Yatra Saar by Mrinalini Sardar

Yatra Saar 2012

Yatra Saar 2011-2012 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication should be copied or reproduced without prior permission. Book Size: 221mm x 277mm (closed) Typeset in: Rotis Sans Serif Std and Lobster 1.4 Papers: Cover: Sun S-111 Series . 260 gsm Inside: Sun S-083c Series . 130 gsm Designed by: Mrinalini Sardar . PGDPD . Graphic Design National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Guided by: Tarun Deep Girdher

Yatra Saar An immemorable journey of discovery and transformation.

A Jagriti 2012 Publication

Contents 04 Foreword

05 Making of Yatra Saar

06 Common Themes of Enterprise

09 Role Model Visits 10 Harish Hande, Selco 14 Narayana Murthy, Infosys 16 Dr. G. Venkataswamy, Aravind Eye care 19 Gouthami, Travel Another India 20 Manoj Kumar and Leena Joseph, Naandi Foundation 23 Joe Madiath, Gram Vikas 26 Arbind Songh, Nidan 28 Anshu Gupta, Goonj 31 Bunker Roy, Barefoot College 32 Jayashree Vyas and Reema Nanavati, Sewa

35 Panel Discussions 36 Technology Start-ups and Social Impact 38 Enabling Rural and Agri Enterprises 40 Skill Development Enterprises: Opportunities & Challenges 42 Power of One

44 Biz Gyan Tree

48 Train Sessions 49 Women and Leadership 50 Typography 51 Plastic and Sustainability 52 Listening Skills 53 Product Design

54 Conclusion

55 Sponsors

CONTENTS // Yatra Saar 2012

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Jagriti Yatra is an ambitious train journey of 7,500 kms travelling the length and breadth of the country, carrying 450 young minds and exposing them to the individuals and enterprises who are developing unique solutions to the challenges of India. From the ‘compassionate business’ of Aravind Eye Care to the grit and gumption of Anshu Gupta to the determination of the high-energy women of SEWA, each institution visited has an inspiring story to tell. And by taking the Yatris to the karmabhoomi of these role models, Jagriti seeks to galvanize young citizens to start believing in Enterpise Led Development early in their lives. Within merely fifteen days, the Yatris visited ten role model institutions and witnessed their work. They listened to some powerful thought-leaders during the four panel discussions. They immersed themselves in a rural environment to understand the problems of local people and came up with enterprise solutions during Biz Gyan Tree exercise. The schedule on the train was packed with sessions, presentations and compartment discussions. You can imagine it’s not an easy task to capture all this learning in one document and the task becomes all the more ambitious when you try to achieve this while on the train! Yet, it’s important to document these visits and make sense out of it. This document – Yatra Saar – is an attempt to record the key learnings of the Yatra and more importantly, to identify the common themes of enteprise. We hope that the Yatris, while embarking on their own entrepreneurial journey, may look back at this document and pick some gems of wisdom from it. The process of drafting the Yatra Saar is equally exciting which is elaborated in the ‘Making of the Yatra Saar’ section. I would like to thank Priyanka Kumar – a 2008 Yatri – who came on the train in time and took charge of the Yatra Saar, and the energetic synthesis group – Shruthi Iyer, Ruchi Choudhary, Joanita Britto, Vishal Vachani, Vishal Shah, Shalini Menon, Vayavya Mishra, Saumendra Swain, Vijay Khanna, Bhavya Sharma, Pallavi Gandhalikar, Rajen Makhijani, Gobinda Dalai and Dr. Sanjiv Mishra – for pulling together this document. Also, thanks to Aswin Yogesh and Mrinalini Sardar for desigining the layout. Finally, thanks to all the Yatris for their suggestions.

Ashutosh Kumar Director Programming Jagriti Yatra 02

Lastly, don’t see this document as a piece of detailed research work done on the enterprises visited during the Yatra. In fact, the document was complied in the last few days of the Yatra and is completely based on the observations by the Yatris; and in my mind richer as a result.

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An IIT engineer, a TEDx speaker, secretary of the Youth Development Foundation, a sociology post grad, a professor from BITS Misra, a Gandhi fellow, a law graduate, an entrepreneur, a McKinsey employee, a former techie… add to this eclectic crowd, Shashank Mani, one of the board members of the Jagriti Yatra team. This is what bus number 10 took off with, but little did any of us fathom that the three hour discussion from Tilonia to Ajmer would heat up to dramatic levels of us shedding our sweaters in the cold of Rajasthan! The ‘making of the Yatra Saar’ starts from the individual groups doing the analysis of the role models and the panel discussions assigned to them and presenting to the rest of the train during the AC Chair Sessions followed by a critique by the audience. Based on the critique and the feedback, the groups captured their observations and learnings in a summary document which is a part of this Saar. A smaller group of Yatris, called Synthesis Group, was formed to pull together all the learnings in form of this document. From assigning tasks to setting deadlines, Ashutosh took charge and set the stage for the Yatra Saar to be delivered on time, following which we had an elaborate discussion on the common factors binding the various role models visited. Given the diverse environments that each of the members represented, the synergy that kept flowing through the group was infectious. Ruchi, the self-appointed scribe, kept track of all that coming – ideas, facts, opinions, statements, counter arguments, examples, quotes, and conflicts-a sample set of the discussions on the Yatra by a sample space of India! In the words of a participant, “Being a part of the Saar is not a privilege, it’s a responsibility”. Once back to, as Ashutosh puts it, ‘our stationary lives’, and while we were still in the ‘train-lag’ phase, we got busy getting down to collating the pieces of the Saar. Of course, Vishal Shah and Vachini had probably the most challenging tasks-to get the write ups from each Group and each Biz-Gyan group respectively; numerous calls made, e-mails sent, Facebook and Google Plus did their bit! Shalini summed up the sessions that were held in the train on Women and Leadership, Sustainability and Plastic, Typography, Listening Skills and Product Design. Shalini and Joanita helped with the proof-reading of the entire document. Mrinalini and Aswin took the charge of laying out the layout of this document. Invariably there is much more learning than what the document presents, but the Saar would hopefully serve as a guide through our ‘dark nights’ and act as a trigger to remind us of all that we saw, experienced, heard, spoke, felt, thought, learnt and unlearnt.

THE MAKING // Yatra Saar 2012

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A dozen role models and their enterprises, numerous speakers and distinguished panellists from all over the country- transcending limits, each of them had a different story to offer us – pushing us to believe in looking beyond the horizon. From solving problems, ranging from lack of sanitation in rural Orissa to complicated logistics in distribution of clothes to rural India, to making sure children in low income schools get a nutritious meal to setting up capitalist IT ventures… We heard them all! In spite of the obvious differences in the work done, there is a thread connecting all these social and business entrepreneurs visited during the Yatra. The common characteristics that unite them are:

Perseverance They say “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. All the role models epitomised this cliché, by never getting bogged down by defeat in a battle, instead, always focused on the war. From Joe Madiath and Bunker Roy, who spent decades away from their home land, working on their ideas; to Mr Murthy whose first venture was a failure- d his struggle lasted for a decade before Infosys became the first Indian company to be listed on the NASDAQ- each one of the models showed grit determination and perseverance in times of trial.

Collaboration – It’s about us: A prominent feature in most of the social enterprises visited was the value given to collaboration. It would be safe to call this prudence-since collaboration aids in reaching out, which effectively leaves deeper impact. This was seen most effectively in Goonj, which collaborates with about 150 non-profit and for-profit organizations across the country, as well as Naandi and Nidan which work closely with the government in different states of India...However, it is also interesting to note that Infosys and Aravind eye care took the organic route of expansion by scaling up their activities. As observed by one of the panellists, Mr Ravi from Manzil, 'An organization loses its soul, if it focuses too much on expansion'. Hence, it would be fair to conclude that it is prudent for organizations to scale up to certain extent, and later increase its expanse through collaboration.

Strong support systems – Family, friends and more: Yet another common theme that sprung over and again was the support systems on which the success stories of the role models rested. These systems manifested themselves in various forms- family encouragement, teams, mentors etc.

1) Family: Initially, it is always tough to break the “family and friends” barrier. As Venkat 02

from e farm, in one of his lighter moments, put it, “My biggest challenge was convincing my wife and mother!” It is the support from family and friends that creates the first patrons of the organisation. Dr V roped in his sister and brother in law in the hospital during its salad days. Ms Gouthami attributes her success to her mother, as does Anshu Gupta who also credits his wife and daughters.

The mentorship was more subtle in nature, unlike the ones mentioned by Nandini Vaidyanathan and Jude Kelly. However, in the present day situation where start-ups have a very high mortality rate, use of mentoring services cannot be neglected, as exposed by RedBus and EkoPay.

2) The Team: The second aspect of this would be the TEAM. Quoting Mr Murthy on this, a team that is “mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive” is one of the prerequisites for success. Bunker Roy and Harish Hande laid great emphasis on the vital role a good team plays. While the team might comprise of family members as in the case of Dr. V and Anshu Gupta, and for others like Narayan Murthy and Phaninder Sama of RedBus it might be former colleagues, it remained that building a complementary and dedicated team is definitely a stepping stone to success.

An inciting incident – The trigger Perhaps the drama in fiction does have its elements of being inspired from reality. This realisation dawned upon us when each of our role models described an unexpected (and sometimes mundane) event (and their reaction to it) which led to the building of a successful enterprise. This “inciting incident” has been a point of reflection and instrumental in shaping the vision and mission of these individuals. Anshu Gupta’s encounter with rickshawallah Habeeb provoked him to provide clothing to millions of poor Indians, Joe Madiath’s experience with the Orissa cyclone led him to improve the conditions of villages in India, Dr V’s exposure to the visually challenged led him to start Aravind Eye Care Systems, Phanindra’s ticketless story to the inception of RedBus, all are predicaments from which we see the motivation, of our role models, to not accept the given circumstances, but choose to find a solution. As Mr Murthy says, “Valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.”

3) The Mentor: A word strewn across almost all of our visits was ‘Mentor’. A mentor provides not only valuable advice and subject matter expertise, but also brings a strong network, practical knowledge and inspiration to make sure the idea sees the light of day. A few interesting points about this breed of mentors mentioned by our role models: • They could be called the traditional ‘gurus’, as opposed to the present day commercially available mentoring services. • The mentors were not necessarily very famous people; it varied from the mason who inspired Bunker Roy, to professors from college to others who have been working in the same field. 01

COMMON THEMES OF ENTREPRISE // Yatra Saar 2012

A vision – The audacious goal: A feature that is inherent to every role model is their courage to think big. They set what others would term as “Audacious Goals”-and strived to achieve it. Dr V said that the lens is the size of a button and should not cost more than one. He challenged existing technology with this bold statement. SEWA did not just think of helping women open bank accounts, but thought of starting a separate bank - for women. Nidaan chose to work in dismal conditions which most people would find “hopeless”. All the role models were bold enough to question the

Innovation – Frugality and unlocking community potential are the keys: In the Indian context, where scaling and affordability of “conventional” resources are neither viable and most times in dearth, it is essential to be frugal and look for alternate sources. Many a time in a direction that might seem unthinkable. From Gram Vikas, which achieved 85% of the goals with just 15% of the budget to Goonj, which applied a simple yet innovative and collaborative method to clothe millions of people- all of them have led us to see how to achieve ‘more with less’. They ensured sustainability of their initiatives in a unique manner- by unlocking the community commitment. Bunker Roy empowered the Dalits. SEWA makes women run the show. Gram Vikas ensures consent and involvement of ‘EVERY’ member of the community. The examples are numerous and have the underlying act of involvement of each stakeholder, rather than an external 02

involvement of ‘EVERY’ member of the community. The examples are numerous and have the underlying act of involvement of each stakeholder, rather than an external top level decision being forced down the hierarchy. A succession plan – What after? None of our role models stopped at achieving success for themselves. They look at longevity, for instance Bunker Roy and Joe Madiath have put in place strong processes and empowered the team to the extent that there is no longer a necessity of a single ‘leader’ to keep the momentum going. These organizations have thus evolved as self-sustaining systems.

Others like Arbind Singh of Nidaan, and Anshu Gupta of Goonj, and the four founders of RedBus.in are first generation leaders, and have a long innings to go before they pass the baton. At a corporate like Infosys, there are stringent rules for succession plans in place-especially retirement age- which has been followed.

Being thick-skinned – Taking critique in stride: All of our role models have faced strong criticism, had their idea ridiculed and termed as being over ambitious and perhaps unreasonable, but nothing could deter them. Criticism, in a society where every novel act is viewed with scepticism, is inevitable. What makes a role model is how the criticism is handled. Having developed a thick skin as they have taken (and continue to take) criticism in their stride, and use it positively, rather than letting it deter them. As the French say, “It is only at the tree loaded with fruit that people throw stones”. 30

Role Model Visits

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ROLE MODEL VISITS // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model The Solar Electric Light Company or SELCO India is a social venture based in Bangalore, India. The main goal of this venture is to provide reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy services to homes and businesses, especially in the rural areas. SELCO INDIA is an expert in the area of rural energy services like solar electricity and its achievements have won the the company the Ashden Awards (also known as the Green Oscars) twice, first in 2005 and then in 2007. SELCO was started in 1995 by Harish Hande who was inspired to start the company while studying energy engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Harish Hande completed his undergraduate degree in Energy Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

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Context and Vision To provides sustainable energy solutions and services to under-served households and businesses. SELCO aims to empower its customers by providing a complete product, including service and consumer financing through Grameen banks, cooperative societies, commercial banks and micro-finance institutions. SELCO INDIA had developed innovative strategies to make this venture successful. Its employees made a door-to-door survey in order to understand the needs of their potential customers. They explained the benefits of using solar energy to not only provide extra hours of

light at night but also how it would avoid emission of fumes from gas lamps and in return provide adequate light for children to study in. SELCO also made a rigorous campaign to convince banks on the viability of solar electricity and requested them to provide loans to perspective customers and also provide schemes for repayment by borrowers. In addition SELCO worked with various financial institutions and micro finance institutions so as to provide a variety of financial products for its clients.

Building an enterprise The foundation of SELCO was laid in 1994 when Harish Hande decided to sell solar lighting systems. With no financial backing, he travelled across numerous villages in coastal Karnataka making demonstrations and explaining to the villages the benefits of solar electricity. A major drawback while starting the company was that till then solar electricity was an unproven sector economically. An Added challenge was promoting its economic viability. Moreover, it was difficult to sell solar power to the rural folk in the country because many could not afford it. Mr. Handeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovative strategy focussed on a steady long-term relationship with the customers by building their trust and confidence. SELCO India eventually came into being in 1995 under the leadership of Harish Hande and Neville Williams, president of Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). In December 1996 from Winrock International which released a conditional loan of $150,000 under the USAID Renewable Energy Commercialization project. This was however on a condition that SELCO India created couple of solar service centers and install a minimum number of systems. SELCO started with a financial model in which each customer would pay 25% of the cost upfront as down payment and will further pay a monthly instalment which is affordable and within the average monthly budget of a family in the region. Along with this, the SELCO India also provided a year's guarantee to the warranty of the manufacturer along with free service for a year and a 90-day money back guarantee.

ROLE MODEL VISITS: HARISH HANDE, SELCO // Yatra Saar 2012

The loan to Winrock was paid back by 2000. SELCO India got good backing with E+Co initially investing US $107,500 to become SELCO India's first investor. Now it has total three investors.

Components

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For majority of SELCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s customers, solar lights are the most expensive equipment that they would ever purchase. Even though they might be spending equivalent amount of money in buying kerosene to meet their energy needs, making an upfront investment of amount that was a few multiple times of their monthly income was beyond their means. However, SELCO realised that getting finance for purchase of solar lights, even from the rural banks, was difficult because home lights were not directly linked to any income generating activities. SELCO however decided to stay away from financing the customers themselves

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Payment Procedure Rate of Interest: 10% Down payment : INR 2500 EMI

: INR 300

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: INR 16900 (2500 + 14400)

Electricity Charges Monthly Expenditure

= Rs 150

Breakeven Year

= 9 Years 5 Months

Selco Solar Lamps at Jagriti Yatra 2011 02

Impact: Till date, SELCO has sold solar lightings to more than 110,000 rural homes and to 4,000 institutions such as orphanages, clinics, seminaries and schools in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Social: The SELCO model has helped in improving the social lives by diverting the savings from solar lights to other necessary daily needs. For many of the families, the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education is seen as the primary benefit. By replacing other energy sources such as firewood and kerosene, solar lights contribute to environmental benefits. Economic: SLECO has helped its poor customers in significant savings in the energy costs by the rural families. SELCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inclusive business model has led to the creation of employment not only for its own employees but also for several rural entrepreneurs who rent out solar lights to vendors and institutions.

Solar Cooker at Selco, Bangalore

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Selco display exhibitions at Jagriti Yatra 2011

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: HARISH HANDE, SELCO // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model: Narayana Murthy imbibes the principles of integrity, values, deferred gratification, and courage. He built an excellent core team of likeminded individuals at Infosys who were committed to his vision and values. Certificates and degrees came second next to people who shared the organization’s values. Throughout the growth of Infosys, Murthy attempted to stay true to the values with which the company was conceived.

Context and vision: While in France he studied about various models of socio-economic development such as socialism and capitalism. Mr. Murthy concluded that “society can reduce poverty through job creation.” He implied

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that a happy medium between the two ideological extremes was appropriate. Murthy’s role model was Mahatma Gandhi; he lives by his values of truth and simplicity.

Building the enterprise: Murthy handpicked the organization’s core team, a group of people who shared the vision and values he held. The individuals chosen to be part of the core team demonstrated the “mutually exclusive but collectively exhaustive” Mr. Murthy believes to be integral for a winnig team. Individual team members’ strengths were complimentary rather than redundant; collectively, the team had the comprehensive skills 02

and expertise required to establish a successful enterprise. All of the 150 team members from CEO to janitor participated in establishing the company’s guiding principles and the values of CLIFE, which Infosys maintains today: • Customer Focus or Customer Value • Leadership by Example • Integrity and Transparency • Fairness • Excellence in Everything We Do

Financial Model: The organization was started with Rs 10,000/- seed capital by the founders in a garage. The first customer was convinced to pay advance as well as monthly billing to cover the working capital required to fund business operations. Infosys began as a privately held organization fully intent on sustaining itself by earning profit. Today, it is a publicly traded corporation. While not a social enterprise, the values Mr. Murthy and his team established and upheld had a tremendous impact in the company’s community and in the long term on India. As the organization grew, it shared wealth generously with its employees through employee stock ownership programs (“ESOPs”), which included even the blue collar staff. Infosys is known throughout the Indian IT Industry for its generosity in sharing a large amount of stock with its employees. Infosys presently is the second largest firm in IT and has a substantial amount of cash reserves. It regularly declares profits of 10 to 15%.

Impact: Social: Currently employs approximately 150,000 employees, and one of the best pay masters in Indian IT Industry. Infosys also undertakes a number of CSR initiatives in schooling and libraries. Economic: Generates tremendous economic activity through the trickle-down effect of its salaries. Also helps the Government through corporate and individual taxes. Helps improve foreign exchange inflow through overseas orders and foreign remittances. Political: Mr. Murthy is on board of advisors to government for economic policies. Cultural: Is helping in national integration by way of hiring employees across country. A team of 150000 employees working together fosters understanding of various cultures.

Key emerging themes: • Build organization on a strong foundation of values. • Select the initial team with like-minded vision, passion, and commitment to the organization’s core values. • Be able to say “NO” to your largest customer to uphold principles.

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: NARAYANA MURTHY, INFOSYS // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model: Born in 1918 in Vadamalapuram, Tamil Nadu, G. Venkataswamy or Dr. V as he was better known was educated at American College, Madurai and Stanley Medical College, Madras, before qualifying for an MSc in Ophthalmology at the Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Madras. He served in the Indian Army as a Physician during 1945-48 and was then appointed Head of Department of Ophthalmology at the Government Madurai Medical College. He held these posts for 20 years and contributed to research, clinical service and community programmes. In 1977, at the mandatory retirement age of 58, Dr. Venkataswamy founded the Aravind Eye Hospital at Madurai. He performed over 100,000 successful eye surgeries, despite having fingers that were

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badly deformed by a rare case of arthritis. As a young man he followed the teachings of Shri Aurobindo and that reflects in the spirituality that dwells within the corridors of every Aravind care centre. Dr. Venkataswamy was conferred Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1973.

Context and Vision: Begun as an eleven-bed hospital manned by four medical officers, it is now one of the largest facilities in the world for eye care. He declared that the mission of the hospital was â&#x20AC;&#x153;to eradicate needless blindnessâ&#x20AC;?. He developed mass marketing and surgical processes resembling an 02

assembly line in order to assist with the estimated 12 million blind people of India, 80 per cent of who suffer from cataract. His system enabled Aravind to provide free eye care to two-thirds of its patients from the revenue generated through its one-third paying patients. The vision of the Aravind model proposes to eradicate blindness, provide affordable and quality optical care in developing countries and establish a Centre of excellence for research. Building the enterprise: The main strategy while building the enterprise was involving family an assembly line in order to assist with the estimated 12 million blind people of India, 80 per cent of who suffer from cataract. His system enabled Aravind to provide free eye care to two-thirds of its patients from the revenue generated through its one-third paying patients. The vision of the Aravind model proposes to eradicate blindness, provide affordable and quality optical care in developing countries and establish a Centre of excellence for research. Building the enterprise: The main strategy while building the enterprise was involving family members and close relatives who would be dedicated to put in their efforts and hard work to keep the model positively stimulating and active.

Financial Model: Aravind eye care is completely self-funded. The revenue from the paid patients is used to treat 40% of the free patients. The other sources of revenue are the products developed in Aurolab which not only helps cut costs for the eye centre themselves but at the same time the export of the surgical blades, suture-needles, lenses and the pharma products to about 120 countries provide a huge sum of revenue of which a third is used for the eye care provided to the free and subsidized patients.

Impact: Social: The model has managed to spread free eye care in the health sector, thereby building a lot of social and regional bonding. The people of Madurai and other associated regions where Aravind centres are started have a lot of faith in the system. It has helped integrate values among local as well as international doctors about how an ideal healthcare system should be. Through its multiple training programs, workshops, and health camps, the Aravind Model continues

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: DR. G. VENKATASWAMY, ARAVIND EYE // Yatra Saar 2012

to shine and spread the joy of eliminating blindness all around.

led business gives little space for other health experts to be more involved where family is given prime importance. The opportunities for this model are immense. The key breakthrough lies in its expansion and strategic marketing which promotes their manufactured equipment. Similarly their developments in technology could be promoted to first world countries and the credibility of such an esteemed institution could be used to generate funds.

Economic: The model has managed to create a sizeable impact in the domains of eye care especially in the southern states of India. It has indirectly affected the economy of the State wherein the poor save on their cost of healing and become more productive in their work cycles. Political: By keeping the government in the loop for major decisions the Aravind model believes in integration of thoughts from leaders and health experts across the globe. Hence whether acquiring property for a new hospital, or gathering funds for their future initiatives Aravind believe in their core spiritual value that indirectly affects the political systems of the States that willingly want to help this esteemed institution at all phases and its future initiatives.

The threats this institution faces are varied and challenging in their own ways. The pressing issue lies in retaining their current staff of trained doctors from around the globe. Also being a Centre of Excellence the focus still remains on it being a philanthropic institution. It should plan for expansion and brand itself globally.

Cultural: The cultural impact that the module has had widespread implications in the middle India whose power we have seldom ignored. It has not only created a strong cultural hold for Aravind, but it has also redefined the power of local recruits and traineeship that helps create connections between the doctors and patients, a bond that is rare to find in the health domain.

Key Emerging Themes: After studying the Aravind Eye Care Model and doing a SWOT analysis of the same, the key emerging themes are: The strength of the model lies in its quality service and financial stability. The system is replete with values and goodwill, in addition trained specialists who have imbibed the strong spirituality which the institution has nurtured over the years. Even the production of instruments and implementing the key breakthroughs in technology on the global scale has been influential in the modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. The weakness of this model is seen in its organization structure and unplanned expansion policies. Its strong local market and the presence in south India poses an obstacle for it to expand to other parts of the country and keep the philosophies and spirituality of Shri Aurobindo. Also the importance of a family Eye Testing Kit at Aravind Eye Care Clinics 02

Context and vision: The enterprise aspires to bring unique experiences from the lessor known India to travellers. It looks at creating a unique experience for the urban traveller, while ensuring the hosts have a sustainable, alternative income option.

Building the enterprise:

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About the Role Model: Travel Another India is an enterprise that works with rural communities and helps them own, manage and control travel ventures. Founded by Gouthami and based out of Chennai, the company has approximately 8 destinations across the country.

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Gouthami got immense support from her family members and involved them in the initial stages of enterprise. The first thing she did was to prepare a concept paper and share the same with family members and a professional mailing list. After this, she went through a legal process and started networking. She then got herself a mentor and kept reworking the concept paper. She got financial aid from her parents. She built trust within local communities in rural parts and set up guest houses. Where they provide necessary training and work on marketing.

Impact: Social: TAI has helped in raising the living standards of the rural communities by generating livelihoods and employment opportunities. Exposing the rural communities in a new light has led to the outer world sensitised to the challenges faced by these people. Economic: By converting the rural places into tourist destinations, the income level of the community has increased which has led to higher standards of living. Penetration of technology and creation of better infrastructure have created further economic opportunities for the rural people. Political: Through this model, TAI is trying to garner governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention to rural areas which will lead to sustainable development of rural India. Cultural: Living in the rural tourist places has led to the understanding the diverse culture and ways of living in rural India.

Key Emerging Themes: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Local community engagement and support Responsibility towards community the business operates in. Engaging with local community through various initiatives Provide volunteering opportunities Cultural and social adaptability

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: GOUTHAMI, TRAVEL ANOTHER INDIA // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model: About the Role Model: Naandi Foundation is a Vishakhapatanam based non-profit social organization, established in 1998. Naandi believes in eradicating poverty through sustainable livelihoods and by providing mid-day meals and safe drinking water. It also houses a research wing to study the social models and work on innovations that can bring a positive change in the life of needy people.

Context and Vision:

• To promote healthy growth and development among the under privileged by providing food, quality education, drinking water and better livelihood opportunities. • To eradicate hunger and malnutrition of children through the midday meal scheme.

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• To improve the quality of life among tribal by providing better livelihood opportunities. • To create sustainable, affordable solutions to long-pending development problems of the country in the field of hunger, sanitation and children’s rights.

Building the Institution: Naandi began operations in Hyderabad after mulling over the viability of the business for over a year and a half. Having no background 02

in cooking meals, the challenges of building and running a kitchen was enormous. The technical and logistical challenge of delivering hot, nutritious meals at low cost was daunting. Nonetheless, the foundation saw synergies between its vision and values, its existing network in schools and the opportunity to create mass impact via a partnership with the Government. Upon gaining clearance from the concerned ministry, the turnaround happened within 45 days and the kitchen was up and running. Since then the organization has not looked back. Today, that model has been replicated across the country with over 17 kitchens in four states. Additionally, it provides safe drinking water to 3 million people in rural areas, runs over 1700 schools guaranteeing quality education to over 100,000 children and works with 15,000 adivasi small farmers to export over a million kilograms of coffee every year.

Naandi Kitchen: The work of cutting vegetables, making curry and roti starts as early as 2:00 AM. The food is prepared hot and nutritious. Various machines have been employed to make the sorting of the rice, mixing of the curry and the continuous process of making the chapatis easier. The kitchen staff work tirelessly into wee hours of the morning to prepare the food.

Distribution: The food is packed into high quality steel containers, labelled appropriately and then sent to the loading center. The various transport trucks assemble in order at the loading center. The labelled food containers are loaded into the respective transport trucks to be distributed at the schools. A point worth mentioning here is that Naandi has outsourced transportation to a partner.

Financial Model: Naandi is based on a Public Private Partnership model. It receives grants from the government as well as funds from private donors and corporates like Tata, Dell, and HSBC. Funds are also raised through the community. Thus, the financial model is a convergence model where diversified sources help fund projects. In case of cash flow issues, debt is raised in the form of interest-free loans from the government to fund working capital requirements. It is interesting to note that while the grain is provided free of cost by the Government, the repayment for â&#x20AC;&#x153;convergence costsâ&#x20AC;? does not cover the real operations costs.

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Therefore, by relying on economies of scale and a high rate of efficiency, Naandi keeps its overheads low and manages to earn profits, even if only marginally. Also worth noting is the cost of food per child is as low as Rs. 4. The additional cost is divided equally between Naandi and the government.

Impact: Social: Providing hot, nutritious meals have demonstrated increased attendance in schools. The positive impact on’ attendance of girl students is striking. By appointing Dalit cooks and encouraging meals to be shared in a common location, the scheme strikes at the heart of the caste system.

Over 60% of Naandi’s management team has a corporate background. This ability to attract and retain top talent has revolutionized the way we look at the non-profit sector.

Comparison with a Similar Institution: Like Naandi, Akshayapatra caters to the nutrition needs of children across the country. A significant point to mention is that unlike Naandi, Akshayapatra maintains its own transportation/delivery system. The logistics and operational mechanism is much easier if out-sourced and Naandi has moved the right pawn in that front by outsourcing the transportation to another partner. A commitment to ethics and good governance is at the heart of Akshayapatra. This organisation too has eminent board members and stable donors. Regular audits and impact assessments help maintain efficiency and quality at both the institutions. A common disadvantage of the centralized kitchen model followed by both role models is 02

Economic: Naandi provides direct and indirect employment opportunities for local people in places where it initiates operations. Political: Naandi’s most effective contribution has been its ability to create a stir in political circles with respect to fortification of food. This immensely helps battle anaemia and vitamin deficiency in children. Future impact on national level policy is certain. Cultural: Naandi is a spirited non-profit organisation and demands professionalism and efficiency in operations. It also makes the non-profit sector lucrative by offering salaries that are at par with salaries in the corporate world.

that it is better suited for urban areas than to inaccessible rural areas. Naandi counteracts this disadvantage by employing a rural transport mechanism available to transfer the food. Sometimes its officials carry the food themselves. This though causes a strain on operational efficiencies, nevertheless makes the food reach the inaccessible rural areas. Naandi’s penetration into the inaccessible rural areas is much higher than Akshayapatra’s impact in rural villages.

Key Emerging Themes: • Public Private Partnership • Eradicating poverty through sustainable & innovative solns. • Outsourced transport model • Protecting the dignity of life • Primarily was operating only in Andhra Pradesh, but now has scaled up to operate in other states • Operational efficiency - logistic management, scale of food preparation, following Six -Sigma principles. 28

About the Role Model:

6 hs t a di ika

a ram M e G

Joe Madiath was born in Kanjirapally, Kerala.He was a student of Madras University and the President of the Madras University Students Union. Joe also founded the Young Students Movement for Development (YSMD). To fulfil his zeal for adventure and satiate his hunger for experience he embarked upon a year long cycle journey through India, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. In this phase, Joe witnessed the warmth of friendly people as well as the extent of human cruelty. A disturbed but hopeful and determined Joe gathered 400 YSMD volunteers to work in relief camps for Bangladeshi refugees. He then moved to Orissa, a state ravaged by natural calamities and Gram Vikas was set up in 1979. Joeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is the key visionary behind defining the aspects of Gram Vikas. Even as an outsider, his rigour sustains unperturbed support from the population. Gram Vikas however, lacks a regular flow of human resources and the rising rate of attrition within the organisation concerns him. There is a dire need for constant training. Joe is already in the second year of extended services post retirement, making it critical to find a replacement that can match up to his stature. The susceptibility to conflict in the area is one of the biggest operational challenges.

Building the Enterprise: Joe Madiath is driven by the principle to win trust first and then start working. Till date he starts off by approaching the villages first and asks for their support. In cases where there is even one family who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t agree to the criteria of Gram Vikas Joe Madiath and his team have not worked for that village until every villager agrees. Gram Vikas also believes in creating asset based ownership because after their services improve the living conditions in villages. One of the key strengths of Gram Vikas is that they do not impose any religious constraint on the tribal people by not interfering in matters of faith. This has helped them gain confidence and support from the tribal people. Mr. Madiath has always stood by his principles in order to build a self-sustainable model, because of which he faced a number of obstacles, which in time he overcame. Gram Vikas has worked for a range of activities from biogas, drip irrigation, water and sanitation and education, which has in turn set the foundation for development in the tribal communities of Orissa. The Government of India provides a large part of funding through

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grants that aim at tribal development. International agencies such as Christian aids, DFID and Water aids also contribute considerably. In addition Gram Vikas creates a stake of ownership for their beneficiaries by requiring each household to contribute Rs 1000 in order to generate a corpus fund. This provides enough return to carry out maintenance of units built in the community. This corpus fund also acts as contingency fund in case of emergencies and natural disasters.

time doing other things. Provision of toilets and bathrooms in each household have helped in preventing water borne diseases and reducing infant mortality rate.

Economic: Monetary contribution from each family helped in funding & increased ownership of the development work in their village. Formation of self-help-groups helped in women empowerment and community development. Political: 100% community involvement enforced by Panchayati Raj system in villages. Women started participating in the development activities by taking political leaderships.

Joe Madiath leads the team as executive director and holds the primary position in HR, as well as being the Public Representative and International representative. Gram Vikas has developed a hierarchical organisation structure where at the regional level it moves from regional managers to employees at other levels. Gram Vikas has a employee strength of more than 500 employees. Here an experienced supervisor in the field looks after the development and maintenance of 100 villages. The Board of Directors comprise of the key lending agencies and are the ultimate decision makers in the organisation. Though Joe Madiath is planning to retire from the organisation in 2013 the Board will remain the same.

Cultural: The awareness of health and sanitation through construction of toilets and bathrooms for each household was so much that women didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t marry to the family having

In fact, the Government outsources its activities of water and sanitation to Gram Vikas as it is more effective. Based on 100% inclusion of a community Gram Vikas implements its projects in villages where members of the upper caste generally contribute through token payments while those of the lower castes contribute through construction labour by building wells, tanks and sanitation projects.

Financial Model Its working model is 100% funds dependant. Major segment of the income comes from foreign grants. But for year 2009-10 the FG went down to 33% from 58% while the govt funds increased by 50%. Reasons could be the global economic downturn and Government policies restricting foreign grants. Income from investment increased to 116% in 2009-10.

Impact: Social: 24 x 7 water supply has helped in improving attendance of girl students in schools and also allows women to spend

Eye Testing Kit at Aravind Eye Care Clinics 30

no toilet and bathroom facility. There is increased awareness amongst women in matter of personal hygiene and now they have more privacy owing to ‘toilets for dignity’

Key Emerging Themes: While Gram Vikas is a social enterprise, a unique feature is the community involvement it garners by ensuring that the local infrastructure created involves local masons, architects so that the locals remain involved over time. Joe Madiath exemplifies the courage required to establish an enterprise. He works on his own terms. As he rightly puts it, “If you don’t want to be corrupt, you need not to be”. The scarcity of resources in terms of funds and human capital is a common impediment for most start-ups. Gram Vikas ensured to set an example by installing 85% bio gas plants using only 15% of its resources in contrast to the government’s implementation of 15% bio gas plants using 85% of its resources. Gram Vikas embodies the most essential and basic characteristic required by a start-up. Joe understood that the tribal women worked 16-17 hours a day to collect water and used to control their bowels throughout the day. Taking this into account, he came up with the water and sanitation model to empower the community.

Selco display exhibitions at Jagriti Yatra 2011

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: JOE MADIATH, GRAM VIKAS // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model: Patna based Arbind Singh has taken the challenge of transforming the extremely negative image of Bihar head on. Nidan, which in Hindi literally means solving a problem, was founded by Arbind Singh in 1996 to specifically target one of the biggest issues in his hometown of Patna - legal rights for urban unorganized sector workers. Guided by simple core values of empowerment, collaboration, trust, compassion and sustainability, he has managed to build a widespread movement to change the destinies of Bihar's urban poor. Arbind Singh's key strengths are his honesty, simplicity and headstrong yet democratic approach.

7 h g in ar

S n, Bih d in ida

b r A

Context and vision: The capital of Bihar is home to a large population of urban poor who find employment in the unorganized sector, doing jobs that range from being street vendors to odd repair jobs. In his early years while working for an NGO, an observation of the pathetic condition of street vendors moved him strongly enough to take up the issue as his life's purpose.. Encouraged by his mentor, he went ahead and established Nidan, with the vision of empowering the urban poor. Building the enterprise: Nidan has been built quite organically. The current complex vertical structure of the organization has in fact

evolved through a logical chain of initiatives. Nidan began by organizing communities through microfinance. The idea was simple – identifying an entire community which had the common need for financial services and then taking it forward from there. Informal sector workers usually do not have access to formal banking services. There is however a demand for savings as well as loans, for which they often depend on exploitative moneylenders. Filling this gap in service is the first step that Nidan took with the introduction of microfinance and by organizing self-help groups within communities. This first step of dividing the community into groups enabled Nidan to promote other programmes in complementary service verticals such as education, skill development and health.

Financial model: Nidan functions on the principle of broadbasing its revenue sources to allow financial sustainability by striking a balance amongst resources. It relies on a combination of government funding, donor funding and userbased revenues. In fact, 47 per cent of its corpus of funds comes from revenue and 53 per cent through donor funding. Of its corpus of funds amounting to Rs. 40.2 million, the biggest contribution of Rs. 17.8 million comes from the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh. There are concerns that donor funding may be unsustainable because of which Nidan is looking at tie ups with banks, particularly for its Market Aligned Skill Training (MAST) vertical.

Impact: Social: Empowerment of the weakest sections of marginalized society such as women and children; changing the poor image of one of the poorest states of the country. 01 03 05 07 09

Economic: A gradual change in savings pattern for the better; demonstrating that a well implemented microfinance model linked with employment opportunities can succeed in India just as it did in Bangladesh. Political: Legal rights to informal sector marginalized workers; creating a political movement made of millions of people to counter negative and corrupt political forces; creating networks with various political stakeholders such as members of parliament, bureaucrats and international organizations to bring to the forefront the issues of the marginalized urban poor; and gradually bringing about key policy changes favoring the informal sector workers that have been so far ignored in legislation.

Comparison with similar institution: Nidan stands out as an organization because it doesn't fit into any of the usual categories of enterprise. In fact, Arbind Singh describes his organization as a hybrid - a complex mix of financial sustainability and social focus. Given its unique organization model, it seems unlikely to find an organization that is structurally similar to Nidan. However, comparisons and similarities may be drawn between Arbind Singh and other role models. For instance, the focus on empowering the poor by organizing them and giving them ownership is similar to those of Joe Madiath’s work in Orissa. Nidan also has a key focus on sustainability which resonates with the sustainable business model of RedBus. The social compassion at Nidan amongst all workers is comparable to that of Aravind eye care. Hence, various parallels can be drawn.

Key Emerging Themes: Sustainability is the key theme that emerges out of this organization. No matter what initiative one takes up, it must sustain itself. Having a broad-based revenue source as well as verticals that complement each other helps Nidan achieve sustainability to such a great extent. Another theme that emerges in Nidan’s work is the conflict between profit and social impact as the only objective of enterprise. Finally, empowerment is one of the primary strengths of Nidan. It demonstrates the beauty of a model where there is complete democracy so that all stakeholders gradually become managers of the organization’s verticals under different formats such as cooperatives, associations and companies.

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: ARBIND SINGH, NIDAN // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Role Model: Goonj was started by Anshu Gupta in 1998 to address a vital yet much ignored issue of clothing for poor. While food, education, healthcare and many other issues are given due importance by government and non-government organizations, the issue of clothing has been left untouched by public policy as well as organizational concerns. Goonj started with distribution of just 67 clothes, and today it delivers 85 MT every month to poor. Goonj is working with around 250 organizations to carry out its operations. What distinguishes Goonj from other NGOs is that it makes poor people earn the clothes, thereby preserving and enhancing dignity of poor and bringing development within local areas.

8 ta i p u elh

G nj, D u sh Goo

Context and Vision: 1. To make clothing a matter of concern. 2. Maintaining dignity of the poor by not just distributing, but letting them earn the clothes 3. Operational excellence in executing a simple model to ensure huge impact. 4. Maximum utilization of resources and waste material to come up with extremely cost effective solutions.

Building the enterprise: Anshu Gupta started Goonj as a nationwide movement in 1998 with just 67 clothes. Initially he collected the excess and unused clothes 02

from urban households and distributed it to needy people. The idea, as such, is very simple but requires well-orchestrated operational research and good logistics. Goonj collaborates with grass-root organisations to understand the real needs of people and likewise prepare a development plan for social and economic development of that area. 1. Collection centre - This is the initial point of cloth collection which involves various volunteers. Goonj also engages several universities for cloth collection. 2. Processing hub - The clothes are sorted here and categorized. The damaged clothes are tailored and some altered as per the requirement of the people to whom they are to be dispatched. 3. Packaging and dispatching - After processing, the materials are packed bags and cartons and packaging lists are made with the codes G, SG, W, S. 4. Distribution among needy - with the help of local organizations Goonj distributes the clothes in the needy communities. 5. Reporting - GOONJ records the impact of its programmes and projects. This is required for the audit as well as for an assessment of the project team and the projects. 6. Vastrasamman â&#x20AC;&#x201C; It is a resource mobilization initiative where many urban waste clothes, bags, trinkets and the like are collected. 7. Hygiene - Providing Sanitary Napkins for rural women in order to promote hygiene during the time of menses in order to avoid deaths and diseases from infections. 8. School to School Initiative - It is a unique platform for bridging the gap between rural and urban children by sensitizing urban people to the harsh realities of the poor and encouraging them to donate various stationery items like pencils, bags, notebooks as well as school clothes.

Financial Model: Goonj operates on a simple financial model. 50% of all its revenues are by way of donations. Anshu Gupta likes to refer to it as investments which the country is making to uplift its poor. The rest are earned by selling various items and clothes made from waste products. For the current year, Goonjâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenue was around 4 Crore. The most interesting component of the financial model of Goonj is that instead of using money as a medium, it uses clothes for development in local areas. It involves locals in construction, sanitation, and other priority works, and repays them with clothes. 01 03 05 07 09

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: ANSHU GUPTA, GOONJ // Yatra Saar 2012

Impact: Social: Goonj has created tremendous social impact by bringing dignity to the poor. It has engaged large groups within villages and slum areas to work for their own development. Economic: The biggest economic reward for individuals and communities has been infrastructure development. These projects include building schools, roads, bridges and sanitation projects.. Political: The initiative by the people for self-development puts pressure on local administrative bodies to take up further developmental work. In many areas where Goonj has operated, the local administration has woken up and is now exercising more diligence.

Cultural: it is playing a vital role in eliminating long standing taboos and stigmas, mostly related to women. By providing clean sanitary napkins to women at a marginal cost, and by encouraging dialogue within communities to take serious note on these issues, Goonj is bringing in a huge cultural change. Key Emerging Themes: The most important take-away from the Goonj was that many issues can be tackled at a local level through community and individual initiatives. Unlike China, which believes in centralized planning and execution of projects, India can fight its problems at a local level through enterprises and organizations like Goonj. Goonj also showed us that once you push yourself out of compulsive thinking and engage in action, things will eventually fall in place. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need elaborate economic and market analysis to start work. Anshu Gupta puts it best -â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bas lag jao aur phir lage rahe, sab apne aap ho jaega.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 02

people.

Context and vision: Demystification and application of appropriate technology is the context in which Bunker Roy established Barefoot College. Conceptualising a holistic community development framework is the cornerstone of intervention. Building the enterprise: Banking upon the huge rural talents and bringing appropriate technology to identify and solve rural problems is the key to building an enterprise. The second rung leadership must be developed and must be well versed in not only the problems of the country but also with the challenges of the future.

Financial Model:

Barefoot College is primarily a grant based organisation with around 90% of the annual expenditure of Rs.10 crore coming from grants and the rest 10% from the sale of handicrafts and other products. Out of the grants, more than 60% comes from the government, around 30% from other institutions.

Impact:

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Bu, Tilonia

Economic: Low cost solutions customised for rural needs and creation of self-sustainable communities make

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Cultural: Acceptance of the inherent potential irrespective of caste, creed and colour is best reflected from Bunker Roy’s work. The society traditionally divided largely on caste lines has been transformed with the intervention of Barefoot College.

About the Role Model: Barefoot college was founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate men and women from impoverished villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school is located at Tilonia village, Rajasthan, India. It serves a population of over 125,000 01 03 05 07 09

Social: Through its model, Barefoot College has empowered 110 Villages, 15 States, 20 Centers in the Country, 35 Countries. It has played an important role in abolishing practice of untouchability. The biggest impact is seen in creating a society that is aware and well informed.

Key emerging themes: • Rural Reconstruction by use of appropriate technology. • Innovating technological solutions which are low cost, efficient and easily transferrable. • Micro planning for holistic community development. • Creation of self-sustainable institutions to expedite rural progress. 23 25 27 29

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About the Role Model: In a country like India, the unorganized labor force is around 94%. The most affected detrimentally in this unorganized sector are the women who attempt to make a living within it. After 23 years of Independence, in 1972, a group of such women workers, gathered the courage to create a Trade Union, named SEWA, in the city of Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, under the leadership of noted Gandhian and civil rights leader Dr. Ela Bhatt. It is an incredible example of Women empowerment, in the Indian subcontinent, which was resonated through-out the world..

0 1

& s a ti y V avabad e e r n eda h a m s N a, Ah a y a Ja eem Sew R

1.3 million women are now in the SEWA ecosystem, creating a network of women who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses. SEWA as a model of woman organization, has been supported by the World Bank to be replicated elsewhere.

Context and vision: During 1960 to 1970 the Textile Labour Association (TLA) was an active union for the workers in Textile Industry. The original purpose of TLA was to assist women from households of mill workers. It primary focus was on training and welfare activities. TLA started classes in sewing, knitting, embroidery, spinning yarn, press composition typing and stenography and established centers throughout the city for the wives and daughters of mill workers. The scope of TLA activities 02

grew in the early 1970s when a survey was conducted to investigate complaints by women tailors of exploitation by contractors. The survey brought out other instances of exploitation of women workers and revealed the large numbers untouched by government legislation and policies. Low Wages and unfair treatment to the working women, got more attention in 1971 and subsequently the leader of the Women's Wing, Dr. Ela Bhatt, and the president of the TLA, Arvind Buch initiated the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), SEWA grew fast and started new initiatives after its formation, from creating a Bank (SEWA BANK) to developing a tourism sector with the SEWA ECO TOURISM. The vision that SEWA had set out to organize women workers for Full Employment and Self Reliance. With Full Employment workers obtained work security, income security, food security and social security (at least health care, child care and shelter) and through Self Reliance the women became autonomous and self-reliant, individually and collectively, both economically and in terms of their decision-making ability.

Building the enterprise: From 1972 SEWA enterprise has been created by the group of women workers in Ahemedabad, with the clear aim organizing them for full employment. From there on SEWA grew to the membership of 1.3 million. To build an enterprise like SEWA a very organic step was taken by the Organization, by incorporating many small-sister organizations to implement other aspects of organizational functions like finance, education and the health sector.

The sister organizations of SEWA are: SEWA BANK, SEWA Academy, SEWA Communication, Shri Mahila SEWA Anasooya Trust, SEWA Research, Gujarat State Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SEWA Co-operative Federation Ltd., Vimo SEWA, SEWA Housing, SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre, SEWA Manager Ni School, SEWA Sanskar Kendra, SEWA ICT, SEWA Nirman Construction Workers Company Ltd, SEWA Ecotourism, SEWA Kharaghoda, SEWA Mahila Shahkari Mandli Ltd, SEWA Kalakruti and SEWA Bharat.

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ROLE MODEL VISITS: JAYASHREE VYAS & REEMA NANAVATI, SEWA // Yatra Saar 2012

Financial Model:

workers to the cities. As the women are self-reliant, they work with dignity and are recognized for their work in society. This has had a positive impact on the lives of 1.3 million SEWA members.

The Financial Model of SEWA is a network of many business models and all are based on community based social enterprise, with a de-centralized share-holding framework. The Organization consists of groups of working women, involved in skilled work to create value products for the market. The products created by the women in SEWA are supplied to the respective markets and the profits distributed accordingly.

Due to the collective approach and social security, the organization is influencing many Government and economic process. Through research, SEWA strives to bring its members- the self-employed women, into the mainstream of the world of knowledge. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Action oriented researchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is the corner stone of this intervention and SEWA Academy is the organizational wing responsible for this task. The Research Programme of the Academy has the following distinctive features which sets it apart from the mainstream research bodies and think tanks, and gives it a distinctive character and a unique position of its own. Action-oriented Research SEWA Academy has a unique perspective â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a grassroots perspective through which it views development issues.

Thus the products and the services by SEWA get there business running with the community based enterprise model.

Impact: Social and Cultural: Due to the full employment and self-reliance goal of SEWA, the women under its various organizations get the profit and hence have a good quality of life. In the districts where SEWA is active there is a downward trend in migration of women

Sewa helps women to become self reliant 02

Panel Discussions

Four panel discussions were organised at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Ahmedabad and positioned to stimulate thinking around certain topics. Relevant thought-leaders were invited as panellists in free flowing discussions from which interesting insights emerged and captured by the Yatra Saar group.

one

Technology Start-ups & Social Impact

Bangalore

two

Enabling Rural and Agri Enterprises

Chennai

three

Skill Development Enterprises

Delhi

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Panellists Phanindra Sama is the Co-Founder of Red Bus which is India’s first online bus ticketing portal. He is one of the successful second generation entrepreneurs in India. Vir Kashyap is the Chief Operating officer at Babajobs and has joined the organization in February 2009. Abhinav Sinha is the Vice President of Eko Pay. He is an Engineer in Electronics and communication from BIT Mesra and has worked for Oracle and Six DEE Telecom for their Online Recharge Platform

ps u rt act a t S mp re y g o ial I galo l o n Soc Ban h c Te &

Overview of the discussion: RedBus is the first company to aggregate information and sell bus tickets using a technology channel; it is India's largest bus ticketing company managing about 15,000+ departures every day in 15 states of the country. RedBus met following challenges while building the enterprise. • Mode of expansion nationally • Market share, on certain routes is 30 percent, whereas on a national market level is 1 percent.

issues? If we don’t know its better to delete this • Safety & security of both entities – employer & job seeker • Employee’s skill • Lack of standardization of pay and perks

Eko India Financial Services hosts a low cost financial services infrastructure to increase the reach of financial institutions to the un-banked villagers in the rural areas; it helps individuals with no bank account to transfer money over a secure, simple and convenient method via their mobiles, in the last year alone it has transferred over Rs 1,200 Crore. Eko has to meet following challenges while building the enterprise: • Uncertain RBI policies • Dependency on mobile phones • The accessibility of phones and the capability to use them

Impact: Redbus: • “Win, Win, Win situation” for consumers, bus operators, and travel agents (Convenience for customers, increased revenues for bus operators, and enhanced accessibility for the travel agents) • Reduced price discrimination • Growing Competition • Need to focus on new platforms, such as mobile and offline ticketing

Baba Jobs: • Jobs for all domestic, housekeeping, cooks, drivers, Security, construction workers to get a pay to match their skills.

Babajobs is a Bangalore-based start-up that EkoPay: • Provisions of services, such as account management, insurance and uses the web and mobile technology to connect loans. employers and bottom-of-the-pyramid sector • Rapid increase in the number of bank accounts opened. workers (i.e. maids, cooks, drivers, etc.) with the goal of combating poverty; potential job seekers can register via calling the call centre, over the web or via SMS. They have over 600,000 listing, more than 60,000 satisfied customers and sends out over 1 million job alerts every month. While growing, Babajobs overcame following challenges: • Uncertainty over issues (this is unclear…what

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS: TECHNOLOGY START-UPS & SOCIAL IMPACT // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Panellists: Paul Basil, Gij Spoors and Venkat Subramanian, all of them are entrepreneurs in agro sector, who met the Yatris to share their initiatives which are growing enterprises today. They also shared their perspective on the scope & need for enterprises in agro and rural sector in India. The panel discussion was held at a very apt and modest location in a community hall near Kanchipuram railway station.

Overview of the discussion:

India, one of the major countries of the world, has around 55% of its population directly dependent on agro sector. Agriculture and agro based industries are the major livelihood sources for almost entire rural population in India. This combined with the fact that almost 62% of Indian population still lives in villages put great emphasis on strengthening our major employment sector.

& l a ur ises R ing terpr nnai l b e n Ena gri E Ch A

Cotton conversations: Textile industry in India is massive and many cotton growing farmers are a part of this chain. Textile supply chains are more complicated than most of us would like to believe and this certainly needs to be addressed as a top priority. The farmers feel exploited as they receive marginally less percentage of the monetary value that their product is sold at, and also feel extremely isolated from the entire process of value creation. Cotton Conversations, a venture by Gij Spoors, aims at making textile value chains more co-creative by breaking the walls between the 02

various links in them. There are many lacunae in the textile industry like no connect between the final product brand and the farmer, lack of transparency in the intermediaries and involvement of multiple players thus leading to a very complicated web of human relations lacking trust amongst each other. Cotton Conversations is trying to help infuse sustainability, equity, profitability, improved collaborations and improved business efficiency in the entire system. Gijs Spoors says that textiles seem to be a breeding ground for agents and middlemen, erecting more walls and smokescreens while we need to break down barriers if we are to tap into our collective creative potential. Cotton Conversations are exchanges of perspectives across textile value chains, enabling better understanding of the reality of production and trade. They make it possible for firms to take more informed decisions about actions that impact others along the chain. This is achievable by putting the supply chain in order, and the way to do that is for all players in the value chain to start behaving in a less divisive and more co-operative way.

e-Farm: Marketing their farm produce is a big problem for Indian farmers. There is no direct connection between the farmers (producers) and the end consumer. The produce goes through several middlemen, in a very unorganized and inefficient manner leading to about 40% wastage of the farm products. This combined with the fact that most of our farmers are less educated, they are often easily cheated by these middlemen. Farmers also lack proper planning and market inputs to properly plan what they cultivate. The decision of what to grow, when to harvest are not based on market demands but rather are arbitrary. As a result of all this, the farmer is not happy because he is not getting proper due for his products; the end consumer is hit by huge variations in prices, quality and availability of products. eFarm is a young social enterprise firm started by Venkat Subramanian, based in Chennai. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a one of its kind endto-end agri supply chain platform, connecting farmers,

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intermediaries, logistic providers, distributors, small time retailers all the way up to the roadside vendor. Providing technology solutions and on-ground distribution mechanism to enable farmers reach markets in an effective manner and providing fresh, clean, low priced farm produce to end consumer. There are turbulent waters ahead for eFarm, the biggest challenge being of survival, knowing that several big modern retailers have been operational in this field for many years now, but owing to factors like high operational costs, lower reach at the producer level combined with low margins have led many of the retailers to close their doors. It is to be seen how eFarm tries and stays aloof from these problems.

Villgro: Villgro's vision is that of wealthy and prosperous Rural India by unleashing the latent genes of innovation and social entrepreneurship which have been suppressed for ages, thanks to mistaken impressions about the capacity and capability of our rural masses. Current grass-root level agriinnovations, unfortunately, have no path for development and scalability. Villgro attempts to plug this need gap by empowering rural development through identification and incubation of innovations that can be translated to market based models thus impacting thousands of rural households. In efforts to impact rural life, Villgro actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that empowers social entrepreneurship â&#x20AC;&#x201C; skill building, seed funding, mentoring, networking, recognition and other resources needed to take their innovations to the marketplace. Villgro directly supports creation of a multitude of micro-enterprises with potential to create rural impact, which in turn will be generating a veritable cycle of wealth creation on a scale, never imagined before. Since its inception 10 years ago, Villgro has identified and activated more than 2000 social innovators, through whom, it has impacted over 360,000 rural users with technology & solutions reaching the grassroots. Some current Incubatees of Villgro include: ROPE (Bridging the gap between rural artisans & global customers), Under The Mango Tree (Bee keeping solutions), Promethean Power (Rural Refrigeration).

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS: ENABLING RURAL & AGRI ENTERPRISES // Yatra Saar 2012

Overview of the discussion:

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eFarm: Marketing their farm produce is a big problem for Indian farmers. There is no direct connection between the farmers (producers) and the end consumer. The produce goes through several middlemen, in a very unorganized and inefficient manner leading to about 40% wastage of the farm products. This combined with the fact that most of our farmers are less educated, they are often easily cheated by these middlemen. Farmers also lack proper planning and market inputs to properly plan what they cultivate. The decision of what to grow, when to harvest are not based on market demands but rather are arbitrary. As a result of all this, the farmer is not happy because he is not getting proper due for his products; the end consumer is hit by huge variations in prices, quality and availability of products. eFarm is a young social enterprise firm started by Venkat Subramanian, based in Chennai. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a one of its kind endto-end agri supply chain platform, connecting farmers,

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS: ENABLING RURAL & AGRI ENTERPRISES // Yatra Saar 2012

About the Panellists: Dr. Harish Hande, Managing Director, SELCO-India. He founded SeELCO India, a solar electric light company in 1995, which over the years has lit up over 120,000 households, to emerge as India's leading solar technology firm. Amitabh Shah, is the founder and Chief Inspiration Officer (CIO) of YUVA Unstoppable. It is an on-going revolution with a force of over 100,000 young people across 30 cities of India reaching out to more than 250,000 kids in slums/municipal schools across the nation through organizational partnerships with schools, colleges, nonprofits, media and corporate companies.

Manshuk Lal Prajapati, founder of Mitticool, a traditional clay craftsman, has developed an entire range of earthen products for daily use in the kitchen. These products include water filters, refrigerators, hot plates, cooker and other such items of daily use.

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Overview of the discussion: The world has often witnessed great revolutions & organisations that are the vision, dream and work of one man, one leader. This discussion was organised right after a visit to Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram. The idea behind the discussion was to understand the view point of the above panellists regarding their perspective on ‘Power of One’.

We had varied inputs from the esteemed panel. Some of them have been summarized below: Mr. Harish Hande: He clearly stated that he would like to give more credit to the whole team and not to himself to bring the company where it is today. He also emphasized on the fact that Enterprise has to be an entity greater than oneself to be successful and touch lives Mr. Amitabh Shah: He shared how Power of One if aligned & dedicated to one goal can make a big difference in any enterprise Mr. Manshuklal Prajapati: He also brought into light the importance of perseverance in any new venture. It was plain one sighted dedication which brought dawn to the darks days of Mitticool. He also highlighted the need for sensitivity and passion to make any venture successful The panellists shared that the qualities – sensitivity and passion, commitment, appreciation, and vision – can define the power of one from an enterprise building perspective: Power of One is not limited to one’s vision/founder’s choice. It grows beyond to become the vision of the company, the common understanding of all stakeholders. Only when all the people associated see the vision in the same light moving towards the same goal the POWER OF ONE is attained.

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS: POWER OF ONE // Yatra Saar 2012

Biz Gyan Tree The Biz Gyan Tree is a powerful exercise that initiates of process of thinking â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thinking about an idea, thinking about a solution â&#x20AC;&#x201C; very simply put thinking like an entrepreneur. The exercise held at Deoria divided 450 Yatris into smaller groups and each group was given an opportunity to develop a business plan. Groups were made according to areas of interest based on seven verticals, namely: agriculture, education, climate and energy, manufacturing, communication and technology, healthcare, and skill development. The groups were given approximately thirty-six hours- which includes a visit to villages in Deoria, to develop a venture plan. At the end of it they are to present their plan to a panel of judges. The seven best plans are then given the opportunity to implement their business model in Deoria. 02

Interest Group: Agriculture Concept: The aim was to improve the market access of the local farmers through replacing the middle man system. We planned to setup SMS based communication and a call center which would provide farmers with regular weather updates and information on changes in the market prices We also noticed that the farmers had limited access to fertilizers and other agricultural products and aimed to, via the SMS system or call center, assist with the supply of these products to the farmers at affordable prices We intended to find a niche market such as universities/hospitals were we could sell farmers produce, this would require the farmers switching to a better quality of variety of produce, we would provide the services of an agricultural technician to assist the farmers in producing the higher quality produce, farmer would be able to SMS the center with the amount of produce they have available and we would let them know the quantity we need and the price. We would also arrange transport to the market. Similarly, we could inform the farmer via SMS of additional quantities required by the market, this venture would be improving the livelihoods of the farmers by giving them easier and more reliable access to agricultural products and generating the a sale of their produce which was not always the case at local markets.

Interest Group: Energy & Climate Concept: The concept is built out of our first-hand experience during the Jagriti Yatra 2011, we propose to have a kiosk preferably at the center of a village which spreads awareness and aims at meeting the energy needs of a village through a green and environment friendly manner. This kiosk would have solar panels on the roof. The villagers would bring their batteries to be recharged at the kiosk and would be charged a certain amount per recharge. This would enable solar energy to be more cost effective from the point of the villagers as they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need individual solar panels, along with expanding horizontally to more villagers, the kiosk could 01 03 05 07 09

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BIZ GYAN TREE // Yatra Saar 2012

also explore, at a later stage marketing other green products like smokeless Chula etc to meet other everyday needs of the villagers.

b) Clown concept: whenever the class gets over, or you find studnets disengaged, a clown will be in every school to cheer students, we believe these initiatives can make learning much better and affordable.

Interest Group: Primary Education Interest Group: Skill Development

Concept: The idea is to create a self sustainable, financially democratic, globally recognized educational system where a lot of new concepts are used to make learning fun. As per the research done the matters of students will be involved in making local craft, daliya and other art of International standards. The money earned by selling these products in Indian cities/abroad will be used to pay tuition fee, transportation etc of students. The unconventional techniques of learning are the unique selling point.

Concept: The group envisaged taking Deoria as an entity/small group of villages that is disconnected from the world. The money needs to be brought from outside sources- companies, individual donors etc to improve rural economy. Setting up of industry- BPO, offering jobs in Deoria and outside in BPO and Retail, training people for self employment, using village handicrafts as a source to generate money for villagers is a viable plan. Once economy and jobs grows, automatically the village community would become prosperous.

A few of these methods are a) Teaching using objects around example: the leaves of a branch can be used for teaching multiplication

To start with, it is viable to start with Spoken English Course

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for which already the crowd is available to pay money. On an average, Deoria village youths pay around 4000 Rs and 30Rs daily (up and down) for transportation for learning a spoken English course for a 3 months period. We plan to provide it with as low as Rs 2000. To implement such programs, we would set up a main Centre (approx 2000 sq feet) in a suburban area at Deoria while other mini-centres will be open at some villages at rural regions. All the centres would be connected with each other via internet and phone through an initial investment of as low as Rs 5 lacs. The weekday classes would be held at main centre whereas weekend classes will be held at villages itself. This would ensure quality of training and emotional connect with the villagers. The village community centres can also be utilized to empower women in making packaged pickles, embroidery and handicrafts which can be sold in open markets. We have an ambitious target of training around 800 people every year with 300400 job placements every year.

Interest Group: Health Concept: Apoorti plans to create a health supplement product which would be distributed in sachets of 25 and 50 grams to women and children, these would be nutrient boosters containing of mixed vitamins to solve the immediate issue of malnutrition, further as a strategic solution, we plan to open a community kitchen were farmers would need to deposit a fixed amount of their crop out of which a balanced diet would be created ensuring it contains all the required vitamins & nutrients required. It would then served back to the families of the farmers and we would also introduce health practices such as washing hands prior to the meal with entertainment to the community via inspirational movies etc.

information provided for the domains â&#x20AC;&#x201C; education, medical care, agriculture, local vendors, service providers, weather, governance, and marketing. The model looks forward to provide information access over the villages of India where computing and internet facility is scarce. The Kiosk will be placed according to demography of population for instance 1 kiosk per 20 thousand people. The revenue is generated via sponsored information that is about Services, Products and market surveys gathered by the system. Money will be also charged for premium knowledge services like medi-care help, and money is collected via tendering machine with the kiosks. The services will also available on voice via phone for accessibility.

Interest Group: Manufacturing Concept: Packaged sugar cane juice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hygienic and healthy drink in varied flavours. The aim is to utilize locally available resources to promote enterprise led development in Deoria. The team proposes to do this by capitalising on the abundantly available sugar cane produce in the area. It proposes to manufacture and package sugarcane juice and market it across major metropolises and tier two cities in India. Since the product is not available in the Indian market the group will have the first mover advantage. The group plans to become market leader in sugar cane juices in the next five years. This would involve setting up of a juice production and packaging unit in Deoria. The production process will involve creating innovative machinery, which will minimize the use of electricity wherever possible with options of manual operations. The estimated production capacity in the first year is 2 lakh units. It plans to raise funds through accessing subsidized loans provided by Ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Interest Group: Information, Communication and Technology Concept: A self-help kiosk â&#x20AC;&#x201C; An ATM type of system in local vernacular. The kiosk is virtual knowledge base for

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BIZ GYAN TREE // Yatra Saar 2012

Train Sessions

Energy filled discussions and presentations by mentors on the train who are experienced professionals in their various fields addded a whole new dimension to the yatra. Each individual, stalwarts in their own profession had their unique experiences to share.

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Women and Leadership

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director, South Bank

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Typography

Fraser Muggeridge, Founder, Typography Summer School

three Plastic and Sustainability Jo Royle, Ocean Advocate & Skipper

four Listening Skills Raghav Mehra, Director, Human Resource Catalyst

five Product Design Thomas Duggan, Product Designer 02

TRAIN SESSIONS // Yatra Saar 2012

The context & setting was perfectJude Kelly stepped forward in front of 2011 Yatris who sat huddled up in the crisp winter air of Rajasthan. At Barefoot College, Bunker Roy shared many inspiring stories from his life and believed that it’s better to work with women not men. He spoke about grandmothers who are now solar engineers & have gone back into their communities empowered.

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Jude shared her perspective on women leaders around the world and the challenges they face as the climb up the corporate ladder. She raised several questions in context of global markets and how valid is their claim of building an environment that is inclusive and empowering. Her questions were at times disturbing & provocative. To future entrepreneurs, who would build an organisation that celebrates diversity and a safe working culture; this discussion provided some food for thought. While women have stepped beyond their traditional boundaries, there seems to be a never ending struggle owing to prejudices & biases that have been so strongly internalised that one fails to see discrimination. Why are powerful, out spoken women often intimidating? Why are women resistant to call themselves a feminist, fearing isolation & criticism? Why does the world have to label a women fighting for her rights or sharing her strong opinions as a ‘feminist’? Maybe we need shift from this man V/S woman debate…and move into a higher plane where we see people as people… genderless.

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TRAIN SESSIONS: WOMEN & LEADERSHIP // Yatra Saar 2012

“If you have to send an invitation for a party, you will use a font size that is fun & exciting. If you have to send a document to a CEO, you will use a more serious & formal typeface.” How we communicate to the outside world through written material is a very important part of building an image of the organisation. Through a series of visuals, Fraser demonstrated simple yet strikingly creative use of colours, texture, and type face in some of his work. He highlighted how the placement of a word on a plane sheet of paper can make all the difference.

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As the Yatris had visited Infosys, he asked, why do you think Infosys doesn’t start with a capital letter? It stumped most of the audience that how often we don’t notice what is obvious. By using ‘infosys’ instead of Infosys, the organisation is saying, “ I am open, humble & approachable” - a very creative and valid interpretation. As Yatris step out to become future entrepreneurs, Fraser’s session was very relevant and provides tremendous insights on making of an enterprise.

TRAIN SESSIONS: TYPOGRAPHY // Yatra Saar 2012

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TRAIN SESSIONS: PLASTIC & SUSTAINABILITY // Yatra Saar 2012

Using an interactive format that is fun & engaging, Raghav brought back our focus to a very basic & often ignored skill set. As future entrepreneurs, this session was very useful & brought back our focus on listening – to colleagues, families, communities. After all, how can one solve a problem, if one wasn’t truly listening? By pairing people up, initiating a conversation between them and then asking each participant to reflect on the exercise – Raghav created hands on learning process on how well one listens. Some participants shared that they got distracted, got disengaged, were pretending to listen, didn’t just listen but offered solution and unsolicited advice.

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The question this raised was how one can truly listen without bias, judgements or the need to offer solutions. What does it take to be a leader who is compassionate & empathetic towards his people? The session was a beginning for many of us – as we embark on a new journey that is built on strong relationships.

TRAIN SESSIONS: LISTENING SKILLS // Yatra Saar 2012

Creativity allows you to connect with people around you. It allows you to share an idea that a hundred hearts can resonate with, irrespective of their language & backgrounds. That's exactly what we witnessed in the 2011 Jagriti Yatra. Tom is a young English designer. Nonetheless, at his young age he has already done several expositions of his works all around Europe. He searching to study and replicate through different materials, colours and shapes the shapes of nature.

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We have been positively impressed by the simplicity and the essentiality of his creations: he clearly shows how a simple shape inspired by the nature can convey strong sensations, several meanings depending on the observer point of view. Tom during the Yatra has conceived a plastic leaf carved in a plastic bottle: this leaf has the potential to converge the light that passes through it. Imagine a room full of hanging leaves, each of them reflecting, transmitting or intercepting the light: a kind of paradise on earth, standing on our common idea about paradise! Moreover, this creation is a great way for recycling plastic in an artistic and creative manner. His session almost fell in place after Joâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s session on Plastic & Sustainability.

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TRAIN SESSIONS: PRODUCT DESIGN // Yatra Saar 2012

Conclusion Jagriti Yatra is an ambitious train journey of discovery and transformation that takes hundreds of India's highly motivated youth on an 15 day national odyssey. The aim is to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship. The vision of Jagriti is to inspire young Indians living in the middle of the Indian demographic diamond (Rs 40 - Rs 120 per day) to lead development by taking to enterprise. By doing so, they can turn from job seekers to job creators. The journey brings out a transformation of thought in the yatris to work for an India that is growing everyday. It builds you up to take responsibilities and actions on the spot and helps the youth to understand the myriad entrepreneurship opportunities that our powerful nation India has to offer. Yatra Saar is the synthesis report which captures the key learnings from the role model visits, panel discussions, biz gyan tree and interactions on the train. The report, drafted by the Yatris while on the train, is based on the observations done by the Yatris. 02

CONCLUSION // Yatra Saar 2012

Thank You