BASES Social eChallenge - Brij Kothari

Brij Kothari was a 2003-2004 RDVP Fellow, and a winner of last year's BASES Social E-Challenge. He spoke a bit about his project interactive books presented online with the text presented Karaoke style as the words were read aloud. The stories are translated into many languages (text and speech) while the expensive parts of the production (original story and graphic work) are shared across all languages. Delivery can either be done via download, DVD's, or television. The project is ongoing, with seed funding from the Social eChallenge prize money, some support from HP, as well as self-funding from the team. They aim to produced 20 books in five or six languages before seeking a distributor.

Brij also talked about the mechanics of the eChallenge itself, the benefits of the structured deadlines, the injection of enthusiasm from student team members, and the prestige of being associated with a successful project. Although the details were a bit hazy, it sounded like there were 3 rounds:

1. 40 teams submitted an executive summary
   
2. 16 teams submitted a full business plan and made an 8 minute investor pitch
   
3. 6 teams were singled out as finalists, with a second round of judging a month later
   
4. 3 winners were identified, given networking opportunities with VC's and legal professionals
   

The judging criteria that Brij mentioned were:

1. Social return on investment (primary)
   
2. Financial return on investment (secondary)
   
3. Team balance