Jamshedpur, Dec. 23: To make people aware about social entrepreneurship, XLRI has planned a national conference.

The Social Entrepreneurship Trust and Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (Sigma) of XLRI will arrange the conclave on social entrepreneurship on January 31 and February 1 next year.

The theme of the conference would be “providing access for sustainable devel- opment” while its purpose is to showcase innovative social entrepreneurship ventures by individual entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporate executives and government agencies.

It will also provide a common platform for sharing of experiences, issues and concerns of the social sector.

About 150 development sector professionals would attend the conference.

It will be the first-of- its-kind for XLRI. The con- ference will be organised in association with Ashoka, a global association of soc- ial entrepreneurs, and IndianNGOs.com, a portal on social and developmental of India.

“The conference is part of the diamond jubilee cele- brations of the B-school. We wanted to give a distinct identity to the social concerns, so we thought of coming up with this conference.

“There are resources but they can’t reach the grassroots and that is a cause of concern,” said Madhukar Shukla, the professor of organisational behaviour and chairperson of Social Entrepreneurship Trust at XLRI.

The conference has been designed around six sessions over two days, each highlighting the problem of “accessing the resources”.

Experts would talk on access to credit and financial services, access to education, access to healthcare and hygiene, access to livelihood opportunities, access to market and rural access to societal resources.

Each session will have three speakers who will share their views and provide solutions.

The conference will also have a social entrepreneurship workshop, a performance by Blind Opera and competitions for students interested in social entrepreneurship.