Vineet Rai, CEO, Aavishkaar Social Venture Fund
Vineet Rai, CEO of Aavishkaar, a social venture fund, is one of the pioneers in social venture funding in the world. At the age of 26, he became the CEO of the company and has since helped hundreds of people successfully convert their ideas into businesses. It all started when a person went to him with an idea saying that he required Rs 10,000 to start the business.
As venture funds only funded ideas that had a potential of minimum Rs 10 crore, Rai had to refuse. Banks, too, refused loan to that person. “At that point, I realised that there were lots of ideas which could be converted into businesses by investing something as small as Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, but no one was willing to fund them,” he says. He decided to fill this gap and launched Aavishkaar Social Venture Fund in Mumbai in 2001.
In eight years, the fund value has reached $35 million. The company has won several awards. Now, mainstream investors have started showing interest in the company. Running a social venture fund has not limited his aspirations. “I want to earn, but the fun of doing it with a social objective is great,” says Rai.
