Tag Archives: Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship is Sexy

On 12 March 2010, we concluded our Annual Startup Showcase Event – HeadStart, this time at Hyderabad. One of the panel discussion topic was “Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship” and we had an amazing panel for this. This blog post is a summary of the discussion.

Members of the Panel were – Ms Lindsay Clinton, Director of Beyond Profit Magazine; Ms Yasmina McCarty, Founder and Director of Green Mango; Ramakrishna NK, Co-Founder and CEO of RangDe; Ramesh V, Founder CEO and Director of Ecomove Solutions Pvt.Ltd and Asgar Ali of Roshan Vikas.

The discussion started with introduction of the Panelists. Ms. Lindsay was gracious to be the moderator of the panel.

Being Indian’s, working for our society is a natural urge and interest, however, the greatness of Lindsay and Yasmina is that they are not Indian’s and choose to live in India to make a difference to the world where it is required. There are many other countries/regions in the world which they could have picked, whatever the reasons are and whatever their choices are, I am really impressed and respect both of them for choosing India for their work. Not only Lindsay and Yasmina, but there are many other not Indian’s (I can use the word ‘foreigner’, but chose not to so that I can use the country’s name) who are living in India and making a difference to the way we live.

Here is a brief of what each of them is working on:

Beyond Profit -Beyond Profit is a Social Entrepreneurship magazine focusing on bringing out stories of Social Enterprises in India and across the globe.

Green Mango – it is a placeholder for all daily jobs. Green Mango focus’s on building a database of prospective employers for Carpentry, Milk Vendors, Catering, Drivers etc. The team of Green Mango drills across the streets to find and give you the best possible service providers. Green Mango is based out of Hyderabad, India.

Ecomove -Ecomove Solutions was started in October 2008, with a motive of providing pick-up-drop services of bicycles for users to use for short journeys. This helps in contributing to reducing environment pollution and also provides opportunity for the user to exercise. Ecomove not only rents bicycles, but also battery operated two-wheelers and four-wheelers. Ecomove is based out of Mumbai, India.

Roshan Vikas – Roshan Vikas works with Women community to provide them the technical and marketing skills to run small artisan businesses to gain income independence.

RangDe -RangDe, based out of Chennai, India primarily focus’s on making micro-credit accessible to every low-income household by lowering the interest rates through innovative measures.

Here is a summary of the discussion, Key Questions and Answers by the Panel and attendees.

What does it take to be a Social Entrepreneur?

The very thought of wanting to be a Social Entrepreneur is quite different and this comes out of seeing people struggling with daily lives. Unlike any other businesses, Social Enterprises are build for long term. These enterprises do not diverge into various businesses, but focus core on one problem and address the solution in as many ways as possible. To be a Social Entrepreneur, one needs to have the determination, commitment and passion. These become the primary attributes for the success of the organization. Social Entrepreneurs come with loads of sacrifices and only the passion will keep the organization going.

Ms. Lindsay says that Social Entrepreneurship is Sexy in the west.

How did families support their decisions be to be Social Entrepreneurs?

For each of the panel members, families have been their biggest source of inspiration and motivation. Each one of them have been earning a good living and having beautiful lives, however, when they choose to do something very different, even though there have been initial apprehensions, each one could achieve what they are doing today.

It is a very big sacrifice for each of them personally to leave a fat paycheck and move on to change the world. You had to be present to see emotions of each of these amazing Social Entrepreneurs; I really do not have words to express what each of them shared from their personal lives.

Why is Social Entrepreneurship not regarded as mainstream entrepreneurship in India?

Various reasons – Societal acceptance, No formal education and no mainstream attention.

Not only Social Entrepreneurship, but also Entrepreneurship itself has not been the mainstream profession in India. There is no coverage of Entrepreneurial / Innovation education in our Education System. Colleges/Universities have laid strong foundation for Engineering and Medical professions but there are no places where Entrepreneurial spirit is encouraged. However, today, we have few universities offering courses on Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship (Ex, Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Ahmedabad).

Acceptance for Entrepreneurship at homes has not been big. Students/wanna be entrepreneurs are not encouraged much due to uneven financial in-flow. India has been a country of middle-income families and in the last 5-10 years, things have been changing. Aspirations to take on big things such as owning house, car and financial security are taking a big seat in everyone’s life. In this situation, Entrepreneurship/Social Entrepreneurship is not regarded as a step for financial success. This is one of the key reasons for not being accepted by Society when you start something on your own to build a future that is quite uncertain.

Also, India is a country where parents fund children till they secure a job and have a steady income. Children are not nurtured to handle life independently. This directly has an impact on how can they manage business or drive their passion without knowing how to handle any situation.

Mainstream and Media attention also adds to the non-societal acceptance. Government does not have encouraging policies for aspiring entrepreneurs. Bureaucracy plays a key role. Instead of encouraging Innovation and Entrepreneurship, roadblocks are created and thereby discouraging aspirations.

How do we define Social Entrepreneurship?

Social Entrepreneurship is a form of Entrepreneurship where your vision and mission is about providing a solution to a societal problem. Social Entrepreneurship is just not about making money, but a bigger aspect of solving a societal problem where a common man is benefited.

Social Entrepreneurship is not always “not-for-profit”. This is one common mis-assumption people have. I covered few aspects of understanding/fundamentals of Social Entrepreneurship earlier at Understanding Social Entrepreneurship.

There are two other very informative questions, which came up in the discussion. However, I am not able to fill in all the information today as I am working on gathering information. Will keep updating the blog as and when I find appropriate answers for these questions along with what has been discussed. If you have any points, please do send them to harinath {at} headstart {dot} in.

What organizations are in India which can help build Social Enterprises?
Are there organizations where I can share my idea and they help realize my dream?

As promised in the event, here is the link to the mailing list on Social Enterprises and Social Entrepreneurship.

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Understanding Social Entrepreneurship

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Last week, I wrote a small article for Pluggd.in. They featured this article as Understanding Social Entrepreneurship and Characteristics of Social Entrepreneur.

For regular readers of my blog, here is the same article…

We use the term “Entrepreneur” for a person who has created something which has a value preposition to the stakeholders in big/small way. Now, I am not going deep into defining Human Entrepreneurship, however, will stick to getting more understanding of “Social Entrepreneurship” over the course of this article.

There are three key “parameters” to the Entrepreneur – Problem, Solution, Value – what I call PSV.

Problem – Every Entrepreneur has identified a problem and wants to provide the most effective and efficient solution to the Problem.

Solution – Is it the most effective and efficient solution to the identified problem is what defines the success of the “Entrepreneur”.

Value – Does the solution create value to its Stakeholders (Self, Investors and End-Users)

Ensuring a “right angled triangle” ensures the success of the Entrepreneur and the Solution. Look at any example from JRD Tata to C.K.Ranganathan (CavinKare). Every person and every organization has brought a great value preposition to their/it’s “entrepreneurial” skills.

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

This topic has been visited by many eminent personalities and I am no authority to define this again. However, let me link you to the well-accepted definition and also few of my analogies.

Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition published by Stanford Social Innovation provides an in-depth understanding of the subject.

In this paper, the author drills down the meaning of Entrepreneurship and quotes quite a few names that go synonymous with the word “Entrepreneur”. Entrepreneurs have existed since the time life came to earth. If you go back to the beginning and the most accepted names of the first life – Adam and Eve are definitely Entrepreneurs. Everything what Adam and Eve did was Entrepreneurial! Eating, Sleeping, giving life, living a life and eventually death. Every thing and every aspect is Entrepreneurial. Each one of us are Entrepreneurs in one way or the other. Then what is different?

The term “social” has been pre-fixed to “Entrepreneurship” long ago. The best and great example of Social Entrepreneur is Mahatma Gandhi. There can be no other best synonymous personality to attach the definition to. What is the difference you see in Mahatma? It is very simple,

Problem – Free India
Solution – Non-Violent fight to ensure that the British Rule ends
Value – Value for Stakeholders and Time

Stakeholders – Citizens, Rulers, Self. In this case, the Investor and End user are the same (Citizens of India).

Time – ~40 Years

Just look at how the problem has been addressed – Gandhiji never retorted to any violent act and always sticked to his principal of non-violence. He “enrolled” his stakeholders (citizens of the country and also the Rulers) to arrive at the solution.

Result – The Rulers went back and the Citizens achieved their freedom. What did Gandhiji get? The satisfaction of the solution to the problem he identified and also setting an example of solving life problems with peace.

This is exactly what Social Entrepreneurship is all about. Here, the entrepreneur identifies a “pain point” and continuously works on providing a solution by refining the solution time and again. This is what happened exactly in the “freedom struggle”. We saw many protests, freedom walk, showing our displeasure with silence etc etc. All these are the parameters and factors where the methodology went through many cycles of refinement before the end result is achieved.

A social Entrepreneur works on the similar aspects. He/She does not mind the time and effort, but works only towards refining the solution to the problem identified.

I would like to touch upon few classic examples and I urge you to research more into how the solutions were derived (the scope of this article would not allow me to go into deep of each of the solutions)

Jaipur Foot, ITC’s e-Choupal, Trichy Police (A classic Example of Social change in a short-span of time) and Dr. Sudharshan of Vivekananda Trust are just few to mention. There are many other eminent personalities working for the change they believe in.

And if you want to look at Technology Social Entrepreneurs we have Orlando Rincon Bonilla of PraqueSoft, based in Columbia and Saloni Malhotra of DesiCrew, based in Chennai.

If I keep listing down, the names do not end. What do they do different and How do they do it? You have to really understand their ideologies from the bottom see how they changed lives of many people around them.

Characteristics of Social Entrepreneur

The usual ideologies and principals do not holdback social Entrepreneurs. They are always looking at breaking them.
Social Entrepreneurs are impatient. They do not go well with the bureaucracy around them.
Social Entrepreneurs have the patience, energy and enthusiasm to teach others.
Social Entrepreneurs combine Innovation, Resources and Opportunity to derive solutions to Social problems.
This should be first in the list, Social Entrepreneurs DO NOT loose their FOCUS anytime.
Social Entrepreneurs always jump in before having their resources in place. They are not traditional.
Social Entrepreneurs ALWAYS believe that every one can Perform and have the capacity to do so.
Social Entrepreneurs ALWAYS display DETERMINATION
Social Entrepreneurs can ALWAYS measure and monitor their results.

There are many other unique characteristics, but the above stand out.

In their book “The Power of Unreasonable People“, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan mention that Social Business can be categorized in three models:

Leveraged Non-Profit Ventures
Hybrid Non-Profit Ventures
Social Business Ventures

A Leveraged Non-Profit Venture focuses on addressing a Social Problem, which might benefit the Economically Vulnerable.

Classic Illustration of this kind of venture is the Barefoot College.

A Hybrid Non-Profit Venture focuses on delivering goods/services to the section of the population which has been ignored or left out by the mainstream products/services.

Classic Illustration of this kind of venture is Arvind Eye Clinic.

A Social Business Venture provides goods/services with a specific mission. This venture makes profits by providing its services, but the focus is not in making more and more profits, but to ensure the good/service reaches as many as possible.

Classic Illustration is the Grameen Danone and AMUL.

Where do we go from here?

The concept and subject of Social Entrepreneurship is most astonishing. There are loads to do and very less people and time. Today, there are Universities and Educational Institutions teaching Social Entrepreneurship. Can you learn Social Entrepreneurship in class? I am not highly qualified to comment on this, but the essence of Social Entrepreneurship is the PASSION, DETERMINATION and FOCUS. What you learn in class are just instruments for you to change the world…

Power of Cooperatives

Social Entrepreneur of Year 2007

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The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation and The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in collaboration with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Confederation of India Industry (CII) give away the “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” award every year. This award is decided by nominations received from across the country. This award carries the title of “Khemka Fellow” and Rs.8,00,000 (Eight Lakhs / Eight Hundred Thousand Indian Rupees).

Nominations for this award for 2007

Harish Hande, SELCO
Climate Change, Rural Financing, Base of Pyramid Economics, Alternative Energy.
SELCO provides solar electrification solutions to the rural people in India. Around 57% of India population do not have access to electricity adding to unreliable power supply. SELCO provides solar electricity to people below the poverty line through a combination of customized home lighting, innovative doorstep financing and understanding the market need. SELCO has reached around 80,000 clients in Karnataka and Kerala and now working with people in Gujarat.

Rajendra Joshi, Saath
Public Private Partnerships, Base of Pyramid Economics, Urban Issues, Livelihood
Unplanned/Unprecedented migration is a major problem in various parts of the world and India being no different. In Ahmedabad alone, almost 40% of the city’s residents live in slums without access to basic amenities. Among this population, only 1 in 5 have private bathrooms (latrines) and only 1 in 4 have access to HealthCare and more than 50% rely on in-formal livelihood.
Saath works with Private and Government organization is creating an affordable cost model where people in these areas are not evicted and a small amount is charged for providing with amenities like roads, water, sanitation, lights etc. Saath then worked with private electric company and government to bring out charges which is a third of actual cost to get electricity and provided this to the people in slums. The companies realized a 30% increase in revenue and also the government has benefited with the tax paid. In total, Saath has worked with more than 70,000 families in Ahmedabad including 10,000 people through Slum Networking Project and 40,000 households through Urban Resource Centers.

Pravin Mahajan, Janarth
Education, Migration Issues, Labor
There are more than 30 Million (30 Lakhs) children who are taken out of school as their parents migrate in India.
Pravi has worked in creating education opportunities for these children by creating hostels for children who’s parents migrate for work and also Shakharshalas or the on-site schools for children who go along with their parents. These schools are accredited by the government and ensure that students from Shakharshalas are re-admitted into regular schools at any time. Janarth has reached around 10,000 children and proved its quality in education and also is working with Government of Maharashtra to have these schools in every district through out the state.

Chetna Gala Sinha, Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank Ltd.
Rural Development, Livelihood Development, Banking

The Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank Ltd(MDMSB) and Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha (MVSS) together develop systems that rural women need to evolve as successful entrepreneurs and build financial assets. Chetna has established the first Indian rural all women bank through equity within tribal women and also the bank runs by all rural women. The bank works in creating products from their client perspective such as micro-pensions and customized health insurance schemes. MDMSB and MVSS have collectively reached around 58,000 women in five districts of Maharashtra. Expansion plans include states of Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

The WINNER
The Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 has been awarded to Mr.Harish Hande of SELCO.

Hope to see more nominations and more finalists in the coming years.

You are read more about the above nominations at http://www.schwabfound.org/india/.