Nandan Nilekani joins Bill Gates-led philanthropic venture Co-Impact

With an objective to promote and enhance collaborative philanthropy and large-scale social impact, several prominent philanthropists of the world have come together to form a new model called 'Co-Impact', which also has Infosys' Non-Executive Chairman, Nandan Nilekani, on board.

Co-Impact is going to make an investment of $500 million in three crucial areas — health, education, and employment opportunities. The EkStep Foundation, co-founded by Nilekani and his wife Rohini, will serve as Co-Impact’s technical partners. The Nilekanis aim to support several of Co-Impact's programmes with their open knowledge, societal platform assets, and capacity building. According to Scroll, the couple in a joint statement said,

"We support Co-Impact’s visionary efforts of driving large-scale systemic development and are glad to be their technical partner in this endeavour."

The initial partners of Co-Impact at these early stages are going to be Bill and Melinda Gates, businessman Richard Chandler, popular digital entrepreneur Jeff Skoll, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Symphony Technology Group Chairman Romesh Wadhwani and his wife Kathy.

Olivia Leland, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation, is the founder of Co-Impact and will also be its CEO. The Rockefeller Foundation will also provide staff, operating funds, and ongoing strategic support. Olivia Leland told Business Today,

"We believe that collaboration is critical to solving some of the world's most daunting social challenges. Our goal is to build a community where philanthropists can work and learn together along with successful social change leaders to drive extraordinary results. Our hope is that over time, more philanthropists will come together to pool resources and expertise to support great social change approaches and drive results at scale."

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