Searchlight participants who attended “The Future of the Urban Poor” convening in Mumbai in April 2011 offer thoughts on their site visits to pro-poor initiatives in Mumbai. Attendees discuss the need and role of these social enterprises in their current context as well as in the writer’s home region. Teach for India is a nationwide movement of international college graduates and young professionals who will commit two years to teach full-time in under-resourced schools.

By Arthur Muliro, Society for International Development (Italy)

Teach for India (TFI) is a unique experiment that uses volunteer graduates working alongside regular teaching staff to try to cover some of the vacancies that are created by the inability of the state education system to meet the required staff numbers. Visiting the Worli Sea Face School, I observed – if only for a short while – the contribution that TFI is able to make to the quality of instruction of children. » Continue reading “Teach for India”

This story originally appeared in our May 5th, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe

An innovative education model in Bhopal shows one way to give poor urban children access to a quality education.

The Organization for Awareness of Integrated Social Security (OASiS) is a social innovations lab in India where people can experiment with ideas on social development and ultimately become social entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2003, OASiS has developed five social innovations: a social security system, an insurance system for the disabled, a social credit system, a forest village integrated development model and an education model for the children of urban slums called the Museum School. » Continue reading “The Museum School”

Everyday this week, we bring to you some key findings of our Indian Social Enterprise Landscape Survey.

Sectors to Watch

Education
Sector with a track record of profit
The Education sector has shown a marked degree of financial stability and growth potential. There are two key elements. First, the sector represents the highest number of profit-making enterprises (38%) among others, and also has one of the lowest numbers of loss-making entities (24%). Second, we observed a good growth potential; 38% of education enterprises are breaking even — which means the number of profit-making enterprises in this sector could increase in the coming years.

Health
Sector with large growth potential
Although the sector currently produces a very small number of profit-making entities, it has the lowest percentage (13%) of loss-making enterprises. Most importantly, at 73%, the Health sector has the largest segment of break-even businesses. If/when these enterprises begin to turn a profit, the Health sector could sustain a multitude of successful, profit-making enterprises.

Rural Development
Sector to watch out for future growth
Despite the fact that the largest number of social enterprises are in this field, it is the biggest loss-making sector at the moment. However, Rural Development demonstrated the largest revenue increases last year, so there could be more surprises in store.

The survey report, which offers an in-depth analysis of the results, is available for INR400/US$10. Just click the Social Enterprise Landscape Survey Report banner on the top of our website – www.beyondprofit.com or send an email to Asako Matsukawa at publications@intellecap.com.

See other data sets from the Social Enterprise Landscape Survey
Revenue Stream
Profitability

For businesses, transparency means the full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information. Being transparent—about progress and shortcomings—makes it more likely that assets will be accurately valued and allows prospective clients to see what they will get, before they actually do. Gray Matters Capital (GMC) in its 3rd Leadership Conference, made an attempt to reinstate this very fact among the Affordable Private Schools (APS) sector in Hyderabad last week.

However, spreading this message in schools that are working with low income communities and helping them understand the meaning and importance of transparency is a great challenge. There is a need to help school entrepreneurs improve their environments. But in the absence of any industry standards and with a current lack of information about the APS sector, comparison becomes difficult and so does the identification of changes required.

The three pillars of transparency are open communication, accountability, and measurability.  With transparency comes honesty, leading to value. GMC’s rating tool, developed in partnership with M-CRIL (Microfinance Rating International Limited) for rating Affordable Private Schools, encompasses the third pillar of transparency – measurability – and in turn triggers the need for the other two. The tool not only covers the academic achievements and infrastructure of the schools, but also looks at the learning environment and governance aspects.

The ratings tool can be used by any of the key players in the Affordable Private Schools ecosystem – schools, banks, educational investors, donors, parents, and educational service providers.  But, in reality, the rating tool will largely be used by the schools, in order to get themselves benchmarked against others. Hence, it is most likely that schools will have to get themselves rated, and they will bear the cost of the tool.

Though the appetite of such schools for this tool still needs to be tested, it is a step in the right direction. The tool can not only help the schools raise finance but also provides a competitive platform and hence motivation to perform better.

India has a population of 1.2 billion, with 30% of people below the age of 15. What does it mean for the world? It means that whatever we do has a large scale impact on everything, and the majority of future leaders of this world will be from India. So, ensuring that we create a lively and competitive environment for our future leaders through education becomes part of our responsibility.