Stanford Seed, a Stanford University initiative led by the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), has completed the first week of the Seed Transformation Program in Chennai, India. This inaugural cohort is comprised of 45 high-potential Indian business owners from across the country.  Over the past five years, Stanford Seed has provided training to more than 500 business leaders, resulting in 79 percent of business owners increasing their customer base and 62 percent showing increased revenue.

Stanford Seed’s mission is to empower business owners in developing and emerging economies to lead their regions to greater prosperity. The Seed Transformation Program is a year-long, immersive leadership program targeted at the founders and leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises. With its new centre in Chennai, the program will train Indian business owners across a variety of industries on how to scale their companies, thereby creating new jobs, products, and services which will positively impact society. The high-touch program brings Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty to India to deliver in-class sessions, while Seed staff on the ground provide training and mentorship within the participant’s company.

Speaking about Stanford Seed’s new initiative in India, Jonathan Levin, the Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business said, “We selected India because of the high number of promising entrepreneurs with exciting businesses, and the potential for our Seed Transformation Program to support these businesses in their expansion. We see a significant opportunity to have a positive impact in the region by empowering and enabling business leaders who are focused on lifting India to greater prosperity.”

Jonathan Levin, Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Jesper Sorensen, the Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Professor of Organizational Behavior at the GSB and faculty director of Seed, said, “While the Seed Transformation Program is new in India, the success in East and West Africa have been very impressive. The inaugural India cohort of company leaders is exceptionally impressive, and the diverse industries represented promise to drive transformation for the businesses and the region.”

Even before the Seed initiative, Stanford GSB has been helping promising entrepreneurs from India and Africa transform local businesses and impact global markets for over a decade. This  year marks the fifth anniversary of the Africa MBA Fellowship and the eighth anniversary of the Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship, both of which offer financial assistance to outstanding international students to earn an MBA from Stanford GSB.