Mallikarjuna Iytha

Co-founder

Co-founder of Inclusive Divyangjan Entrepreneur Association (IDEA)

Mallikarjuna Iytha is the co-founder of Inclusive Divyangjan Entrepreneur Association (IDEA)[1], an Indian non-profit working on disability and livelihood from New Delhi.

Mallikarjuna Iytha is an Indian social entrepreneur and the founder and chief executive of the Inclusive Divyangjan Entrepreneur Association (IDEA), a New Delhi based charitable organisation that builds livelihood and entrepreneurship opportunities for persons with disabilities.

IDEA supports entrepreneurs with disabilities from the idea stage through to growing an enterprise, and has set itself the target of incubating 5,000 nano-entrepreneurs and enabling 10,000 jobs by 2028.

Career

Iytha has worked in fair trade and the development sector for more than two decades. He served as executive director of the Fair Trade Forum - India, and later as its president. In 2012 he was associated with the founding of Believe India, a social enterprise development platform that works with enterprises, micro, small and medium businesses, producer groups and development organisations to build inclusive livelihoods.

He went on to found IDEA, where he is chief executive; the organisation is chaired by Lt Gen S. M. Mehta and co-founded with Dr Sanjaya Pradhan. IDEA runs programmes including Sugamya Delhi Abhiyan, the NAMo Sugamya Yatra and Campus Connect, and an online store selling products made by the entrepreneurs it supports. For 2024-25 the organisation reported supporting more than 1,999 entrepreneurs, of whom around 40 per cent were first-time business owners.[2][3][4][5]

Inclusive Divyangjan Entrepreneur Association (IDEA)

Formed in 2019, IDEA runs an incubation programme for entrepreneurs with disabilities and a job-matching portal, Divyangjan India, connecting employers with disabled job seekers. It has been recognised as a portfolio organisation of The/Nudge Institute's incubation network.

Inclusive Divyangjan Entrepreneur Association (IDEA) reports the following, on its own site: