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HP Future Impact Leaders

IICA Certified Environmental - Social - Governance (ESG) Professional Programme

Exclusively for MSME Professionals | Register before 25 August 2026

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PREFERENCES (Applicable to Pan-India)
10% North Eastern Region of India (MSME Professionals) 30% Women in MSME Leadership role 60% MSME Professionals





Programme Overview

GENESIS

Businesses have realized that ESG is no longer a mere alternative but an imperative to be embedded into Corporate Strategy. ESG has emerged as a driving force for building resilient strategies that can future-proof the businesses and the first steps that the corporate leaders can take to prepare for this monumental paradigm shift is to recognize & understand the entire philosophy and principles of ESG.

The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has joined hands with HP India to introduce "HP Future Impact Leaders - IICA Certified Environmental – Social - Governance (ESG) Professional Program." This initiative aims to promote sustainability and empower corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals to emerge as leaders in navigating the intricacies of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks.

Under this program, HP India partnered with IICA, will offer 100 percent scholarships to 75 candidates, enabling them to pursue advanced education in ESG without financial barriers. The initiative underscores a shared commitment to fostering sustainable business practices and driving positive societal impact.

ESG – KEY TO SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES

“Every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net zero world. The question is, will you lead, or will you be led?”

Larry Fink

Chairman & CEO, Black Rock

It is necessary to put company’s purpose at the core of its relationship with all its stakeholders and once the stakeholders synchronize with the organization’s purpose, they become the staunchest of the advocates causing the creation of long-term value and sustainable business. Hence, it has become necessary for the “Impact leaders” to have a clear vision of the organization’s purpose, a coherent resilient strategy and a long-term view towards value creation.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

The Certified ESG Professional: Impact Leader programme is designed as a comprehensive course on ESG giving a holistic understanding of the philosophy of ESG, its principles, its relevance and its implication in the current scenario. IICA’s Certified ESG Professional Programme is a step towards fortifying the businesses’ efforts to achieve the vision of ‘Purpose before Profit’. The Six-Month course comprising of 8 Self paced learning modules will be delivered online. Renowned ESG professionals of International & National repute are involved in delivering the live interactive Master classes. There will be one In-person Session where participants will get the chance to meet their fellow participants.

TARGET AUDIENCE

  1. Professional either working in business and human rights (BHR), ESG, environmental health and safety (EHS), sustainability, and CSR

KEY LEARNINGS

  1. Understand the Global ESG Landscape
  2. Indentifying ESG Risk & Opportunities
  3. Indentify and layout the materiality aspects of ESG.
  4. Managing all ESG aspects in an organization - turning theory into actions.
  5. Reporting and implementing the trio – ESG.
  6. Integrating ESG Best Practices into core operations – creating ESG sensitive culture.
  7. Build resilient ESG Strategies

IICA ADVANTAGE

  1. Up skill and gain a competitive edge in your profession.
  2. Gain advanced expertise to be change agents
  3. Get professional recognition by an institute of prominence
  4. Learn from the stalwarts with domain expertise
  5. Be a member of “NAIL – National Association of Impact Leaders”. NAIL is an association of IICA trained and certified ESG Professionals that maintains the database of Members and provides opportunity for continuous professional advancement.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF IMPACT LEADERS (NAIL)

NAIL [National Association of Impact Leaders] is the leading community in INDIA consisting of IICA-trained and certified ESG [Environment, Social and Governance] professionals: Impact Leaders that maintain the database of members and provide interminable Professional Advancement of the members. NAIL provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience and ideas.

    Key Benefits:
  1. Leading ESG and Sustainability Community in India.
  2. ESG Professionals Database
  3. Career Elevation
  4. Knowledge and Experience Escalation
  5. Interminable Professional Advancement.
  6. Networking and Collaboration Platform

COURSE CURRICULUM

Understand the philosophy of ESG, its pillars and the Global ESG landscape

Understand the Environmental issues, Risks, Opportunities, Risk Mitigation and the innovative processes that could be adopted by organizations to be able to move towards sustainability

The Module delves deeper to gain an in depth understanding of the pertinent Social Issues that the businesses should identify and address these issues

Understanding of the Key Governance issues, its impact, the risks and opportunities that it presents and how corporates could leverage these to their benefit through its Governance Risk Management Mechanism

The Module explains the aspects of Materiality and provides guidance to the Corporates to enable them to identify the material ESG issues pertinent and conduct a Materiality assessment for their businesses

The module intends to explain the various ESG Evaluation and Reporting frameworks available, its significance, differences and applicability. The module will also enable practitioners to interpret and analyze ESG reporting/disclosures

The module will enlighten practitioners to enable them to embed sustainable investment strategies throughout their businesses keeping the full spectrum of ESG in consideration. The module will also provide an insight of the various ESG Engagement & Communication Strategies that the organizations could adopt.

The Module will give an insight into real-life case studies and success stories from HP’s journey in the ESG space.

The Module gives a step – wise guidance for Corporates that are embarking on the ESG adoption journey.

Supported by UNICEF




ELIGIBILITY & SELECTION CRITERIA

Eligibility

  1. Certificate of MSME company (URN number) and clarification of role within that company.
  2. Graduate in any discipline
  3. Minimum 5 years work experience in relevant domain
    1. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
    2. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
    3. Business and Human Rights (BHR)
    4. Sustainability
    5. Environmental Health and Safety (EHS)
  4. 3. Commitment for six months dedicated online learning

Selection Criteria

  1. 1. Round 1 Shortlisting based on eligibility criterion and SOP submissions.
  2. 2. Round 2 Selection based on telephonic Interview Rounds.

Selection of the applicants will be based on the recommendations of the IICA evaluation and scrutiny committee.

Application Process




FEE & SCHOLARSHIP

The actual training fee for the entire course is 200,000 INR however, for the candidates shortlisted for this course, same would be supported by HP as part of its CSR program “HP Future Impact Leaders” and would be completely free for the candidate with a nominal NAIL Membership Fees of INR 25,000 (Plus taxes). The details of NAIL Membership fees clause is as follows: -

*  At the time of registration, candidates are required to submit a membership fee of INR 25,000/-.

*  Applicants who do not make it to the final list of 75 delegates will receive a refund of INR 24,500/- (excluding applicable taxes and a processing fee of INR 500/-). The fees will be refunded within 45 to 90 days of the announcement of the final list of selected candidates.

*  For candidates selected in the final list of 75 delegates, the fee of INR 25,000/- is non-refundable, non-transferable, and non-negotiable.

REGISTRATION

Guidelines to apply
  1. Register online by clicking on the provided online registration link to access the application form.
  2. Complete the Application by filling in all required details accurately in the application form.
  3. Answer the questions in the "Statement of Purpose" section within the specified word limit. Please note that there will be negative marking for any instances of plagiarism.
  4. Pay the required fee of INR 25,000 + GST using online payment or net banking.*
  5. After completing the form and processing the payment, click “Submit” to finalise your registration.
  6. Please Note: At the time of registration, candidates are required to submit a membership fee of INR 25,000/-. Applicants who do not make it to the final list of 75 delegates will receive a refund of INR 24,500 (excluding applicable taxes and a processing fee of INR 500) within 45 to 90 days, while for candidates selected in the final list, the fee of INR 25,000 is non-refundable, non-transferable, and non-negotiable. Also, the IICA is not accountable for any service fees charged by the PAY-U platform, as these fees are imposed by PAY-U and not by IICA.



FACULTY

Sh. Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh
Director General & CEO, IICA
Mr. Shankar Venkateswaran
Co-Founder, ECube Investment Advisors
Dr. Mukund Rajan
Chairman, ECube Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd
Dr. Inderjeet Singh
Partner,
Deloitte
Mr. Santosh Jayaraman
Global Head of Sustainability, HCL
Prof. T Raghu
Associate Professor, XLRI, Jamshedpur
Ms. Namita Vikas
Partner, Founder & Managing Director, Auctus ESG LLP
Prof. Cary Kronsinsky
Yale University
Dr. Garima Dadhich
Associate Professor, Head SBE, IICA
Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan
IIM
Bangalore
Dr. Pradeep Panigrahi
Head Corporate Sustainability, Larsen and Toubro
Mr. Anil Swarup
Former Secretary, Government of India
Mr. Bose Verghese
Senior Director ESG, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Dr. Suranjali Tandon
Assistant Professor,
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy
Dr. Ravi Raj Atrey
Chief Programme Executive,
SBE, IICA
Ms. Neha Kumar
Head of South Asia Programmes
Climate Bonds Initiative
Mr. Bharat Wakhlu
Founder and President
The Wakhlu Advisory
(TWA)



Frequently Asked Questions

Enrollment

One can apply for the course by filling up an online application form and making the payment of security deposit. All the applications will be reviewed and successful shortlisted applicants will be informed about their enrollment in the course.

Payment of security deposit can be done online through the link (………………) or through Net banking.

This course is sponsored by HP India as part of its CSR. Only a nominal NAIL Membership fees of INR 25,000 would be charged by IICA while applying for the course (which is non-refundable, non-transferrable, and non-negotiable for the selected candidates, but will be refunded to those who do not get selected for the final list.)

Yes. Candidates, who are not selected for the programme after applying, would be refunded the NAIL Membership feeswithin 45 to 90 days of announcement of final list of selected candidates.

After the final exam of the course, our team will review the participant coursework. Once this review is completed, you will be notified about the completion of the course and the certificate will be then sent through courier to your correspondence address.

No.

The course is primarily designed for MSME companies and professionals working with MSMEs who are looking to strengthen their understanding and implementation of ESG practices.

25 August

Academics

The course has one in-person teaching session that would be organized during the course delivery.

It is a self-paced learning program (with weekly deadlines). The course will be delivered through recorded sessions along with the self learning study material which will be available online.

Live interactive session - the “Masterclass” would be conducted once a week wherein Subject matter experts of International & National repute would be invited to conduct the Masterclass.

The Masterclass will be scheduled during evening of weekdays or over the weekends to make it convenient for the working professionals. In case the Masterclass is to be delivered by an international speaker/faculty, the session may be conducted at any time, subject to the availability of the expert and the time zone.

Yes, there is a provision of one in-person contact teaching session to be organized during the course.

No, but recommendatory

Yes. The course fee includes the food and accommodation charges (twin sharing basis) during the in-person teaching sessions.



Program Director