Archive for January, 2010

In a previous post, I touched on the importance of perspective. It matters. In life. In work. In relationships.

And your perspective depends on where you are sitting at a certain point of time. What your past has held. And what you want to create for your future. Essentially, it matters where you are. Who you are surrounded by. What you have done. And where you want to go.

As I wrote, observing social enterprise from Mumbai probably makes the sector look a lot different than if I were observing it from San Francisco, Cartagena, London, or Lagos. My perspective is colored by my life on the ground in Mumbai. By my knowledge of development, of social enterprise, and of India. By the stories I hear and the words I read daily. And by those who inspire me.

But in all, this is a very narrow subset of reality. What we do – working in the social enterprise sector, that is – is not yet mainstream. When people ask me about my job, I don’t know what to say. The conversation generally goes something like this. “So, tell me, what do you do?” “I work for a magazine.” “Oh, which one?” “Well you’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s called Beyond Profit and we cover the social enterprise sector (insert definition of social enterprise here)” “Oh, so you work for an NGO?” “No, we aren’t an NGO. We are a for-profit company.” And the conversation progresses down this path of confusion.

With this lack of familiarity comes both challenges and opportunities. How do we go mainstream? How do we get people to say, “Oh social enterprise, yeah I’ve heard of that”? It is starting on college campuses because social enterprise clubs are rapidly becoming the “cool” clubs to join. It has started in the financial sector as we have realized, in light of the economic downturn of the past few years that old economic models are no longer working. People are calling for a new economic system. A new brand of capitalism. A new breed of business. And it is starting in homes, as women ages 18-35 are getting online and giving back to society through new technological platforms that are changing the way charities raise money and build audiences. (See the cover story in Issue 2 of Beyond Profit – Embedded Giving: Increasing Social Awareness through Online Platforms)

But perhaps the question that needs to be tackled is how do we create a common language for social enterprise – across continents, across cultures, and across languages? How do we make sure we are all on the same page? And this comes back to the perspective piece. What you think of social enterprise depends on where you are sitting.

We, sectoral insiders, need to be clear on what we are before we can conquer the world. And this is where I go back to relationships. We can only come to this consensus through dialogue and by building relationships, both professionally and personally. Luckily, social enterprise is still a small sector, a nascent sector. It is easy to get to know your fellow social enterprise practitioners. Everyone is friendly. Everyone wants to talk. And everyone wants to learn. What works in sub-Saharan Africa may not ultimately work in India. And what works in India may not work in China. We must take the best practices from the cumulative experience and create a lexicon, a bible of social enterprise.

An opportunity awaits to write this bible, who will be the first to take advantage of it?

Marketing Fellow — 1 Month Action Research Project

Beyond Profit seeks a student or young professional to assist in a marketing research assignment for a new social enterprise magazine.

Beyond Profit, a magazine focused on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, is trying to reach new audiences and increase its subscriber base. We have partnered with a retail store in Mumbai to increase our visibility and market our product to potential new customers. We seek a Marketing Fellow to serve as the magazine’s in-store representative, to speak to customers about the magazine, and to capture customer information. The Fellowship will last for 4-5 weeks and is a great opportunity to get on the ground experience in retail marketing with a professional consulting firm.

Role:

The ideal candidate will be an outgoing, well-spoken college student or young professional with a background in business, marketing, and/or social enterprise. The project will entail spending several hours a day and several weekend days in the retail store in central Mumbai speaking to shoppers/customers. During the project, the Fellow will report back to our team on a regular basis to share insights from the day’s interactions. At the end of the Fellowship, a report on the project will be presented to the Intellecap Publications team.

The project will last 4-5 weeks. Only candidates based in Mumbai will be considered.  Candidates should be available to be in-store from 5-8 PM three days each week (Weds-Fri), and from 12 PM-6 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Project will take place in Feb, March or April, depending on availability.

Responsibilities:

• Engage in conversation with customers about Beyond Profit magazine (a script will be provided)
• Gather email addresses of potential new readers and subscribers; candidate must meet a certain quota of email addresses captured each day (materials and forms provided)
• Enter email addresses captured into excel sheet for easy follow up at the end of each day (preferred)
• Create final report on the research assignment and present it to the publications team; should include personal experiences of how the magazine is received, how well the approach worked, conversion rates

Remuneration:

Marketing Fellow will receive INR 5,000 upon successful completion of assignment.

To apply, please send your resume and a brief introduction to contribute@beyondprofit.com

Beyond Profit is currently looking for cool companies that work with artisans in developing countries and sell their crafts, jewelry, and products online. If you know of any that you can recommend, please send information to ideas@beyondprofit.com. Thanks!

In the January-March Issue of Beyond Profit, Sarah Gelfand, Director of IRIS at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), explains why the social investing sphere needs standardized reporting metrics and performance benchmarks in order to truly understand the social and environmental impact of investments.

In the fall issue of Beyond Profit, Adrienne Villani wrote about an increase in charities using quantitative social and environmental metrics to describe their work. Transparency is good practice for all organizations, and it’s especially necessary for those that rely on grants and donation funding. But a new class of social entrepreneurs is discovering additional reasons for reporting social performance as they increasingly pursue blended financing models, combining grants with traditional business loans or equity.

The economic downturn caused many investors to question the full impact of their investments, leading more investors to consider social and environmental components of investing in addition to financial expectations. These “impact” investors are diverse, and have a wide range of financial expectations—from a simple return of capital to sub-market and even market-rate returns.

Last fall, we launched the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) to help impact investors propel their work, and to attract more investors and more money to the field. Previous research from the Monitor Institute1 concluded that scaling the activities of impact investors and realizing the potential of this underleveraged sector requires industry building and cohesion. Specifically, the industry needs enabling infrastructure, similar to that which supports mainstream investing—such as standardized reporting metrics, performance benchmarking, ratings agencies, and auditors—around the social and environmental impact of investments. » Continue reading “How Social is your Business? Creating a Standard Measurement System”

Your perspective depends on your vantage point. Observing social enterprise from Mumbai probably makes the sector look a lot different than if we were observing it from San Francisco, Cartagena, London, or Lagos. And actually working in the sector adds another layer of nuance, detail, and differentiation.

With this, comes both challenges and opportunities. How do we create a common language for social enterprise – across continents, across cultures, and across languages? How do we make sure we are all on the same page?

The first step, I think, is to get to know your fellow social enterprise practitioners. It is still a small sector, a nascent sector. There aren’t many of us, yet (although this number is increasing by the day!). And luckily, it seems that everyone wants to talk. Everyone wants to bounce ideas off of each other. Everyone wants to collaborate. This is an incredible opportunity.

And there is no better way to take advantage of this opportunity than to attend one of the many sector building events that are being organized around the globe. One with which we are especially excited to partner? The upcoming Social Enterprise Alliance Summit 2010 + World Forum. Taking place in San Francisco, April 28-30, 2010, the Summit 2010 + World Forum hopes to draw over 600 social entrepreneurs (100 from developing countries!) to learn, to grow, to be inspired, to make new connections from around the globe, and to become part of the expanding social enterprise movement. Beyond Profit will be on hand as a media partner.

While we are engrossed in social enterprise on a daily basis, it is often easy to lose track of the fact that it is not yet mainstream. The Summit 2010 + World Forum is an opportunity to change this – to help advocate for wider use of social enterprise approaches, to discover new models, and to make connections to grow impact, both of the sector as a whole and of individual enterprises.

The Summit 2010 + World Forum will kick off with a Social Enterprise Showcase and Reception, and consist of in-depth workshops, an “Angel’s Forum,” speed dating a la Social Enterprise, and special visits to social enterprises in the Bay Area. It will be an opportunity to ask the following three questions: What is happening globally? What are the opportunities nationally? And how do I do this locally?

Monday, January 18, 2010 – Friday, January 22, 2010

Agriculture is probably one of the world’s oldest professions that are still in practice. But agriculture has evolved from the subsistence farming methods of the past to also become a means of promoting economic progress among communities Last week, on Twitter “Social Enterprise of the Day” we featured five organizations from across the world that are not only providing agricultural produce, but are also ensuring greater economic stability for participating farmers and communities.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day –Under the Mango Tree

Under the Mango Tree is an ethical, organic certified company which provides long-term market linkages between rural producers and urban consumers searching for pure, fairly-traded, organic certified agriculture and forest produce. Established by Vijaya Pastala, and built to enhance human and economic security, UTMT partners and supports rural farmers, producer networks and communities across India. UTMT works in organic certified and non-chemical managed agriculture and forest produce based on sustainable farming and fair trade practices.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Suminter

Suminter India Organics, a Mumbai-based company, was founded in 2003 on the notion that organic farming contracted out to small farmers in India would not only help fulfill the growing demand for organic produce but also lead the participating farmers to greater economic stability. With abusiness model that emphasizes the well-being of farmers, high-quality products and the environmental benefits of organic farming practices, Suminter’s integrated certification, training, farming, monitoring, processing and distribution, assures high-quality organic supply chain and guarantees the farmers a market for their crops.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day- Fighting Poverty with Organic Agriculture

Nazmi Ilicali, a farmer in Eastern Turkey has made organic agriculture the centerpiece in the fight against rural poverty.  Ilicali’s efforts have gained him international attention as he was honored by the prestigious Ashoka Entrepreneur Trust. In an interview with nextbillion , Nazmi explains why he chose organic agriculture in a poverty stricken area, how he gathered financial and other support and how he has helped improve the lives of the union members by not only teaching them how to use farming tools but also making them computer literate and teaching English.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Backpack Farm

Started by Rachel Zedeck, The Backpack Farm Agriculture Program (BPF) targets rural farming communities to enhance “cooperative” farming development. The BPF is packaged as an all-in-one canvas backpack containing a unique blend of “fusion farming” and drip irrigation; the essential agriculture inputs needed for small landholders to standardize both the quality and quantity of agriculture production during an annual growing season, to mirror semi-commercial rates of production.  The backpack is a modular system and is customized depending on the final crops chosen for production and inputs have been packaged specifically for small landholders growing on as little as a quarter of an acre.  The Backpack Farm is not only a kit of materials but also a program that facilitates income generation, human resources development, capacity building training, enhanced nutrition models, gender equality, conservation farming and water management techniques to stabilize both food and human security models in Africa’s developing economies.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Big Tree Farms

Big Tree Farms is committed to supporting the preservation of traditional sustainable industries throughout the culturally rich islands of Indonesia through a process called “Market-Driven Conservation.” The vision of Big Tree Farms was to create a model for successful small-scale sustainable agriculture in the humid tropics. With a philosophy that balances ecology with economy and values the power of education as the precipitator of change, Big Tree Farms has become not only a successful “green” business, but also a successful leader in the empowerment of local communities.

Peace is a pre-requisite for development as a whole. It creates an enabling environment for the fundamentals of a society’s progress: human capital formation, infrastructure development, and markets subject to the rule of law. Roshan Paul and Sarah Jefferson, both of Ashoka, explore the intersection of peace and social entrepreneurship, an emerging field in the global development dialogue.

Jerry White was a 20-year-old college student when, on a camping trip in Israel, he stepped on a landmine and lost his left leg. A Massachusetts native, he spent the following year in Israel, learning not just how to walk again but also how to live as a survivor in society. Thirteen years later, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. But this was merely the beginning. Today, Jerry and his organization Survivor Corps are setting out on a more difficult journey: to build a world where there are no victims, only survivors.

Unlike Jerry, Neichute Doulo grew up in conflict-stricken Nagaland, a region in India comprising 17 different hill tribes. The area was never fully conquered by the British and its residents have carried that proud legacy into their battle against the state of India, one of the longest running secession movements in history. Convinced that Nagaland will not have a viable future (regardless of the outcome of the conflict) without indigenous small-scale industry, Neichute created Entrepreneurs Associates (EA) to foster a new generation of socially responsible business entrepreneurs that strengthen the Naga economy and allow youth the opportunity to actively contribute towards shaping a positive future.

Jerry and Neichute are classic social entrepreneurs, people who come up with new ideas to solve intractable social problems and work relentlessly to execute them in order to achieve lasting social impact; in this case, that of preparing society to overcome the effects of violent conflict. But why is building peaceful societies so critical for economic and social development?

No Development without Peace

Peace is a pre-requisite for development as a whole because it creates an enabling environment for the fundamentals of a society’s progress: human capital formation, infrastructure development, markets subject to the rule of law, and so on. In the absence of peace, education and health structures break down, systems to provide infrastructure disintegrate, and legal commerce is crippled. Critically, peace also frees up resources, both financial and human, that would otherwise be diverted to controlling (or creating) violence. » Continue reading “Kissing the Tiger: Peace as a Pre-requisite for Development”

Don’t miss your chance to apply now to the 3rd edition of the Grassroutes Fellowship Program!

Grassroutes is a Fellowship Program that funds youth to go on one month road-trips across India, work with change-makers, do their bit to change the world and inspire more youth into social action.

The selected fellows are placed with non-profit organizations, where they work on a project and experience living within a budget of US$2 a day. At the same time they also act as social journalists and bring back stories from the field to inspire the larger community. Check out their website to see a video of the work they are doing.

On the two previous editions of the fellowship, fellows studied problems ranging from tribal rights and malnutrition to environmental protection and women’s empowerment.

What do Grassroutes Fellows get?

• A deep understanding of the on-ground reality – the problem at hand, the non-profits, the change-makers and their actions, the community and the local government.
• An opportunity to capture the stories of all the people involved in community development – the local folks and the change-makers – and employ it to inspire a bigger community into social action.
• Access to opportunities on working with Grassroutes and partners.
• Access a network of Grassroutes fellows for opportunities and networking.
• An opportunity to give back.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Only Indian nationals below the age of 25 as of February 2010 are eligible
• Candidates should be able to dedicate 30 days from the third week of May
• Candidates must believe in Social Change!

Application Deadlines:

The first round of will start by February 1, 2010; selected fellows will be announced by February 15. The second and final phase of applications will close on March 1, 2010. Apply Here.

Monday, January 11, 2010 – Friday, January 15, 2010

When a baby dies within 28 days of its birth, it is termed a neonatal death. One of the big problems babies face is hypothermia: they are not able to regulate their own body temperature, and therefore they cannot stay warm. In fact, room temperature for these small infants feels freezing cold. Difficult access to low cost technologies has caused many neonatal deaths that could have been easily avoided with the help of simple innovations. Last week, the Twitter Social Enterprise of the Day focused on affordable neonatal healthcare. Both huge multinational conglomerates like GE as well as individual innovators like Dr. Sathya Jeganathan are working towards saving innocent lives through simple solutions such as low cost incubators and baby warming blankets.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Embrace Global

With a design that looks like a miniature sleeping bag but in reality saves the lives of vulnerable infants, the Embrace is a new, low-cost solution to help keep low birth weight babies’ body temperature warm so they can survive and thrive in developing countries. Developed by Embrace Global, a non profit seeking to help vulnerable babies survive and thrive, a group of enthusiastic innovators decided to build a low-cost incubator based on the Kangaroo Mother Care model, that is, uniting mother and child by encouraging skin-to-skin contact to reduce post-partum trauma to both. Their ‘Warmer’ costs less than $100 and is tailor-made to function in conjunction with local sensibilities: it works with or without electricity. In the non-electric version, a layer of wax emits latent heat when warmed with a glass of hot water.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Path

A catalyst for global health, PATH’s initiatives have ensured that innovations in healthcare respond to healthcare needs in over 70 countries. PATH’s work in maternal and child care include innovation such as a low cost neonatal resuscitator, a nevirapine pouch that helps HIV-positive mothers bring protective medication to their newborn children, and the Uniject device that is a prefilled, autodisabling injection device that helps health workers quickly and easily give an accurate dose of oxytocin without risk of infection transmission from needle reuse. Path meets the complex health needs of an expanding world with this multipronged approach that moves solutions from innovation to impact: supporting new ideas through inception, development, and testing; paving the way for introduction in low-resource countries; and working with governments and communities to integrate and expand the most successful ideas.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – AKHA

In an effort to extend healthcare to the remote sandbar islands of Chapori by the banks of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India, boats called “Akhas” are used to reach underpriviledged indigenous tribes. The Akha, which comes equipped with medical staff and communications materials, makes visits to these isolated regions with the mission to regularly provide facilities for maternal and child health as well as promote awareness about health-seeking behaviors. Findings suggest that the service delivery undertaken by the boat, which has been continually expanding over the last few years, has dramatically improved thousands of lives. 71 percent of the Chapori mothers sought some form of antenatal care during their last pregnancy. Of these, 42 percent sought care from the Akha.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare, the US$17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company as part of its ‘healthymagination’ initiative to reduce cost and increase quality and access to affordable healthcare worldwide, has developed the Lullaby Warmer. The device is a bed with an overhead heater, showering the newborn with delicate warmth while the baby is cleaned after birth and checked for its first vital statistics. Remarkably simple to operate, even for a first-time operator, GE’s Lullaby Warmer targets improving access to care in urban and semi-urban settings.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Low cost infant warmer

Neo-natal mortality is a devastating problem in the developing world and Dr. Sathya Jeganathan, a pediatrician in Chengalpattu Government Medical College in Tamil Nadu, India, has devoted her life to combating scourge. In her rural hospital, where 39 out of every 1,000 children born do not survive, she has been determined to cut the mortality rate. Bringing together neonatal nurses and local electricians, Dr. Jeganathan created a low-cost baby warmer made of readily available 100-watt light bulbs and locally harvested wood. Costing only US$100 to build (a fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives) and easy to maintain, the warmers soon cut the hospital’s infant mortality by nearly half. Technical and business development help from L-RAMP India , a Chennai-based, joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Rural Innovations Network (RIN), is allowing Dr. Jeganathan to further develop the product design and create a business model. This key support means she’ll soon be able to distribute the infant warmer to other rural hospitals in the region.

Shaffi Mather, serial entrepreneur

View the Beyond Profit On the Spot interview with Shaffi Mather

A few weeks ago at Aspen Ideas India, I sat down with Shaffi Mather, a serial entrepreneur who creates innovative companies that fill service gaps. His first social enteprise, 1298 ambulance, aims to bring affordable emergency medical transportation to citizens across India.  His newest idea is a for-profit social enteprise that fights corruption by giving citizens the ability to fight back when asked to pay bribes. In this Beyond Profit On the Spot interview, Mather shares his perspective on why India is a hotbed for corruption, why he’s approaching the problem from the bottom up, and what to do the next time you’re asked to pay a bribe.