Breaking Barriers, Building Futures: Dolphin Tanki by Salaam Bombay Foundation Continues to Empower Budding Entrepreneurs from Resource-Challenged Backgrounds

                    

Breaking Barriers, Building Futures: Dolphin Tanki by Salaam Bombay Foundation Continues to Empower Budding Entrepreneurs from Resource-Challenged Backgrounds

                

Salaam Bombay Foundation (SBF), a non-profit organisation empowering resource-challenged adolescents, in collaboration with the School of Business Management at NMIMS, is proud to announce the third edition of 'Dolphin Tanki' - the flagship platform of the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Incubator for Grassroots Adolescents. Dolphin Tanki is a part of Salaam Bombay Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Incubator and these programmes have been recognised as a youth centric solution by Yuwaah India at Unicef and 10to19 Dasra Adolescents Collaborative as part of their Joint Call For Solutions Initiative. Slated to take place on 16^th March 2024 in Mumbai, the third edition of Dolphin Tanki will showcase a new cohort of resource-challenged budding entrepreneurs with incisive business ideas across sectors including Beauty & Wellness, Bakery & Confectionary, Electrical and Electronics Appliance Repair, Photography, Choreography and Fitness. These aspiring entrepreneurs have been mentored by students of SBM, NMIMS, via the ‘We Care – Civic Engagement Internship’ program ensuring a collaborative learning experience that promises to transcend boundaries.

Till date, over 150 adolescent entrepreneurs have been nurtured via the Entrepreneurship Incubator since its launch in July 2021. Trained beneficiaries (SBF’s vocational skill development programme) showcasing a potential to earn are selected for the Incubator. As first steps, they are nurtured, groomed, mentored (by industry experts, established entrepreneurs), and taught business acumen. They are also introduced to critical strategies like digital marketing and digital payments. As and when these entrepreneurs are ready to scale their businesses they are mentored and groomed by students from the School of Business Management, NMIMS via the ‘We Care – Civic Engagement Internship’ program. The entrepreneurs are then ready to pitch at Dolphin Tanki. Post winning, the entrepreneurs continue to receive handholding guidance and support from SBF.

Commenting on the event, Mr. Gaurav Arora, Chief Growth Officer and Sr. VP, Salaam Bombay Foundation, said, “At Salaam Bombay Foundation, we believe in nurturing every dream, ensuring that no aspiration goes unnoticed. By catering to the entrepreneurial needs of adolescents aged 16-20, we bridge the gap often overlooked by the larger entrepreneurship ecosystem. Initiatives like 'Dolphin Tanki' are transformative, empowering young entrepreneurs like Pooja Gupta aged 18 from Bhandup. Through this program, she secured INR 40,000 in funding support, enabling her to establish her makeup and hair artist venture in 2019, and dreams to open her own Make-Up studio. By investing in the entrepreneurial potential of young people, we believe in creating a better future, as our programs exemplify the power of youth to drive positive social change.” 

Dr. Meena Galliara, Director, Jasani Center for Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainability Management, SBM, NMIMS said, “Dolphin Tanki is an event that celebrates innovation and provides opportunity for budding entrepreneurs between 16 to 20 years from resource-poor communities to set up their business. With ingenuity and the right support, these startups can become the engines of progress, lifting themselves and their communities. The event is a step towards developing inclusion in the Startup India movement”.

 About Salaam Bombay Foundation:

Salaam Bombay Foundation started in 2002 to work with 12- to 18-year-old adolescent children growing up in Mumbai’s slums. These children live in extreme poverty and in “at risk” environments. The municipal schools they go to do not have the resources to give them individual attention, career guidance or access to activities that stimulate the mind.

 

Many are undernourished and face the risk of substance abuse. They come from financially challenged homes and are pressured to drop out of secondary school and seek jobs to support their families. Given these ground realities, Salaam Bombay Foundation has harnessed the ability of child- friendly, innovative education tools to develop life skills and coping skills necessary to ensure that these adolescents develop into well rounded personalities, able to meet the challenges they face and take on leadership roles within their communities.

 

The Foundation keeps children in school by empowering them to make the right choices about their health, education and livelihood thereby ensuring that they can thrive with a bright future. In-school leadership and advocacy programmes equip "at-risk" adolescents with the life skills they need to lead change. The Sports, Arts and Media academies encourage them to express themselves and provide performance opportunities that build self-esteem. The skills@school programme broadens their career horizons and empowers them with vocational skills for sustainable careers.

 

Through its DreamLab initiative, SBF, has provided for a continuum of skills training and market-based internships to youngsters in the age group of 14 and 18 years. Launched in July 2019, DreamLab, has been able to furnish stipend-based internships to hundreds of skills@school alumni across nine job sectors. DreamLab also creates a talent pool of grassroot entrepreneurial adolescents. Salaam Bombay initiatives increase confidence, give vulnerable adolescents the means to earn part-time and stay in school, and provide the tools to explore their full potential.

 

Through the different academies at Salaam Bombay Foundation, we work on the key areas under CSR Schedule VII - Preventive Health, Mental Wellbeing, Vocational Skills, Sports, Arts, and Media for the underprivileged adolescent from urban slums of India.

 

For more information, please visit www.salaambombay.org