C3 Social Impact Accelerator 2020

Where the brightest minds make the biggest sparks

Overview

The C3 Social Impact Accelerator programme addresses key milestones in the journey of a social entrepreneur and focuses primarily on helping entrepreneurs maximize their social and environmental impact on the community. HSBC is proud to partner with C3, as part of our commitment to support the communities and foster entrepreneurs in the region.

This year, we received more than 600 applications from over 8 countries; 163 shortlisted by Bain & Co, HSBC and C3 experts. We are proud to be working with business lines to bring our investor community to the judging days and final exhibition and collaborating with marketing and communications to elevate our commitments internally and externally.

We’ve seen a 700+ % increase in applications across eight markets, up from four, for our second year of the programme - a testament to growing needs of social entrepreneurs

Sabrin Rahman | Head of Corporate Sustainability MENAT at HSBC

For the final Accelerator programme, C3 & HSBC have selected 24 exciting companies from diverse sectors such as education, healthcare, renewables and retail contributing seven UN Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Responsible Consumption and Production,
  • Quality Education,
  • Decent Work and Economic Growth,
  • Good Health and Well Being,
  • Zero Hunger,
  • Climate Action and
  • Partnerships for the Goals

Our support never stops

We have adapted our Accelerator to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Our 24 finalists will now participate in a three-month virtual programme spanning from June to August 2020.

The programme includes interactive workshops, connections with impact investors and venture capitalists, as well as support from social impact practitioners and senior experts to help social enterprises achieve key milestones to support their growth by:

  • Learning key business fundamentals to be investor-ready
  • Access to one-on-one mentorship
  • Guidance on re-defining and stress-testing the business model
  • Building a mission-driven and experienced team
  • Enhancing solid governance structures
  • Crafting a social theory of change and a strategic approach to social impact measurement
  • Readying for the pitch

The Accelerator programme

A peek of our finalists

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