DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

New Delhi: One of the remarkable developments we are seeing is the emergence of social entrepreneurship as serious and sustainable business. Social entrepreneurship has always been around but it is coming of age in terms of scope and impact.

One major impact one can make is through education. That is the basis of activities of Shiv Nadar Foundation. Through channeled funding the foundation seeks to develop leadership. They have special programs and institutes which focus on bringing a bright future for under privileged children.

As Saurav Adhikari, Senior Adviser, Shiv Nadar Foundation says “People own it back to the society and from where they have come.”

For Shiv Nadar Foundation it is philanthropy, for others it is an enterprise with a larger mission.

Sourabh Sharma of Milaap Social Ventures has developed a business model which combines the best of both worlds. And his logic is simple – charity is a onetime thing, one cannot run a business depending on the money received in charity. So he has developed a business model where Milaap gives micro credit to low income families with 50% lower interest rates than other creditors. With the money the poor can generate sustainable income. Milaap receives contributions from various individuals and institutions.

For Ramesh Surapuraju, financial inclusion comes from financial literacy. His company GeoSansar is involved in setting up kiosks in rural areas for easy access to financial facilities.

Another important aspect to maintain growth and sustainability is to reach out to maximum number of people and build capacity. Satyan Mishra, Founder of Drishtee focused on that to enable his enterprise to reach out to more than 14000 rural entrepreneurs in 5000 villages.

If the indicators to measure your success are to count how many people you have made financially aware of and how many of them returned back to you in future, social entrepreneurship is surely a huge success story.

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