Archive for Entrepreneurship

It’s easy to get wrapped up in an attractive story: the Harvard grad who gave up a comfortable life on Wall Street to move to Africa and start a microfinance institution or the pretty 17-year-old model who abandoned a promising career to rescue orphans in Cambodia.

Daniela Papi, of PEPY and PEPY Tours, points out that not only is this “hero worship” superficial, it’s also harmful. On her blog, she relays a story she heard from a friend: » Continue reading “Stop the Worship and Measure the Impact”

This post is part of our ongoing partnership with GOOD Magazine. Post by Alex Goldmark of GOOD Magazine.

A directory of social enterprises around the world is getting bigger and easier to use, coming closer to being a central repository for market-based solutions to poverty. That’s something that could greatly help networking, academic study, best practices and fundraising.

The directory, iuMAP, collects and displays data on over 450 social enterprises, letting you search for them by name, or by country, legal structure of the organization, issue area—health, transportation, energy for example—or by funder. Like other data visualization and mapping sites it also gives a clearer picture of what kinds of organizations are where. See the screen grab above to see how Kenya and India just have a higher density of bottom of the pyramid organizations. » Continue reading “Ayllu redesigns IUmap global social enterprise directory”

This post is the second half of a piece we published last week, Basic Services for All: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?

Last week, I wrote about the provision of basic services for all, and posed the question, whose responsibility is it? To paraphrase: When the government can’t provide, should we let someone else step in?  And, in so doing, do we send the message that it’s okay for government to fail?

The conclusion last week led us to look to social enterprise as the most viable alternative to government service provision, because the private sector tends to serve the wealthy, not the poor, and the non-profit sector may not be a sustainable solution. But, the question persists: by providing an alternative, are we giving government an out, so to speak?

One commenter, Anoj Viswanathan (check out his socent Milaap), believes that we don’t have the luxury of contemplating who should do the work. “While creating a systemic change is indeed required, the question one has to ask is – do I lobby/wait for a grant/subsidy that may/may not come my way, while another generation would have slipped into the grinding cycle of poverty?,” he said.

Viswanathan brings up a great point: having a theoretical debate doesn’t help the people who need education or healthcare now. But, taking a big picture approach can help us bring change to the masses, instead of just a single target group, and make sure that we’re not sending the government the message that it’s okay to fail. » Continue reading “Education for All? Invite Government to the Table”

By Pooja Rani Bhatia

The number of companies considering themselves social enterprises has dramatically increased in the past ten years, and has become the “new” thing this season. Although oft misunderstood simply as “do-gooders,” socially driven ventures promoting market-based approaches are actually making a bigger splash than ever, especially in the drinking water space. In a recent study on consumer perceptions and demand dynamics of filtered drinking water, the Rural Market Insight (RMI) team at Centre for Development Finance (CDF), in partnership with Sarvajal, winner of the Sankalp 2010 Awards, identified five key factors that underpin the biggest issues facing today’s social enterprises such as sustainability and scalability. » Continue reading “5 Ps To Make A Social Enterprise ‘P for Perfect’”

Last month, on November 18th, the Asia Society India Centre hosted an event called INDOvations: Driving Global Innovations from Emerging Markets. Simone Ahuja, Founder of Blood Orange Media, was a panelist and participated in a discussion of Indian innovation, or “indovation,” and its global potential. Based in Minneapolis and Mumbai, Blood Orange Media is an international branding and integrated media company whose work spans corporate films to television series. Most recently, Dr. Ahuja produced the six-part documentary series Indique | Big Ideas from Emerging India, which is a real-life crash course on modern India, “indovation,” its scalability and its challenges. » Continue reading “Interview with Simone Ahuja, Founder of Blood Orange Media”

By Deepti Chadda, Senior Associate, Intellecap

At the Villgro Unconvention Awards 2010, Villgro recognized path-breaking organizations, individuals and stakeholders in the sector. The winners were chosen based on their ability to pioneer change through social enterprise by developing and disseminating innovations that benefit society. Beyond Profit had a closer look at the impact created by some of these innovations. » Continue reading “Villgro Awards 2010: Recognizing Innovation”

By Deepti Chadda, Senior Associate, Intellecap

A few decades ago when Joe Madiath started Gram Vikas, he was labeled a “social activist,” a type of rebel. Today, he and other entrepreneurs have become lynchpins in the social enterprise sector. In the ’80s, social entrepreneurship was a concept in the making; now it’s at a pivotal point. Many entrepreneurs presented their visions of the sector’s future at the Villgro Unconvention 2010. » Continue reading “Villgro Unconvention 2010: The Future of Social Entrepreneurship”

By Dipika Prasad

Early on in the first day of UnLtd India’s Social Mashup, opening speaker Sachin Malhan of Inclusive Planet set the tone for the day by saying, “Always remember why you do what you do. Keep beauty as the cornerstone of your motivation.” Beyond Profit caught up with three entrepreneurs: Malhan; Solomon Prakash, country director at Ashoka India; and Gijs Spoor, Zameen Organic.

BP: Taking a cue from Sachin’s opening talk in the morning, why do you do what you do?

Solomon: I am at a place and time in the history of India, which has a very unique set of issues and challenges. I want to be part of that history. I don’t live on an island. I open my eyes, I look around and see an issue, and I want to respond. I want to do something beyond complaining. I want to solve the issue, be an actor. That’s where it all begins. All of us have an innate sense of justice. We look at something and say this is not fair. That sense is different from judging right and wrong. I feel unfairness and I want to respond. All of us search for this equilibrium – and we have to do unnatural things to kill it. People want to be relevant—even animals feel that. » Continue reading “Social Entrepreneur Roundtable: Social Mashup Edition”

This week in San Francisco, the conversation at SoCap focused on seed investing, metrics, and transparency, transparency, transparency. And, as expected, many of these discussions focused on the tradeoff between financial and social, and the need to measure impact. But, one of the central elements often missing in conversations about transparency is the need for sector stakeholders (particularly stakeholders that want to make money from social investing) to support the development of infrastructure that enables enterprises to be more transparent.

Let’s be clear. Many experts talk about how individual companies need to measure their impact. And that is an important element. But, in order to compare apples to apples, we need to think about larger tools that work across sector that can apply to numerous enterprises.  And, investors can be part of the solution. There’s too much talk about the need for metrics, but a lack of ownership for the creation of frameworks to make it easier for social entrepreneurs to measure!

Let’s think about the elements we need to make a sector robust. First you need entrepreneurs and enterprises. Check. You need talent that has the intellectual ability and experience to build an enterprise. Check. At some point, you need capital infusion. And, in order to build out a sector, you need measurement tools and platforms for learning and information exchange. Measurement tools are important for measuring impact, and particularly necessary to ensure transparency and accountability.

A great example of a sector that is quickly going through the growth stages of building out these elements is the affordable private school space. Gray Matters Capital, and its many organizational arms, has had incredible foresight to build this space brick by brick. This is patient capital in action. » Continue reading “All this Talk about Transparency–Where’s the Action?”

How’s your geography? If you haven’t looked at a world map lately, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what country the image above represents. Pause.  Still not sure?

This picture, taken by Ilana Shushansky at the New Little Scholars School in Hyderabad, shows every student in the school coming together to create a human map and flag of their nation.

The school is one of the many affordable private schools in Andhra Pradesh in South India. The photograph is one of the first submissions to the SNAPS photo contest, which is currently collecting inspirational images of affordable private schools around the world.

Affordable private schools are privately owned and operated by “edu-preneurs.”  These schools are an innovative form of for-profit social enterprise; they charge tuition fees that are affordable to low-income families while allowing the school to cover costs and become sustainable.

While education is free in India, the quality of government schools is difficult to maintain due to a lack of oversight. Affordable private schools offer an alternative for parents who want to provide their children with a quality education at a price they can afford.

If you have a great APS-related photograph to share, send it in today by visiting the SNAPS site before October 10!