To mark International Youth Day, the Government of Karnataka and Karnataka Skill Development Council (KSDC), in partnership with the UNDP India and SAP Labs India, awarded 15 young entrepreneurs with seed money to scale their start-ups.

The seed money distribution was a part of the culmination of the Youth Innovation Challenge launched earlier this year. Over 3,000 youth applied to the call for applications. In July, five winners were selected from each district after rigorous selection rounds by a panel of judges from industry sectors, investors, academia, and district-level government officials. The 15 winners were selected based on their performance in UNDP’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme and the merit of their business pitch. On August 12, 2022, they received seed money of up to Rs 1 lakh each, along with mentorship and handholding support for six months from implementing partners.

The winning start-ups address a wide array of solutions from agriculture to nutrition to mobility which is critical to realising the Sustainable Development Goals in a post-COVID world. These include — a solar energy-run bicycle, an affordable eggshell-based nutrition option to tackle protein deficiency, an app that helps detect crop disease and treatment, and an eco-friendly face mask — confronting several modern-day challenges.