The Aashayein Foundation, founded by Siddharth Rajhans, has launched a new take on CSR by making financial accessibility for higher education possible for high school children. Launched this July’24, it is backed by CSR funding in collaboration with VC networks. Through innovative initiatives and strategic partnerships, the foundation is creating a platform for knowledge exchange, fostering research, and empowering academic institutions.
Launched in 2016, the foundation launched a new project on Monday, 1st of July’24 called “Abhilasha”, to promote children from economically marginalised segments of the society in academic disciplines.
“The idea is to help children from classes 9th to 12th with funding for higher education”, Siddharth sir mentions.
Students who are doing bright academically can reach out and depending on their family’s annual income, the foundation will help them with impact-oriented funding via VC networks under CSR.
“We are happy to launch this arm and we aim to create an environment of higher learning within our local community”, he adds.
The Foundation has been working to promote collaboration between academic institutions in India and their counterparts across the world. This can involve faculty exchange programs, joint research projects, and student exchange initiatives. These collaborations allow for the cross-pollination of ideas, the sharing of best practices,and the development of innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Siddharth Rajhans adds, “However one major pain point was that many talented students had to give up on their higher education dreams because of lack of funding”. Today the entrepreneurial landscape of India has built very collaborative and helpful Venture Capital institutions.
Many of these investors believe in funding the “bus driver” and not the “bus”.
“Thus we felt that if we could organize this sector and make grants available in our country like the university-endowment system of the US, we can have a great progress in higher education and research”, the foundation emphasizes.
His partner adds “The foundation also works closely with industry partners to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This collaboration ensures that academic research is relevant to industry needs and that graduates are equipped with the skills and knowledge required for a successful career.”
We aspire to bring societal transformations through innovations across six sectors – Satellite powered internet, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality, Machine Learning/Deep Learning, Big Data & Data Analytics & Predictive Analysis.
The launch saw prominent dignitaries from Industry, academic and government grace the occasion. They all lauded that this will transform the funding crunch in academic sectors and research.
