K SPROUT-Leveraging Indian Startups

[IMPACT]

SOLUTION BRIEF

India has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem with over 38,000 active startups currently. This is a growing space with more new ideas coming each day. There are many startups that come with great potential but struggle with challenges especially when it comes to fundraising and mentorship.

‘KONMA SPROUT’ is a program that aims to educate aspiring Indian entrepreneurs and startups about decentralized funding and Project Catalyst through various streams.

List of Intended Programs:

• Weekly workshops on “Decentralized Fundraising”
• The workshops will be a weekly education module that will be actively marketed to reach the target audiences across various platforms such as
• Linkedin
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Instagram
• Facebook

• The workshop will be for 90 minutes.
• 45 minutes - Decentralized Fundraising Basics.
• 30 minutes - Introduction to Cardano ecosystem and Project Catalyst
• 15 minutes – AMA

We intend to host this workshop every week for a period of 3 months.

• Weekly events on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces
• Clubhouse and Spaces are platforms to network and have active conversations. These platforms can be leveraged to reach the target audience.
• We have conducted various sessions on Clubhouse in the past and have had meaningful collaborations through these sessions. The team of Konma comprises of individuals who met as part of these sessions. So we can vouch for the effectiveness of hosting sessions on Clubhouse and Spaces.
• The agenda of the session is to promote the KONMA SPROUT event by hosting discussions about Challenges faced by a startup and introducing the concept of Decentralized funding. The end of the session will guide the participants to the KONMA SPROUT Tribe on Konmahood.

• Interactive sessions and training modules on Zoom or Konmaverse (virtual meeting space)
• The interactive sessions will include ways for startup teams to upskill themselves and better their ideas and present them in a better way.
• This will also be a way to introduce and create awareness about Project Catalyst and about raising seed funds.
• These sessions will be a hands-on experience that will be hosted both Online and Offline. Some of the topics that will be covered in these sessions include.
• Mindmapping
• Design Thinking
• How to write a proposal?
• Public Speaking
• Effectively Presenting your ideas

These sessions will be a combination of zoom meetings and hands-on training activities using Miro boards and other tools. These sessions will also be hosted offline if there are participants for the same.

• Startup Idea Festival – a competitive yet collaborative festival.
• Conducting competitive events brings up the spirit of the startups and also boosts their confidence. Raising a positive competitive spirit is very essential among the startup community and this would be the best way to ensure that the quality of ideas is taken up a notch.
• The competition will be held cohort-wise for startups that have participated in all the above programs in SPROUT.
• We intend to run 3 cohorts (1 month each)

The intended schedule to the KONMA SPROUT events is attached as an image.

The proposal is structured in such a way to map the steps taken by the target audience and the following KPI can be measured to ensure the alignment with the proposal brief:

• Total number of participants for the workshop.
• Total number of turnout ratio to audience reached using targeted campaigns on the socials media platforms.
• Total number or members joining "Sprout tribe"
• The total number of proposals submitted in Project Catalyst Fund 9, will be the preliminary 1st cohort of the SPROUT program. The effectiveness of the program will be evident in Fund 10.

CHALLENGES

Lack of awareness and inhibitions about decentralized finance and fund raising.

MITIGATION STARTEGY

The idea of structing the SPROUT program as a month long initiative is to clarify all inhibitions and questions related to decentralized finance and fundraising.

[FEASIBILITY]

ROADMAP

APRIL 4th WEEK 2022

• Marketing KONMA SPROUT program on various social media platforms mentioned above.

MAY 1st WEEK 2022

• Events hosting in Clubhouse, Spaces.
• Hosting workshop on "Decentralized Fund Raising"
• Onboarding to "KONMA SPROUT" tribe on Konmahood

MAY 2nd WEEK 2022

• Mentoring programs spread across the week on topics mentioned above.
• Introduction to the "Idea Showcase Festival"

MAY 3rd WEEK 2022

• Hands-on training sessions

MAY 4th WEEK 2022

• Week long "Idea Showcase Festival"

MAY 5th WEEK 2022

• 1st Cohort of KONMA SPROUT participants proposal in Project Catalyst Fund 9

Same process repeats for JUNE and JULY 2022.

TOTAL BUDGET : $ 24900

• Targeted Marketing Budget (3 months)

$ 2000 x 3 = $ 6000

• Content Creation for event posters and creatives - $ 1500
• Idea Showcase Festival Rewards (3 Cohorts)

$ 3000 x 3 = $ 9000

• Program Planning & Management Team
• Session Moderators - 1 session a week for 3 months

(Clubhouse & Spaces) - $50/hour x 12 weeks x 2 moderators = $ 1200

• Workshop Host - 1 session a month for 3 months - $ 100/ session x 3 months = $ 300
• Hands-on training Session Moderator - 3 workshop sessions/week for 3 months

$500/ 3 sessions in a week x 3 months = $ 1500

• Event Planning & Management - KONMA SPROUT Idea Showcase Festival
• Event Hosts (6 people - 1 main host and 5 category host) - $ 300 x 3 events x 6 hosts = $5400

*Advitha Ashok, Co-Founder, Head of Operations, Konma

Clinical Nutritionist turned entrepreneur, Blockchain Enthusiast, Content Creator, No-code tool developer

Regional Languages: Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil

https://www.linkedin.com/in/advitha-ashok-178394122/

*Sathya Vijayan, Head of Konma Flair

Computer Application graduate with 10 years experience in Logistic Supplychain, Train the Trainer, SAP MM Consultant

Regional Languages: Tamil, Kannada, Marathi

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathya-vijayan-4858a6aa/

*Rakesh Raveendra, Head of Konma Upskill

3+ years of experience in edtech, 18+ years of experience in disliked traditional education, and 5+ years of passion towards developing a right stream/mode of education for learners across the globe.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakeshraveendra/

*Raj Rathaur, Community Manager Intern

Co-Founder at MADADGAAR FOUNDATION, Computer application student, Community Management

https://www.linkedin.com/in/soulpickr/

*Preethi Prince Mary, Community Relationship Manager, Konma

Commerce with Computer application graduate, Community Management

https://www.linkedin.com/in/preethi-prince-mary-b9a994217/

*Siddharth Muralidhar , Marketing, Konma Global

https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharth-muralidhar-62a094218/

*Diya Naidu, Marketing, Konma Inc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/diyanaidu25/

[AUDITABILITY]

• Weekly campaign reports
• Workshop participant reports
• Feedback report
• Session report
• Final Project Catalyst Participants cohort-wise report

Success according to us is active participants from India proposing in the upcoming Funds by Project Catalyst and bringing in quality proposals that can add value to the Cardano ecosystem from Indian startups.

This is a new proposal and has not been proposed in the previous funding.

SDG Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

SDG subgoals:

17.3 Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources

17.7 Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

17.5.1 Number of countries that adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including the least developed countries

17.7.1 Total amount of funding for developing countries to promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies

#proposertoolsdg