Beyond Profit spoke to Sameer Kalwani, Chief Technology Officer of Sankalp 2010 winner Sarvajal, about its technological advancements and measuring social impact.

What has being a Sankalp winner meant to Sarvajal?

Winning Sankalp 2010′s Health, Water, and Sanitation Award for an Emerging Enterprise has aided Sarvajal in two ways. Being a young organization, we wanted to make sure we were moving in the right direction. Gaining the approval of Sankalp’s experienced judging panel reaffirmed our business model. The questions the panel posed also helped us adjust our methodologies, getting us closer to a sustainable, scalable solution that encourages the spread of clean water throughout India. What made the outcome even more beneficial was the network that emerged out of winning the award. After Sankalp we were able to establish a couple of partnerships that have helped us bring our solutions to other parts of India that we were not operating in before.

» Continue reading “Why We Measure Impact”

Nilekani talked to Beyond Profit about her work in education, the next big issue in social enterprise in India and her session at the Sankalp Forum.

What do you hope comes out of your Indian impact investing sessions at Sankalp?

I hope I do a good job, of course. Certainly, I will learn much. Will it impact on creating new impact investors? Well, I hope it can deepen a debate.

In 2007, you said primary education in India was at a tipping point. Has it tipped?

Several milestones have been crossed since 2007. The RTE (Right to Education) is in place, the Ministry of HRD (Human Resource Development) has become active about the next level of education – secondary and tertiary. There is a clear governmental priority for quality of outcomes at all levels. Many nonprofit organizations and also for-profit entities remain very active. Best of all, parents are making smart choices for themselves on education for their children wherever they can. As always in India, you can do all that and there still remain formidable challenges. But I still maintain we have won the battle of ideas on primary education. Almost all children of this and future generations will complete primary school. We have to keep making sure they get their time’s worth and the joy of learning they deserve. » Continue reading “The Battle of Ideas”

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’”

This story originally appeared in our December 3, 2010 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

In the first issue of Beyond Profit, published in April 2009, we wrote about the emergence of the impact investing industry, which facilitates investments that create a positive social impact beyond financial return. Earlier this week, a report by J.P. Morgan and the Rockefeller Foundation declared impact investment a new asset class—a remarkable development in the lifecycle of this industry. What does it mean for social enterprise? Lindsay Clinton analyzes the current landscape.

On November 29, J.P. Morgan and the Rockefeller Foundation released a report that will likely serve as a turning point in the development of impact investing. The report, which assesses expected and realized returns of more than 1,000 impact investments, estimates that the industry presents an investment opportunity between US$400bn and US$1 trillion with profit potential between US$183bn and US$667bn. Importantly, the report declares impact investment an asset class which provides a strong indicator to investors who may have shied away from social investing in the past to reconsider this emerging investment category. » Continue reading “Impact Investing: Challenges and Opportunities”

Last week, over 400 social entrepreneurs, social investors, and socially motivated types converged to talk shop in Bombay (that’s Mumbai for you progressives). The Sankalp Social Enterprise and Investment Forum brought people from across India, and some very committed folks from abroad (who we hope used some sort of carbon off-setting system), to discuss how we can create inclusive wealth for those living at the base of the pyramid.
» Continue reading “Bridges to Entry”