Sandbox: Helping New Businesses to Scale in Proximate Regions

The Sandbox ecosystem works as an enabler for new ideas, and extends support to aspiring entrepreneurs to incubate, test, and launch new ideas. The role of the Sandbox is as an enabler and incubator of high potential businesses.

Some of the Sandbox programs, such as the Grantmaking and Partnerships Program, also function as launchpads supporting established enterprises to scale within the Sandbox region. The program has pre-determined criteria to qualify for Sandbox support and one such criterion is to assess an enterprise based on whether it aims to replicate the new business idea in Karnataka.

In their growth, the beneficiaries of the Grantmaking Program demonstrate that the Sandbox objective of engaging with enterprises drive them to expand in the communities nearby.

Take the example of Chipper Sage, a business that offers learning solutions to enable children to comprehend and learn better. With the support of the Hubli Sandbox, Bangalore-based Chipper Sage ran its successful pilot in Hubballi, and established its presence in 15 government schools. Another instance is Manuvikasa, which offers solutions for harvesting rainwater for communities that face acute water shortage. In 2011, the company approached the Sandbox for a seed grant and mentoring to support its farm pond program. The team of the Sandbox intervened, to raise Manuvikasa as a community-driven model that thrived in regions of North Karnataka such as Sirsi and Siddapur.

Similarly, BAIF Development Research Fund brought and established its Wadi concept to Sandbox regions such as Haveri and Gadag. This was after the Wadi model of cultivation was already successful among farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Other partners of the Sandbox, such as Agastya Foundation India and Save A Mother also expanded reach in North Karnataka regions with the help of the Sandbox in Hubballi.

Interestingly, the Grantmaking and Partnerships Program was conceived as a strategy of the Hubli-Sandbox to lure nonprofits from across India and the globe to work in the Hubli-Dharwad region and benefit the communities there.