In 2005, ISB was assigned the responsibility of evangelising the GSVC competition in India, arranging mentor support for participating teams, and identifying the best plans originating from India for entry to the global semi-final round.

The India semi-final round of the GSVC was held on Saturday, February 5, 2005. ISB’s efforts at promoting the competition were so successful that one fourth of the entries for the competition worldwide were from India. Mentor support was arranged for teams requesting such support. In addition, teams could avail online guidance from the ISB and GSVC teams. As a special gesture, an ISB team travelled to three cities from where a majority of the plans originated to guide teams in fine-tuning their plans.

28 teams from 17 Indian institutions submitted final entries with a complete business plan for the venture they proposed to create and competed for a place in the global semi-final against 100 other plans received by GSVC globally. The plans received addressed a variety of problems and had the potential of making enormous social impact. These included career counselling services for rural youth, senior citizen homes with orphanages, a portable device to help blind to read, and a co-operative contract farming initiative.

The India round of the competition involved:

• Initial evaluation of each plan by a team comprising two ISB students and two external experts with significant experience in the social sector. Seven different teams evaluated the 28 plans received. Plans were assessed on their clarity, viability and social impact.
• Brief presentation by each initial evaluation team on the plans evaluated to the final judging panel.
• Deliberations and finalisation of teams to compete in the global semi-final round by the final judging panel.

After extended discussions, the final judging panel recommended nine teams for a place in the global semi-final round. Nine finalists were selected to compete under different categories at Haas Business School, Berkeley in April 2005.