Archive for October, 2009

These past few days, Beyond Profit has been busy participating in and enjoying the Opportunity Collaboration, a gathering of development practitioners and leaders in Mexico. One of the social entrepreneurs we really have enjoyed meeting at the Opportunity Collaboration has been Cynthia Koenig, founder of Hippo Water, an organization that manufactures and distributes a tool called a Hippo in Southern Africa. A Hippo is a 24-gallon drum that rolls water, transforming the daily chore of carrying water over long distances into a much easier and less frequent task. It’s amazing that something as simple as the Hippo can make a huge the difference to impoverished women, children, and families. We’re excited that Hippo has decided to scale up and bring this new low-tech, high impact solution to India over the next six months.

Learn more at www.hippowater.org and see a Hippo in action at http://theserumlab.com/hippowater.mov. Check out the Hippo entry on JustMeans’ India Social Entrepreneurship Journey Contest. The winner is sent on a 9-day tour of Indian social entrepreneurship hotspots. Read about their entry here, and if you like what you see, you can vote for it too!

Earlier this week we made the exciting announcement that we are starting to use Mirakle Couriers for our Mumbai mailings.  This was a decision that we made internally because we want to support a local social enterprise.  Although we have not yet entered a contractual relationship with Mirakle, we are currently pursuing it, and hope to begin using their courier services by the end of the month.  We apologize if there was any misunderstanding conveyed within our announcement in the October 13 installment of RADAR.  We are excited about supporting Dhruv and his company, and look forward to a long association.

Beyond Profit Guest Blogger, Jerryanne Heath, reports.

It’s been almost three weeks since the Africa Social Enterprise Forum (ASEF) took place in New York.  As ASEF’s co-chair, I can proudly say that the event went beyond our wildest dreams.  The standing-room-only forum gathered a diverse audience comprised of Africans and non-Africans, students, professionals, entrepreneurs and investors at the Desmond Tutu Center.

Our goal in creating ASEF was to provide: 1) access to information and 2) opportunities for action around social enterprise in Africa.  The buzz about the event, turnout, and post-event feedback have all confirmed that ASEF was a unique initiative which met the need for a large-scale, visible, and focused forum on social enterprise in Africa.  ASEF also confirmed that the major funders in the social enterprise arena need to diversify their portfolio.  Since the event, we’ve received inquiries from foundations and investors who are looking for up and coming African social entrepreneurs.  We’ll continue to work with Beyond Profit to share these stories and highlight Africa as a hub for social innovation.

A few takeaways from ASEF:

Craig Newmark, Founder, Craigslist: Craig delivered our morning keynote with a healthy dose of humor.   What is interesting, and perhaps quirky, about Craig is that he is aware of, and honest about, his shortcomings.  Many entrepreneurs prefer to be their own boss, but Craig instead opted to be a customer service guy at Craigslist and hired a CEO that he believed was better for the job.  Craig’s lessons learned as an entrepreneur are invaluable for anyone in any part of the world.

Andrew Zolli, Curator and Executive Director, PopTech:  Andrew delivered the afternoon keynote and closed with an impactful statement: “If given the choice between the sexiest business model and the best entrepreneur we would pick the best entrepreneur anytime.”  Andrew advised social entrepreneurs in the room to be prepared to fail, often – it’s expected.  Learn from it and “change your religion” accordingly.

Jacob Lief, Founder & President, Ubuntu Education Fund: Jacob spoke on the scaling up and due diligence panel, where he challenged the term “scaling up.”  He explained that Ubuntu’s approach is to “scale down” – to go deeper into a community and focus on changing lives, rather than simply touching them.

Antony Bugg-Levine, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation: Antony’s comments on the Social Financing panel echoed his article in the May/June 2009 issue of Beyond Profit about the absence of intermediaries between social investment capital and those who need it.  “Intermediation, or the placement of money between investors and the businesses and projects that can use it productively, is generally sub-scale and inefficient.”  Antony’s remarks present a huge opportunity for existing investment intermediaries to jump into the social investment arena or for new players to fill this void.

Footage and photos from ASEF are available online.  Also check out co-chair Magogodi Makhene’s blog on Social Edge for her take on the event. Email us at 2009asef@gmail.com for more information.

In Indian cities, the rich and the poor live on top of one another. They crowd into urban areas—the “land of plenty” as compared to villages—sprawling onto sidewalks and into medians—colonists from the countryside, migrants from other lands, and those that claim to be homegrown. In Mumbai, where we live, the city’s lack of infrastructure doesn’t allow for any sleight of hand. The problems of overpopulation and poverty are inescapable. It is this, our own backyard, that we think about as World Poverty Day approaches.

People around the globe have pledged to take action against poverty on October 17. Some have signed petitions, others will work to offset their carbon footprint or educate students, donate money or promise solidarity. In honor of World Poverty Day, we would like to give back to our community. On a macro level, we have committed to forging new partnerships with development experts at Opportunity Collaboration, a first-of-its-kind gathering that will bring together like-minded social venturers to work towards new solutions. On a micro level, we are thinking about the way that our business can be more responsible, how we can give back to our community and think “beyond profit” in our own ecosystem in Mumbai. Our first step in this direction is working with a social entrepreneur we know to help him build his business. Dhruv Lakra’s Mirakle Couriers employs the deaf, a community that often is overlooked and stigmatized. As a result, members of this community often suffer economically. We will be using Mirakle for our courier needs in that vast megapolis, devoting ourselves to not only writing about social enterprise, but being one.

We’d love to hear what you think we should start doing to get the ball rolling to not just think “beyond profit,” but to be beyond profit.

The following is the third in a series of posts in which Beyond Profit will feature strong and successful women in social enterprise. Joanna Harries, a former Acumen Fund Fellow at Dial 1298 for Ambulance, based in Mumbai, reports.

A Conversation with Sweta Mangal

CEO: “Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance”

Never one to back down from a challenge, this woman thrives on it.

Sweta Mangal, CEO of ‘Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance,’ an Indian emergency service, left a solid corporate career track a few years back to run a start-up social enterprise. What motivated her to take this risk? Speaking with Sweta makes it evident that her views have been strongly shaped by her experiences growing up as part of a socially-oriented and entrepreneurial family.

Sweta’s mother runs a foundation in their home state of Rajasthan. The family also supports the Mangal-Newton school, where poorer students from surrounding villages learn alongside students from more affluent backgrounds. Her brother is the school’s principal, and Sweta visits often to oversee operations.

From an early age Sweta recalls her mother integrating social values into their daily life. For example, older clothes were often collected and dispersed to those less fortunate. So when the time came to ask her family for the financial and emotional support to leave her secure, well-paying job to become the CEO of a start-up ambulance service, Sweta’s parents did not hesitate to offer support. Their response is perhaps not what one would expect from an Indian family, where high salaries and corporate titles are often valued, as well as early marriages for girls. However, Sweta’s family has a history of embracing non-traditional values. Sweta herself is part of the first generation to hold a conventional job – for most of her relatives the entrepreneurial spirit hit early and she recalls a series of family businesses starting and failing and starting again. In this way, Sweta received an early education in the process of trial and error.

Leaving a secure job and financial independence for the unknown was not an easy choice for Sweta. It was not only the diminished finances that worried her, but also a less certain career path. Despite the personal and professional obstacles, Sweta admits she has always thrived on challenges. Her strength is in grasping a vision and working tirelessly towards it to exceed all expectations. She describes it as taking an idea from ‘position one to ten.’ Clearly the social entrepreneurial drive present in her family also runs in her blood.

The opportunity to become CEO of ‘Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance’ came through a good friend. Shaffi Mather, like Sweta, received his post-secondary education abroad. Upon his return to India, Shaffi experienced a personal medical emergency that highlighted for him the need for a universal access number for a high-quality ambulance service in India, much like ‘911’in the US and Canada. Shaffi, and some friends with a similar outlook, came together in 2001 to launch ‘Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance’. The service launched in Mumbai with 10 ambulances in 2005, and today operates in Mumbai, Kerala and now Patna, with more than 90 ambulances. Sweta came on as full-time CEO in 2007 and has been instrumental in the growth of the organization’s vision.

From a managerial perspective, there were many early challenges. One of the first was dealing with the corruption involved in getting the four-digit number registered. Initially, they applied with the number ‘1299,’ but refusing to pay a bribe to hasten the process meant receiving the number ‘1298.’ Instead of fretting, however, the organization began to advertise the number, ‘1298.’

How has running a growing social enterprise changed her? Sweta says she has stopped making concrete plans for the future. Instead she has learned to seize and build upon opportunity when it knocks, even when it means entering unchartered waters. The future for this social enterprise looks especially bright with Sweta at the helm.

Monday, October 5, 2009 – Friday, October 9, 2009

The Twitter ‘Social Enterprise of the Day’ this week focuses on organizations that are working to inspire us to “go solar” in our approach to energy consumption. In an age where energy resources are depleting fast, we cannot afford to ignore one of the most obvious sources of energy in the universe-the Sun.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – TERINA

TERINA (The Energy and Resources Institute, North America), backed by significant resources from TERI (The Energy and Resources Institue), India, was set up in 1990 to sensitize decision-makers in North America, through research, workshops, and conferences, to developing countries’ concern about energy and the environment. TERINA also has undertaken many campaigns in India to bring solar lanterns to villages that rely only on cowdung cakes, firewood, and crop residue for their lighting needs. Dedicated to mobilizing the support of the Indian diaspora as well as other concerned people and organizations toward making a substantial contribution to India’s development challenge, TERINA has also launched schemes to “adopt a village” and provide innovative solutions to problems like provision of clean drinking water, shelter, electricity, and basic health care.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – Solar Electric Power Association

“Actionable Solar Intelligence” is what SEPA, or Solar Electric Power Association, offers its clients, that want to convert their solar theory into practice., SEPA is a non-profit organization that offers customized, localized, and practical advice with the help of in-depth research and industry expertise. By organizing conferences, expos, webinars, and regional workshops, SEPA is helping make solar power really accessible to both the layman as well as solar power organizations.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – Desertec-Africa

The amount of solar energy that Africa receives is not only enough to power Africa and Europe, but it is enough to power the whole world too. Desertec-Africa is an independent organization operating in the African continent toward harnessing the abundant resource that is solar energy. Each square kilometer of the desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil each year. So, Desertec Africa is taking steps to usher in a new age of solar-rich nations. Through the use of Photovoltaic (PV) cells and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology, Desertec is providing “clean” electricity not only to Africa but will soon be connected to Europe’s grid via the Mediterranean sea too!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – Solar Energy for Africa Ltd.

SEFA (Solar Energy for Africa Ltd.) is a private company that procures, sells, installs, maintains, and serves all types of solar energy/power systems, equipment, and appliances in Uganda and the East African region. By contracting with development agencies, local governments, and schools, SEFA is bringing solar power to rural communities in Africa. SEFA’s product portfolio includes solar powered batteries, lights, lanterns, controllers, inverters and panels that assure 24X7 power supply in areas that face acute shortages.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Social Enterprise of the Day – D.light Design

D.light Designs, based in Noida, India, is an international consumer products company has set a target to provide light to 10 million people by 2010, According to the 2001 census, about 43.5% of India’s households have electricity connections compared to 30.5% a decade ago. But a majority of India’s rural population still has no access to electricity and is dependent on kerosene lamps. D.light’s products Nova and Solata, with prices ranging from INR 800 – INR 1600 (US$ 16 – 32), can be charged using AC power or solar panels and can provide up to 12 hours of lighting when fully charged. Their unique distribution, through a “Rural Entrepreneur Network,” is very effective as the product is explained to customers by someone who is known to them. With the help of light emitting diode (LED) technology and backed by six investors who have collectively invested US$ 6 million and, D.light provides an economically and socially preferable alternative to kerosene lanterns, which are expensive, inefficient, dangerous, and low-quality sources of light.

Guest Blogger Emily Davila reports.

“The power of mobile money” – new report from The Economist hints of development revolution.

In 1791, Thomas Edison started a project– to build a worldwide network for people talk to each other.  And according to experts interviewed last week’s report in The Economist, we can expect to see this project finished in our lifetime—100 per cent global teledensity is expected within the next ten years.  Of course, 100 per cent does not mean absolutely everyone, since some people own several headsets and sim cards, but it comes pretty darn close.

These days it seems everyone has a story about how a cell phone has changed a poor person’s life, but the in-depth research of exactly how mobile telecommunications is spurring economic growth is still being written. That’s why this special report is so exciting; it compares telecom across emerging markets, stringing both anecdotes and research together, and pulling out the trends.

Some of the facts:

• 3 out of the 4 billion mobile phones worldwide are being used by people in the developing countries.
• Studies show that adding ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts income per person by 8-10 percent.
• India leads the way with adding 128 million new subscribers in the last year, 89 million were added in China and 96 million across Africa. Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil are not far behind.
• Despite average customer spending $6.50 per month and .02cent calls, Indian operators still have a 40% profit margin, similar to Western operators.

While the article touches on nearly every region in the world, M-Pesa in Kenya has had the most success with using mobile phones for banking.  Here’s how it works: once a user is signed up using a mobile phone and an ID card, he or she pays cash to a vendor who then credits it to the phone account and gives the consumer a special code.  The code can be used to withdraw cash later or passed along to someone else. Around $2 million is transferred through the system every day, with an average transaction of $20.

There are many benefits to mobile banking–  no more carrying cash on long trips, keeping wealth in only livestock or jewelry, or risking losing the stash kept under the bed to a natural disaster.   Adoption of mobile banking in Kenya was aided by an unexpected cause, the 2008 post-election violence.  People that trapped in their homes in the slums during the violence used the system to send and receive money. Some banks also lost the public’s trust because they were seen as taking sides in the ethnic conflict.

Many are studying M-Pesa in Kenya– so far there is no other country with such high rates of mobile banking adoption.  It seems only a matter of time before others reproduce the model; in many places the power of mobile brands are much stronger than that of the banks.

There’s much more to say – and hopefully more reports from The Economist to come –  but you should read the article for yourself!

We are excited to welcome Venkat Subramanian as the newest addition to our Beyond Profit Guest Bloggers. We look forward to having him as our “ears to the ground” on agricultural issues, both in India and worldwide.

Indian agriculture is at a crossroads. The fact that India is the world’s leading producer of agricultural products in several categories, but is unable to meet its own demand and is reduced to importing even basic commodities, is often unexplained. Though several attempts have been made by the government, the private sector, and socially conscious organizations over the years, they have failed to scale up to “bell the cat.”* There are several questions and points that lie unanswered or unattended to:

• Crores (US$ millions) of money are being allocated for agriculture grants and loans every year by the Indian government, but why does the situation only seem to get worse?
• India was once the granary to world civilization, but today our nation is seen with a begging bowl in every world forum – even staple foods like rice, wheat, dal, sugar, vegetables, and fruits are being imported – some from countries such as Singapore, which is smaller than a neighborhood in Mumbai.
• History books would say that every invading army that conquered India was attracted by its rich spices, commodities, and wealth of biodiversity. But after 500 years of alien rule, India is nowhere near the world’s top 25 agricultural exporters or processors.
• On one hand, Indians hail the arrival of genetically modified crops that are seen as the solution to eradicate poverty, and on the other hand, there are activists on the streets promoting natural foods and organic cultivation – both sponsored by the same government departments!

Having jumped into social entrepreneurship after 12 years of corporate life, these questions have intrigued me, and gotten under my skin, forcing me to seek answers and solutions, which often aren’t as forthcoming as I’d like. In this series for Beyond Profit, I will look at a holistic view of what is wrong with the Indian agricultural economy and then at solutions on how to fix it – many trees have been burnt in writing about problems, but it is the solutions that need our attention.

As India’s supply chain is still predominantly unorganized, there are several inefficiencies in the way it functions. There have been several attempts to fix this – from government, private agencies, and research institutions alike. Though there has been some success in these attempts, these have not scaled fast enough to stem the crisis. Given the vast diversity in India, coupled with problems of illiteracy and poor infrastructure, such complex problems often need innovative, quick, and practical solutions.

But these have only lead to more questions:

• Why has the branded retailer’s glorious entry into this sector, which was hailed as a revolution some eight years ago, fizzled into a lame game?
• Why, despite the fact that Indian farmers have raised their quality to global GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards in post harvest technologies, do we see international apples and pears being sold in our roadside thelaas (carts)?
• Why are microfinance companies mushrooming in every corner, but money lenders still dominate?
• Operation Flood, which organized India’s milk cooperatives and farmers into a dairy giant, is seen as a great success. Why haven’t these same farmers and rural cooperatives modernized the Indian agriculture supply chain.

This blog will delve deeper into each of these ideas, identify why they failed, and offer some guidelines for future agri-business entrepreneurs and policy makers. The idea again is not to find faults, but rather to gain from these experiences.

The agriculture industry in India has always been a low growth, low attention sector. The educated and elite have in general shunned this sector. Hence, there are several myths and misconceptions.  I will attempt to unravel these and also look for lessons from other industries and paradigms – like the Mumbai dabbawallahs and the story of Amul.

Why so much fuss over food, one may ask … well, the French revolution was triggered by one such innocuous comment – “If people don’t have wheat (bread), let them eat cake.” People who forget history are condemned to repeat it.  Let’s change, let’s look beyond immediate gains to ensure a more stable food economy for our future generations – while we still have the chance!

(To be continued…)

*An English saying meaning “to do the difficult work.”

About the author:

Venkata Subramanian is the founder of a social enterprise called Matchbox Solutions, which creates sustainable, social businesses for underprivileged people. eFarm is one of their primary ventures that is an agri-supply chain start-up operating in Southern India. It is a shared agri-supply chain platform, connecting all stakeholders in the chain to a common shared platform to enable efficient, transparent agri-business trade.

Venkat teaches food supply chain management at leading institutions and has made presentations in in agri business and food supply chain related topics. He is a member of the NEN speakers club and has given talks on entrepreneurship.

Bio : http://younoodle.com/people/venkat_subramanian

Erica Dhawan is a Legatum fellow and an MBA candidate at MIT Sloan School of Management. Her Legatum project is to create a business incubator in India focused on the development of agricultural inputs that are both high yielding, yet environmentally sustainable.

This image was the winner of the Legatum Photo Competition India track, in which women, trained by engineers, prepare food with solar cookers to sell to people in neighboring villages.

If you believe in these types of products and services that engage citizens and are commercially sustainable, then check out the buzz about the Progress through Innovation Legatum conference, held on October 2, 2009.

When I arrived Friday morning, I was thrilled to see such a diverse audience. The hall was filled with attendees ranging from entrepreneurs, investors, media, think-tanks, non-profits, business executives, and students.

The welcome remarks from Iqbal Quadir, Founder and Director of the Legatum Center at MIT, portrayed parallels with the most recent Economist piece on Mobile Money and referenced the 140th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, a man who took individual action to bring about change. The panels and keynotes included a cross section of thought leaders in government, entrepreneurship, and development. Some key highlights were:

• Keynote morning address from Esko Aho, former prime minister of Finland, who emphasized that the world did not face a lack of technology, but rather a lack of innovation.
• A panel on “Entrepreneurs” including Sriram Raghavan, head of Comat, Lisa Conte, head of Napo Pharmaceuticals, and Tokunbo Talabi, CEO of Superflux, who stressed how systemic change started from bottom up approaches.
• Inventors, such as Tod Machover, an innovator in music, and Dean Kamen, who invented a $2000 generator that runs entirely on cow dung and a water purifier that makes 1,000 liters of water every day.
• A panel on how the Internet is helping to empower people in low-income countries and Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, who highlighted how 80% of humanity still does not use the internet.

The most dynamic panel of the day was on “Investing in Low Income Countries” moderated by Magatte Wade-Marchand, founder of Adina. Alvaro Arregui, founder of IGNIA Fund, highlighted the important link between risk and perceived risk, asserting that in order for working with the poor to become “lower risk”, attitudes needs to change. Runa Alam, who launched Development Partners International, believed that investing in low income countries is as good as investing anywhere else in the world. Magatte Wade Marchand affirmed her vision to make Africa the sustainable manufacturer of the world.

Every social problem is a business opportunity. By 2050, the world’s GDP will be in emerging markets. The Legatum Conference inspired me to get back to work to solve the key issues in organic economic growth and to address the underlying deep-rooted social and political problems.

Zara Khan, the Beyond Profit DC representative, reports from the 2009 Global Youth Enterprise Conference.

According to ILO estimates, in 2020 1 billion more youth will enter the work force, yet only 300 million jobs will be created. The role of microfinance in bridging this gap was a main theme at this year’s Global Youth Enterprise Conference.

To turn this “deficit into a dividend,” Alan Fleischmann, Managing Director of ImagineNations Group urges us to invest in our youth to promote entrepreneurial activity. He calls for a demand-driven approach, for investors and donors to listen to demand for capital from youth. With only 0.25% of major commercial banks and MFIs dedicating financial services to youth, there is no doubt that youth are marginalized.

Many cite youth as “too risky,” despite evidence that youth-led microfinance portfolios may have equal, if not higher, repayment rates than adult-led enterprises. Others cannot see beyond the threat of predatory lending when introducing financial services targeted to youth. The arguments for denying youth access to financial capital are reminiscent of arguments denying the poor access to microcredit. Are we again imposing stereotypes upon individuals?

Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup offered an alternative perspective to the issue of 700 million jobless youth in 2020. He does not see youth financial services as the main factor in promoting entrepreneurship. “Money is easy,” he said, “individuals are an energy unit which we have to learn to harness.” Clifton’s sees entrepreneurship to be the result of the perfect mix of optimism and determination. It’s not just optimism – “optimism on it’s own can be annoying.” When you overlay it with determination, then you have something.