Dream-a-Dream

Friday afternoon 4.30 pm. Children from Ananya Shikshana Kendra and Makkala Jagriti are getting together at the SPT Sports Academy, Bangalore to play a friendly football match. Dream-a-Dream, a Bangalore based Civil Society Organization, facilitates the match for the children as a part of their sports program to build Life Skills in underprivileged children.

The kids from Makkala Jagriti are a little late - the Dream-a-Dream bus has picked them up from their school and tackled heavy Bangalore city traffic to bring them over to the Sports Academy. But when they arrive there is a flurry of reunion - kids meeting each other, colour jerseys and football studs being worn, boys and girls ready for the match - everyone excited to be outdoors, playing. The youngest child is around 6 years old all the way to senior kids from grades 8, 9 and above. The children are separated by height and age - and smaller teams are created. Each group then goes into a separate part of the field to warm up under the guidance of the team of coaches.

Ajit Gupta - the head Coach of the SPT Football programme tells me he is really excited to be doing these sessions. His team also runs 'regular' sessions each weekend where eager parents from in and around Bangalore bring their children in for Football Coaching. But Coach Ajit says working with the kids from Dream-a-Dream is energizing. The children are eager, very ready to be coached and wanting to learn and use every minute of the time they have on the field.

The senior children are formed into two teams and the rules are laid down for the match - boys and girls form part of each team. The coach tells me that the number of girls has been steadily increasing. The game gets under way - and gets into a heated mode real soon. By half time one side is clearly ahead - the other team is dejected. The coach huddles the team - and teaches them to deal with the frustration of loosing and convert it into strategy for the next half.

This is truly a life skills session. None of this can be taught in the regular academic classes. And without the support from Dream-a-Dream, the children from Ananya and Makkala Jagriti would not really have a chance to learn these critical skills of life survival - through such a fun and engaged excercise.



These life skills have the capacity of being a great leveler between regular and 'underprivileged' children. Vishal Talreja, the young CEO of the organization passionately believes in that possibility. At the end its about how well you can deal with issues, problems, situations in life - and the programmes run by his team focus on helping build that capacity through co-curricular activities.

Covering a key area of skill building their work focuses on the critical portion of the gap between an underprivileged child and his/ her ability to work with equal opportunities.




Working across several partners in Bangalore who work with underprivileged children, D-a-D is now looking to scale up their work and are struggling to determine if the scale that they want to achieve should be in terms of deeper impact or more numbers covered - or both? Given that this is a critical need area. That triggered the discussion and work with Innovation Alchemy.





They have built an amazing network of volunteers who come together to support the various activities and programmes. A small core team manages the operations and works through partner organizations and volunteers to reach over 2000 children in Bangalore. That's not a small number considering each child is in atleast one activity each week of the academic year.

As the Dream-a-Dream core Team came together last month for a 'scale-architecture' session, clearly the idea they have experimented with and fine tuned incredibly over the last 7-8 years is powerful, the operations are effective - and now its time to potentially reach 500,000 children in the next 5 years! Through a whole new service model leveraging Learning Skills Experts. The thought of being able to do that has energized the team! With a powerful fund raising base, D-a-D hopes to increase its reach and impact significantly - and also go beyond Bangalore and Mysore soon...

You can support their work by running in the Mumbai Marathon coming January. Infact you will find Dream-a-Dream at some of the biggest marathons across India, being supported by a bevy of volunteers who enjoy raising funds and giving time to this project...

Innovation Alchemy...scaling-up social enterprises

Growth is a tricky issue when is comes to the subject of creating Social Impact. In my transition from a largely corporate environment into the development sector - the definition of 'growth' and 'scale-up' stood out as a key point of difference that needed consideration...which led to the setting up of Innovation Alchemy, a firm focused on enabling growth agendas in the social impact space.

Of course, creating change and social impact is complex. People are dealing with the real challenges of poor economy, endangered ecology, lack of opportunity and lack of skills to use those opportunities and make real change possible.

In such complex scenarios, when you talk about 'growing an idea' or 'scaling an initiative' what do you focus on? How do you combine the passion needed to work hard and long in these areas - with the sharp business principles that need to be adopted for real scale.

A PRIA - John Hopkins University study in 2001 indicated that there were around 1.2 million NGOs in India - that number could well be 3 million now. Those are huge numbers by any standard - and in a largely fragmented sector, without an institutional framework to grow within.

What it essentially means is that there are hundreds of ideas out there and lots of passion, being implemented in small scale to try and impact local communities, local issues. Several of these organizations have demonstrated impact at a micro level, are great ideas - and now really need to scale-up and grow for real change to be visible. NGO's have started to transition into Social Enterprise organizations, and the issue of scaling up is becoming a loud conversation.

As a start point for the discussions is to define the intent for scaling up... what is the focus?

1. Increasing the number of 'people'/ 'communities' impacted by the initiatives? For example SKS Microfinance in India now reaches around 3 million individual customers - poor women - who have benefited from micro-enterprise loans..

2. Or Deepening the impact on the people and communities - so increasing the nature and complexity of projects and the 'comprehensiveness' of the impact. BRAC in Bangladesh has evolved since 1972 to be a huge platform of support initiatives that has the capacity to customize and provide solutions to the poor, in a very localized manner. A poor woman in the village can rely on BRAC to provide her with essential health care, education for herself and her family, business support, legal assisstance and a voice in local issues.

3. Or doing a combination of both in an attempt to stay small - but have larger impact - collaborating with a lot of partners in a sort of R&D based, franchise model for growth where others take up the idea and build it in their regions...while the core team works on a small 'lab' or core zone of impact to create newer solutions..

At Innovation Alchemy we look at these challenges up close and work with the evolving Social Enterprise Teams in their quest for growth. We apply a very collaborative, hands-on approach in our work - thus getting involved over 12-18 months in working with each team to help them design and develop scale for their organizations.

School!

Govt. School, Kurivundi, Nanjangud Taluk, Mysore District.

On a trip into the Cotton farming belt around Mysore, came by this charming school. The students were having a science exhibition.

Turbines, water harvesting systems, water storage & sprinkling systems for dry rain-fed areas.....wonderful little experiments that reflected keen minds, a science teacher's involvement in his students... and the fact that most experiments were looking to solve local contextual problems. More on that in a separate blog post ...but what really caught my attention was the beautiful charming faces of the happy children...

Everyone wanted to get into the picture - and getting so many excited faces together into the frame made these images come alive!

Perseverance and a 'Thick Skin': India's Next Wave of Entrepreneurs - India Knowledge@Wharton

Continuing from the last post - on the need for social entrepreneurs. While this article is not directly about social entrepreneurship - the principles apply....Perseverance and a 'Thick Skin': India's Next Wave of Entrepreneurs - India Knowledge@Wharton

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Social enterprise - the much needed catalyst..

On a continuum, social purpose - and business for profit have been separated and positioned at two extreme ends. Never to be brought together, as it would be impossible to serve a human need and make profit at the same time - even if it was possible, it would be exploitative.

Entrepreneurs of course respect no such perceptions. Bold new models, hybrid collaborations, breakthrough products and services designed for the 'bottom of the pyramid' have signified a new breed of social purpose enterprises that blend social impact with business - under the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship!

If you step back and look at development and growth of people and economy - The government initiated development in the early years of independence across agriculture and infrastructure. Large enterprises in conjunction with liberal policies of trade brought in the next wave of development and economic prosperity into India. I firmly believe that it will be Social Entrepreneurs who, with their bold vision and enterprise, will lead the next wave of socio-economic development in our country.

Some really interesting and inspiring models like Vatsalya Hospitals, Selco Solar Solutions, Vision Entrepreneurs at Vision Spring - give an indication of whats possible once entrepreneurs find the link between a real need - and the capacity to convert it into a set of viable solutions.

Are these exploitative? Are micro-lending institutions charging too much interest? Should poor people have to pay for services? These are interesting questions - depending on who is asking them.

For a poor family, with no access to potable drinking water - spending Rs. 5.00 every day to purchase water from a local entrepreneur (who is funded by an MFI and equipped with innovative low cost equipment) - is an economic activity. Clean water keeps his family healthy - more people can earn and be productive. Rs. 5.00 is payable.

Should the government be providing it? Yes. But can this family wait till the government reaches them - or is he better of finding more enterprising solutions that help him increase the productivity of his family? He cannot wait. He must not.


I know that this is probably an over simplification of the challenges. But Exploitation, I find, is becoming an inclusion-phobic term. It stays as an excuse for allowing a lot of people to continue having debates on what is good and what is not, and what should be done..and should not be allowed. Arm chair dialogue in true democratic style, leading nowhere.

Aid is on its way out - as many non-profits realize the sustained viability of having independent revenue models. More non-profits are investing time in becoming self-sustaining. Beyond Good Intentions follows 10 interesting cases across the world that are demonstrating this trend. Bill Gates calls it creative capitalism. And the jury is still out on whether this form of enterprise is healthy for the larger good.

Not withstanding, social enterprise is becoming the much needed catalyst for bold new initiatives, new breakthrough models, rapid innovations that can bridge sustained impact - and economic viability. More power to them.

What do you think? Would be interested to hear a different point of view on this. And also hear of examples where you believe social enterprise has been the change agent...

Opportunity models via Mobility inclusion

It’s pretty clear that the mobile device is no longer just a talking device for personal use, designed for urban users – but it’s instead a computing device, an economic device, an opportunity gateway.. that has the power to transform lives through inclusion.

I studied four examples specifically to cull out some learning on how 'opportunity models' have been crafted using mobility as the route:

1. Space Data Corp - Wireless Network Coverage

Jerry Knoblach wanted to bring wireless service to millions of rural Americans. His plan: Beam it down from balloons hovering at the edge of space. His company, Space Data Corp., already launches 10 balloons a day across the Southern U.S., providing specialized telecom services to truckers and oil companies. The balloons soar 20 miles into the stratosphere, each carrying a shoebox-size payload of electronics that acts like a mini cell phone "tower" covering thousands of square miles below. To make this effective, an operational and economical model has been put into place that pays farmers to release hot air balloons with transmitters every 24 hours.


2. M-Pesa (Vodafone – Safaricom)

In a country like Kenya, where there are less than 2 million bank accounts serving a population of 32 million, the lack of an efficient, affordable banking infrastructure is a contributing factor in the persistence of poverty. Prohibitively high cost of banking and the fact that a majority of Kenyans earn less than $1 a day added to the problem and left a big gap in the development potential.

Vodafone came up with a single but powerful approach to tackle poverty in the developing countries where they operated, based on the insight that access to finance facilitates entrepreneurial activity. And thus was born M-Pesa.

Essentially account holders can have virtual accounts at Safaricom and operate it using SMS – thus transacting business between individuals and individual to businesses, without really needing a 'traditional' bank account.


3. Cell Bazaar

A rudimentary e-bay like service that leverages the simple, widespread power of SMS to bring the market to the phone. By sending simple text messages to 3838, users post items for sale, look for items to buy, and obtain current market prices of products or services.

This is essentially a craigslist over mobile phones! Any Grameenphone user can dial 3838 and listen to the latest items on the market in Bengali. After dialing 3838, users choose from 8 categories: Jobs, Mobile Phones, Agriculture, Motorcycle, Car, Electronics, Computers, and To-Let. Every few hours, users will hear new information through this service.

Although 75% of Bangladesh’s population has no access to electricity and Internet penetration is only 0.03%, Cell Bazaar has more than one million users.



4. Voxiva - Alerta

A health and disease surveillance system that enables health workers to use existing modes of communication, without any Internet access. This system challenges old paradigms related to monitoring diseases in remote rural contexts by enabling:

• Real-time collection of critical information from a distributed network of people;
• Rapid analysis of data to drive decision-making and allocation of resources;
• Communication back to the field to coordinate response.

Effectively transforming the village pay phone into a communications device on par with that of a computer – and putting the power of technology and communication within easy access for remote rural users.


These four diverse examples from very different corners of the world had insightful patterns:


1. The economics of phone usage currently assumes that the consumer of services pays for it. Instead we see here that service providers need to view the consumers as the producers. Producers of real time data, knowledge, information and insights that can be exchanged for services. The business model is not based on usage – but on contribution. Cell Bazaar applies the principle of user-generated content becoming the currency for mobile usage.

2. Access to mobile solutions is largely based on network coverage, which involves high investments and slow movements into remote areas. Space Data Corp experiments demonstrate that Network coverage can potentially break free from the assumptions of location, physical infrastructure and huge investments – to a method where it can reach everyone. With an effective economic model that pays for itself.

3. Paradoxically high-tech solutions need not mean more devices, or more complex applications for users. Alerta combines existing modes of communication inside villages and overlays it with a robust application to capture and interpret voice inputs from all kinds of devices…the backend of this solution is fairly sophisticated. But for the user it just involves talking into a phone. A simple act that now has the power to save lives, control disease and enable prosperity.

4. Urban users have followed a sequence in reaching today’s advanced technology state. From simple phones and computers to high tech converged gadgets using cloud computing. There is no reason that rural users need to follow this sequence. Business model innovations that compel users to adapt to voice or video or any other complex technology have demonstrated this already.


Its very interesting to note that Prosperity (and inclusive growth) is a combination of economics, opportunity and accessibility. Examples like M-Pesa, Cell Bazaar and Alerta have created opportunity models and powered them with mobile technology – thus driving prosperity in developing economies.

When Samsung says 'Next is What?' - its time to look away from the product paradigm and dig deeper into user lives and regional contexts. Nokia's Life Tools has some interesting initial experiments in that direction for rural users...

Innovation...for Inclusive Growth.

The economy of India, measured in US exchange terms is the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of around $ 1 Trillion . It recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.1% for the fiscal year 2007-2008 which makes its growth the second fastest among emerging economies in the world, after China.

However in parallel, the Planning commission of India estimates that 27.5% of the total population of India lives below the poverty line. This is measured based on per ca pita consumption expenditure of a household below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas. That is below $1.25 per person.



In addition, a 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) found that 65% of Indians, or approximately 750 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day (equivalent parity with $2 per day) with most working in the "informal labor sector with no job or social security. Of this population approximately 80% live in the rural or semi urban context.



What this means in simple terms is that approximately 750 millions Indians are outside the purview of what is classically perceived as the ‘traditional market’ for most goods and services. This ‘under served’ market has the attention of the world ever since Bottom of the Pyramid was written.

This market is expected to behave and function in a different manner than traditional. And so Sales & Marketing teams often try to penetrate this market with modified urban strategies, fail in their efforts to create any impact - and then respond with the sentiment that the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is a myth and that ‘this market is not yet ready for our products – it needs to mature’.

Increasingly I find organizations reaching this conclusion after some attempts - and subsequently stopping initiatives in really penetrating these under served markets. Instead the Chairman or CEO converts it into a CSR initiative. Inclusion then suddenly gets limited to a 'feel good' factor under Corporate Social responsibility.

CSR works on the limited paradigm of Philanthropy - rather than sustained impact.And so while there are several CSR initiatives, the sum total of all such initiatives creates very little impact.

Notwithstanding these dilutions, the sheer size (750 million people) of these under served markets commands a perspective. And while these complex ecosystems need maturing, it is clear that the sequence for impact will need to be:

Step1, create a fortune for the bottom of the pyramid - through economic and social opportunity creation and inclusion
And then step 2, capture a portion of the new value created in an equitable manner. This will form the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.



The success of the Micro finance model is a testimony to this sequence. In a recent visit to an MFI center near Hyderabad I met a group of women who have benefited from these small loans. A stone cutter who could often not even feed her children a few years ago is today running her own micro-enterprise, providing employment to 10 others. She is perfectly happy paying the high interest charged - is driving the MFI to give her larger loans - so that she can grow faster. Her aspiration today is for gold jewelery, a pension scheme for future investment and durables. Service providers in these areas will today find this woman a 'mature' consumer who is ready to consume!!



But if we go deeper into the process, the steps clearly include first creating new value by delivering the most relevant service (organized micro finance) and then capturing resulting value (higher interest rates + new opportunities for other servivces) - in a manner that it benefits everyone involved.

This in many ways, I believe, is the basis for a truly impactful 'inclusive growth' story.

Such an approach presumes a few critical innovation sensitive areas:

1. Focus on crafting unique win-win business models - not just having an idea to 'help' a community. Crafting business models needs 'business thinking' profit/ loss/ income/ expenditure. These terms are often anathema to social organizations. That's a mindset that needs change.

2. Crafting unique 'Engagement Models' - of how entities will interact with each other in socially acceptable ways. A business model that makes a land owning farmer sell FMCG products to his village will probably not work. Because the farmer considers 'selling soaps and shampoo' below his social dignity. Therefore insights are needed about the relevant social norms, such that unique engagement models can be crafted.

3. Collaboration amongst entities in the ecosystem - its not sustainable (or feasible) for a single entity to create new value models, deliver that value and also find ways to capture it. Therefore you may need an MFI to create new value, a rural distribution network to add depth and capture some value, a telecom network to deliver and capture some value, a school/ hospital to enhance capacity to create value in the long term. So here a key question is how can such entities identify each other and co-create new models and work together to create and capture value?

4. Deploy technology to consolidate information, learning and data capture across collaborating entities. This is probably the most critical element. If everything else works, but there is no technology to consolidate learning, analyse data and make relevant decisions - there is no way to scale an inclusive growth model. Mobile networks, computers, satellite scans, GPRS etc are now reaching deep parts of India. How do we build solutions that connect all these into central frameworks where data can be consolidated?

Do such examples exist? What can we learn from them?