurs availing the benefits of starting their own business in India.