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Beyond Profit is proud to announce a new partnership with GOOD Magazine to report on social enterprise in South Asia. Below is our first article.

If you know anything at all about social enterprise, you are probably familiar with the fact that many of the case studies cited as successful are Indian in origin. Case in point: Aravind Eyecare, Jaipur Rugs, Barefoot College, d.Light. It makes you wonder: Is India better at producing social entrepreneurs than other countries? Is there something in the water? And if India really has cornered the social enterprise market, how did they do it?

First, let’s look at what we know. India is massive. It’s bursting at the seams with people, and because one out of every six people on the planet is an Indian, we are statistically more likely to stumble upon Indians anywhere—and some of those people are bound to be social entrepreneurs, right? Of course, a big pile of people does not explain why social enterprises often thrive in India, and the policy environment certainly doesn’t help: There are no freebies for social enterprise, no special legal structures (like the L3C in the US or the CiC in the U.K.), and few policies that help enterprises get funding. In fact, some might say that Indian social enterprises have succeeded in spite of policy, not because of it.

What about funding? Most Indian social entrepreneurs would tell you that they have just as much trouble as the next guy. There are only a handful of “social” or “social/commercial” funds in India, and while there is a frenzy of interest in India from foreign investors, many of them ride on the coattails of domestic funds, investing only after a trusted Indian social investor has made the first move.

So, what makes India different? » Continue reading “Is India Really a Hotbed for Social Enterprise?”

This is the first in a series of six posts related to Affordable Private Schools. Every other week, we will be posting a new article on one aspect of the movement to give the poor a better education through entrepreneur-led schools in developing countries.

Yesterday, at the Clinton Global Initiative, there was a fascinating discussion on the pressing need to tackle youth unemployment on a global scale. Why? There are nearly 1.2 billion people on our planet between the ages of 15 and 25—the largest youth demographic in human history. About 90% of this group lives in the developing world and faces significant barriers to economic success.

What does this mean? We need to create over a billion jobs over the next decade—and we’re going to have to get creative about it.

As we’ve learned by watching the impact of the recession in the US, jobs don’t just materialize out of thin air. Job creation requires both a top-down policy effort, and a bottom-up focus on education. It requires long-term planning and forward thinking.

When we say that education is a key component, it’s important to realize that we don’t just mean putting kids in school. That’s the first step, of course. But, there’s much more to it than that.

First, there’s school quality. Take India for example. A remarkable 95% of primary school-age children are already in school. Half the battle has been won—the students are enrolled and going to school. What’s the problem then? According to a recent op-ed by author and commentator Gurcharan Das, one in four government primary teachers is illegally absent on any day and one in four who is present is not teaching. Part of these dismal stats is due to low teacher pay. The other reason is simply a lack of oversight. In a country as big as India, and in countries as rural as Kenya or Nigeria, this  is the time to to put the power into the hands of the people instead of depending on government to educate the masses—because that’s not necessarily working.

» Continue reading “1 Billion Idle Minds or 1 Billion Opportunities?”

On December 3, 1984, 40 tons of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, and settled over the nearby slums. No one knows for sure what caused the lethal leak – Union Carbide has always claimed that the leak was a result of sabotage. But what is known is that within three days of the leak, more than 3,000 people died, according to the official toll, from “poisoning by irrespirable gases.”

Unofficially, according to local residents, this number is as high as 7,000 or 8,000. About 2,000 more deaths were directly attributed over the next few years to the leak, and the number of total deaths to date is more than 15,000, while nearly 600,000 have been affected by the disaster in one way or the other.

More than 25 years later, Bhopal, home to what is often called the worst industrial disaster in history, has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiencies, as well as cancers, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses among all sections of the population. To this day, newborns are not immune to these effects. To make matters worse, no one has ever been held to account for the disaster, until today. » Continue reading “What Will The Future Bring?”

I couldn’t help but laugh when I received an email last week from ONE, a London-based lobby group spearheaded by Bono and Sir Bob Geldof, offering me the opportunity to “Hurl Berl(usconi) Out.” They’ve made a cheeky little game to spur us to try and throw Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi out of the G8. Why? Since promising to increase aid to Africa in 2005, Berlusconi has actually cut it.

Nothing like a bit of Berlusconi bashing to cheer you up.

But on a serious note, it seems that the West has extreme commitment phobia in standing true to their pledges regarding aid to Africa. In fact, they will miss their targets for 2010. » Continue reading “Play “Hurl Berl(usconi)””

Delhi is in sprint mode to ready itself for the upcoming Commonwealth Games this October, with a raft of construction projects—in various stages of completion—racing against time (and the impending monsoons) to reach the June 30 deadline.

International sporting events like this one are big business and the city is desperately trying to put its best face forward to greet its cosmopolitan guests. In the run-up to the Games, Delhi has attempted to overhaul its transport system, by adding 45 kilometers to the Metro rail network; building a new terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport; and, undertaking major road repairs around the city.

The rickshaw industry is also getting a makeover—at least while the Games are in town. » Continue reading “Working SocEnt into the Commonwealth Games”

Last month, Beyond Profit held our inaugural webinar exploring the results of our first Social Enterprise Landscape Survey. For those of you who missed it, we’re back for Round 2, so that you have the chance to tune in.

Don’t miss it on Tuesday, June 8 at 8.30am PST | 11.30am EST | 3.30pm GMT | 9pm IST. It’s being held in conjunction with Enterprising.IN.

Here’s what to expect: first, we’ll do a presentation of the survey results, keeping it short and sweet. Then, we’ll engage in conversation with two of our favorite Mumbai-based social entrepreneurs – Shilpi Kapoor of BarrierBreak Technologies and Inir Pinheiro of Grassroutes. We’ll hear their story, the challenges they’ve faced, what keeps them going, and their thoughts on what we’ve found in the survey. And finally, we want to hear from you, so we’ll keep plenty of time for audience participation. Register Here. » Continue reading “Second Round: A Deep Dive into Beyond Profit’s First-Ever Social Enterprise Landscape Survey”

There’s no escaping the role of trash in the history of Mumbai—in some parts, the very ground Mumbaikars walk on has its roots in refuse. Originally seven disparate islands, Bombay (as it was called then) was gradually melded into one land mass through sheer ingenuity, trash, concrete and anything else that can be used to “reclaim” land from the ocean. Today, waste continues to be an everpresent force in this metropolis of 18 (give or take a few) million people. As the city rapidly evolves and expands each day, there is little indication that the government is prepared to handle the steady stream of new residents and the waste they will inevitably create.  Presently, the informal sector plays a huge role in trash collection across Mumbai. The rise of private players in the sector and big development projects could present benefits, but also complicated challenges, to the informal waste management sector.

Garbage exists on a massive scale in Mumbai. According to the last estimates of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the body responsible for solid waste management (SWM), the city produces 6,500 tons of garbage every day. To give some perspective, that’s 13 million pounds—roughly equivalent to 17 fully loaded Airbus A380s, the largest passenger aircraft in existence, piling up every day.  Given that the city’s population is constantly expanding, along with its consumptive middle class, this number is poised to grow further.

» Continue reading “The Trash Economy”

When we think of vibrant social enterprise hubs, India, or sub-Saharan Africa, or even Latin America usually come to mind. Not often do we think of social enterprise in the Middle East and North Africa. But this is our own naiveté. Rest assured, social enterprise is on the upswing in the region. Awareness for entrepreneurial ventures addressing development issues, and those not wedded to the politics of the day, is rising.

Last month in Cairo, Ashoka Arab World hosted the Arab World Social Innovation Forum to advance social entrepreneurship in the region and to discuss challenges and opportunities of social and market-based initiatives to economic and social development. The event convened more than 250 practitioners from civil society, the public and private sectors, academics, as well as social entrepreneurs from more than 20 countries. Many of the participants had just returned from Obama’s Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington. » Continue reading “SocEnt Alive and Flourishing in the MENA”