Inspiring social entrepreneurship

Over a decade ago entrepreneurship was strictly for veterans in family business with big bucks to invest or top research minds in universities. But this scenario changed a few years ago, when premier education institutes in the country took on the onus of inspiring and enabling young enterprising minds to become job creators rather than job seekers. Today, their efforts have paid off and entrepreneurship has become a buzzword on almost every campus.

The latest trend though is one which exceeds plain entrepreneurship. "Entrepreneurship is purely about earning profits but social entrepreneurship helps earn profits as also benefits to society,” said Rakesh Anugula, co-founder of the recently launched National Social Entrepreneurship Forum (NSEF). He explained, “Consider creating  a profitable social venture in rural areas where 60% of the Indian population resides. It has the potential of creating tremendous monetary as also emotional payoffs."

 What Anugula refers to are tried and tested concepts that have achieved tremendous success in the recent years. Ventures like rural BPOs that cut urban operation costs , microfinance companies that lend out micro-credit to the rural poor like the Grameen Bank or SKS microfinance, healthcare organisations like mobile medics a travelling healthcare service which brings private sector, high quality, affordable medical care to paying villagers are just some examples.

With this, the link between highly qualified students churned out by premier education institutes and society is slowly becoming visible. Students are slowly starting to explore the world beyond astronomical salaries and MNC jobs. They are setting their vision on social ventures of their own. To help inspire and guide them, the NSEF has recently set up Centres for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) in Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani and IIM Lucknow (L). Before January, four other premier institutes will get such centres. But beyond these, next year NSEF  will also extend the plan to any interested management and technical institutes and help start a CSE on its campus too.

Being a centre requires the institute to hold activities to promote social entrepreneurship. In line with this, both institutes have held workshops and have invited entrepreneurs like Sunil Handa, founder of the Eklavya Education Foundation and writer of books like 'Stay hungry, Stay foolish' and Prema Gopalan, founder and executive director of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) which reaches out to over three lakh poor rural families in different Indian states by empowering women towards income generation and self sufficiency.

"At our first workshop we  discovered that students from MIT and Wharton have been constantly involved in activities of the SSP, but Indian students aren't even aware of how they can contribute," said Bhamidipati Bhargav, a student at IIM -L who is a part of its E- cell Abhiyaan which houses the CSE. "We have to first create awareness and help inspire students to consider social entrepreneurship. This will be done through regular workshops to help them understand the various factors that are required to setup a venture," said PN

Pradeep, another student. On the anvil is also a business plan competition at the IIM-L campus in November which will include students' entries and also throw open doors to professionals who wish to participate. "Winning BPlan ideas will be funded through tie-ups of the NSEF with venture capitalists. We will also network with foundations like Ashoka and Khemka which invest in social entrepreneurship," said Bhargav. He  also hinted that before long the other IIM's and even the IIT's will join the NSEF to create a networking platform to help anyone who has a feasible social venture plan on mind.