Application Process Cycle

MA will solicit applications and select award recipients through the following process:

1. Call for Applications :

A public competitive solicitation will be issued inviting innovators from the for-profit and non-profit sectors to apply for support through the MA. The solicitation will describe the Program’s goals and sectors of focus, along with detailed application instructions, requirements, timelines, selection procedures, award criteria, and other relevant information. All applicants are encouraged to thoroughly read through the solicitation document before filling in the form.

Applications will be invited from across India by way of advertising in leading daily newspapers, magazines, web portals and conducting extensive pan – India roadshows in Tier I, II, III and IV cities to identify, test and scale innovations from across the country primarily in the following sectors –

• Education
• Water and sanitation
• Health
• Agriculture / food Security
• Clean energy / Climate change
• Others

These roadshows will involve executing innovative strategies to capture the best innovations in these sectors across the linguistic and cultural diversity that exist across the country. Interested innovators will be invited to apply to participate in the program.

Interested applicants must first submit an application Form. All Application Form submissions must be made through an online application form provided at www.millenniumalliace.in. As requested in the Application Form, applicants should describe the purpose of the project, summarize the project’s goals, innovation, sustainability, additionality etc and include financial information for the project among other criteria in the application Form. Attachments to the Application Form will not be reviewed. If MA finds the project proposed in the Application Form to be responsive to the selection criteria, then the applicant will be invited for a pitch session. An invitation for Pitch in does not constitute intent to award.

Note:
Page limits beyond the specified limits listed on the Full Application may not be considered. Citations should be provided whenever possible, and assumptions used to generate estimates should be clearly explained. MA bears no responsibility for data errors or omissions. MA may accept applications past the deadline due to transmission difficulties that are not the fault of, or within the control of, the applicant with the approval MA founding partners. MA is not responsible for any costs incurred in preparing the Application Form or otherwise participating in the MA competition for funding.

2. Application Screening by MA :

Sectoral Evaluation Committees will be established to (comprising of experts the) screen all applications within a particular sector. FICCI will identify a Committee Chairperson for each Evaluation Committee, who will manage the virtual and in-person evaluation process of the Application Forms.

3. Evaluation & Brainstorming by sectoral committee :

The same evaluation committee with a Chairperson will convene and moderate a review session with all committee members and coordinate a fair and consistent review process. Each committee member will independently read every application and score them against the MA evaluation criteria, providing narrative on the strengths and weaknesses of each application to justify their scoring. All members will be expected to participate in person in a closed review session coordinated by FICCI. After independent review/scoring, the Chairperson will convene an evaluation committee meeting during which members will reach a consensus on a final score and rank applications. Each evaluation committee will provide FICCI with their rank order of applications that they recommend for funding. Recommendation by the Evaluation Committee does not necessarily and automatically qualify an applicant for the MA Awards. The Awards will be based on the due diligence conducted and the recommendations of the MA Apex Committee.

Note:
The composition of the evaluation committee may vary depending on the sectoral focus. The evaluation committee would comprise of:

Chair – FICCI (FICCI to nominate a Chair for each sector – should preferably be a sectoral expert picked from FICCI sectoral committees)

• One sector specific technical expert
• One representative of investor community
• One representative from a relevant social fund

4. Pitching by the shortlisted projects :

FICCI shall call for the pitching session of the shortlisted applicants as decided by each sectoral committee, the applicants shall be given an opportunity to present their project to the selection board comprising of the MA Strategic Adviosry Board, MA Partners as well as independent External Experts.

5. Due diligence of recommended projects by the Experts :

Based on the Pitching session’s results, a further down selection of applications will take place. For these shortlisted enterprises, a team of experts will undertake an onsite due diligence.

6. MA Partners selects the final awardee :

Post Due diligence the Selection Board shall again meet to decide the final list of awardees.

7. Awards declaration :

The final list of awardees will be published on the MA website.

8. Post Award support :

The awardee would be supported on various fronts – capacity building, Mentoring, Portfolio Management, leveraging from the existing networks and liaison to various organization, GOI and platform and connect for expansion to south south countries.