NEW YORK: Four Indians are among the winners of a Harvard Business School competition that awards prizes worth over $300,000 to new and innovative business and social impact start-ups conceptualised by the US institution's students and alumni.

Harvard MBA student Amrita Siagal won the grand prize in the 'Social Enterprise' category at the 18th Harvard Business School New Venture Competition for her venture 'Saathi', which she cofounded with Oracle engineer Kristin Kagetsu.

Saathi provides affordable sanitary pads made from waste banana tree fibre to women in rural India.

Siagal and Kagetsu, who both hold mechanical engineering degrees from MIT, received a $50,000 prize at the competition, which supports both students and alumni launching new business and social impact ventures inspired by "belief that one simple idea can change everything".

Saathi also got the audience choice award through an electronic crowd vote.

The winner in the business track category was the start-up 'Alfred', being launched by Saurabh Mahajan, Marcela Sapone and Jess Beck.

Alfred is a concierge service individuals can use for their daily and weekly tasks, including dry cleaning, house cleaning, groceries, laundry, and more.

The Alfred team also won $50,000.

The runner-up in the social enterprise track was 'Tomato Jos' founded by MBA students Mira Mehta and Mike Lawrence.

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