Hand in Hand Academy for Social Entrepreneurship is an institution that provides a learning platform to aspiring entrepreneurs in the development sector. It was set up by Hand In Hand India to invest its decades of experience in the social development sector, and create a community of social entrepreneurs and development specialists. Beneficiaries of the Academy will have the advantage of not just learning theory but are also exposed practically to Hand In Hand India’s million plus micro-businesses.

Hand in Hand Academy is situated in a rural set up, striving to be a bridge between the Industry and Academia, Micro entrepreneurs and Market, R&D ecosystem to Entrepreneurship ecosystem. Being true to its role, Hand in Hand Academy has been actively engeged in activities viz.,:

• Entrepreneurship Development, Facilitating Handholding support to Entrepreneurs through Market Development, Technology Support, Fund Raising and Busines Mentoring
• Technology Development and Technology Dissemination
• Skill Development and Facilitating Job Placements
• Conduct of Practical Learning initiatives for Government School Children of rural areas through Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) training

Hand in Hand Academy is present in Kaliyanoor, Kanchipuram with an ambient campus of 20,000 square feet area, well equipped with 7 classrooms, 1 Computer Lab, 300 seater Auditorium, Amphitheater and Canteen facilities.

Skill Development Initiatives:

Hand in Hand Academy has been conducting skill development training programs on Microfinance Management, Housing Finance Management, Tally Prime course, Full Stack Web Development, Digital Marketing etc. Through its skill training interventions, Hand in Hand Academy has been successful in creating jobs for nearly 600 rural youth every year. One of the major training programs done at Hand in Hand Academy is the Micro Finance Management program in collaboration with M/s Belstar Microfinance Ltd. The participants of this training program get assured placement opportunities at M/s Belstar Microfinance Ltd.

Entrepreneurship Development Initiatives:

Hand in Hand Academy has been conducting a unique Entrepreneurship program for college students  - "Grand Entrepreneurship Challenge Program"

The program is intended to offer practical learning experience about entrepreneurship to college students and at the same time make entrepreneurship aspirational to them. The program will offer several simulation based training inputs to reduce their fear of failure and develop the requisite entrepreneurship competencies through "do and learn" approach. To encourage the young minds towards entrepreneurship journey, the program offers seed funding grant if Rs. 6.5 lakhs. The icing on the cake is that this program also helps them in their job placement prospects by enabling them to develop Intrapreneurial skills which is an essential look out from the present corporate employers

Technology Resource Centre:

In order to facilitate the process of Technology Dissemination with a vision of Creation of New Enterprises, the Academy has established Technology Resource Centre focussing on Greentech, Renewable Energy and Vertical Farming. The beneficiaries are Rural Youth and Women. The centre will showcase range of technologies related to the Focus Areas and support the beneficiaries to start their own enterprises with handholding support related to Market Development, Fund Raising and Business Mentoring

1) Strong network with Communities -

Access to 28 Lakh rural women through 2.7 lakh Self Help Groups (SHG) formed by Hand in Hand India.

35 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO's) being nurtured by Hand in Hand India, with nearly 35,000 Farmers in contact with the organization

2) Sustainable and Long Term Stakeholder Associations - 

 The work culture of Hand in Hand Academy for Social Entrepreneurship is such that once it develops an association with a stakeholder, it will make sure they will never move out of the association. The noted below example proves this point: 

M/s Belstar Microfinace Limited - M/s Belstar Microfinance is one of the leading microfinance companies in India, with a turnover of Rs.5000 crores (as on September 2022), with its presence in 18 states in India. Hand in Hand Academy has been successfully taking care of training requirements of M/s Belstar Microfinance since 2016. The new recruits of M/s Belstar will invariably get their Induction Training at Hand in Hand Academy.

One of the flagship programs of Hand in Hand Academy is Certificate Program in Microfinance Management (CPMM) which is supported by M/s Belstar Microfinance. The candidates traned in this program are guaranteed of their entry level jobs at M/s Belstart Microfinance.

Campus to Corporate program is a new program launched by M/s Belstart Microfinance, wherein campus interviews are conducted at MBA colleges. The recruited candidates are trained at Hand in Hand Academy for Social Entrepreneurship before assigning them their job roles.

3) Well Experienced and Dedicated Management Team

The management team of Hand in Hand Academy have rich experience and are from different fields.

Dr.Joe who is heading the Academy at this moment has more than 15 years experience in the Development Sector. He has handled projects related to Village Upliftment Models, Watershed Development projects, Livelihood Development projects, Promoting Organic Farming etc. 

Mr.Chandrasekar, Director of Academy has been a Chartered Accountant, been on the Board of many big organizations. Had been Executive Director of M/s Belstart Microfinance

The management team have great levels of empathy and are passionate to serve the rural community.

4) Unique Models for Development Initiatives

Hand in Hand Academy has always believed in implementing unique models for Development Initiatives. The activities taken up by Hand in Hnad Academy has been "out of the box" and are replicable.

For example, Grand Entrepreneurship Challenge program is a unique initiative started by Hand in Hand Academy which intends to train college students in Entrepreneurship with seed funding support. The students are given classroom training for stipulated number of days and after that they have to launch their own business and manage it for 6 months. Based on their performance, good performing students are selected and are given seed funding and cash rewards worth Rs.6.5 Lakhs.

The Skill Development programs conducted at Academy are unique and novel compared to most of other NGO's. Courses related to Fullstack Web Development, Digital Marketing etc are being conducted with assured placement facilities.

5) Staff with well defined roles

The roles and responsibilities of the Academy staff is clear and well defined. There is a dedicated team for promotion and mobilization, a dedicated team of faculties, a seperate Admin staff etc.

Corporates have a clear advantage in partnering with Hand in Hand Academy which is not the case with other NGO's viz.,:

• Unique and Sustainable Development Models in correlation with important SDG's and targetting key beneficiary segments such as rural youth and women, small & marginal farmers, Children etc
• Expert Professionals and Facilities for promoting Startups, Innovation, Rural Entrepreneurship, Micro Enterprises, R&D activities, New Product Development and Startup Incubation activities
• Need based Development Initiatives based on professional scoping / surveys conducted relevant to ground realities
• Professional and Committed implementation models which are realistic and strongly adhering to timelines
• Outcome based Development Initiatives with efficient and genuine results which bring about notable changes in the beneficiaries' lives such as raise in income levels, creation of livelihood, job creation, climate mitigation, capacity development etc.
• High proficiency in maitaining proper compliance and documentation
• Very committed and well experienced Management team
• Highly efficient Implementation Team who are passionate to wotk for Community Development activities