AMAZING: We received an enormous input from India.

THANK YOU, Nachiket, Sanjiv, Rajnish, Madhu, Ramesh, Rhea, Shefali, Sunaina, Ana, Rohith, Namrata and Meghna for sharing those thougts with us:

Resource allocation has historically has been divided into two extremes - profit
maximization and charity. Social business is in a way hybrid of the two - to get the best
of both worlds; professionally-run nature of a profit maximiser and the social objective of
the charity. It is one notch below the profit-maximisers and one above charity. Like Prof
Yunus always says 'Charity dollar has only one life, but the social business dollar has
infinite lives'. We had a small informal event - a gathering of close friends and
colleagues - to discuss various social problems and potentially sustainable solutions to
those problems.

We started by listing out the different sectors and problems faced in those respective areas. Though the literacy numbers in India are looking much better than they were a decade ago, there are still various issues with the education system. From poor teacher attendance, to a mismanaged mid-day meal program for students, to a complete lack of basic infrastructure in primary schools in rural areas - there are various problems. Also financial issues in the family force kids to drop out of school mid-way and get a job. For such kids, institutes like ITI (Industrial Training Institute) are a very good option - they have been set up to train students in vocational jobs like a fitter, machine operator, etc.
There are a few models in place where companies have tied up with ITI and NGOs - the
NGO funds the cost of the diploma and the company hires the students on graduation, so
the students are guaranteed a decent job on graduation. Eg Pratham (a NGO) has tied up
with the Taj Group of Hotels, where Pratham has helped set up the hospitality training
programs, and the students are hired by Taj after they complete the course. So there is a
potential for a social business here - if cheaper education loans are given to students to
sign up for such courses, they would be assured of a job on graduation and would then
repay the loan over time.

Another model we discussed was to train disabled people so that they can join the
workforce. Eg there can be a social business - a courier company, coffee shop, etc whose
front end staff is mute. There are certain foot reflexology spas today where the masseurs
are blind. So there is a potential for a social business in this industry - where the
disability does not quite hinder the daily routine of the job.
After education, we moved on to sanitation. Walking through the streets of Mumbai, this
is one of the most apparent problems. Lack of public toilets is a major problem. However,
someone pointed out that there is a scheme where the municipal corporation accepts
tenders for construction of public toilets and reimburses the bidder for the entire cost of
the same once it is built. So there is potential for a social business in this sector. Also it
was also pointed out that maybe mobile toilets can also be a solution to the problem.
This is something we are going to explore and check if it can be sustainable on a pay-per-use
model.

Healthcare was a natural next in our discussion. Drinking water is a major problem all
over the country, especially in rural areas. The problem is two-fold - there is lack of
potable water and also a lack of awareness among the people on how important it is to
have pure water. Some models that are being implemented are finding it hard to get
people to pay for potable, safe drinking water as the people prefer to go back to drinking
the impure water just because it is free. People need to be educated on the consequences
of drinking impure water, the various diseases caused - thus need to be convinced that
the real cost of drinking the "free" water is much more than that of purified water. A
social business can do that - it can fund the capital cost of the water purification plant. It
can be operated by a rural entrepreneur, who can then sell the purified water to the
village. The venture not only solves the problem of drinking water for that village, but
also creates employment.

Mumbai's leading government hospitals are really lacking in basic equipment. In many
cases, due to lack of proper equipment, the doctors are forced not to treat poorer people
who can't pay for their treatment or medicine. In many cases, patients stop taking
medication prematurely as they can't afford to buy them anymore. It is quite hard to find
a sustainable business model that can solve this problem. In our discussion, we concluded
that there has to be a tie up between a pharmaceutical company, a microfinance company
(MFI), an insurance company and the hospital - the MFI could give a medical loan at the
time of the treatment, or to buy insurance which could be claimed when needed. The
pharmaceutical company could offer the medicines at lower costs to make it more
affordable to the lower income segment.

Moving on to the rural economy, agriculture is fast becoming an out-of-fashion
profession among the rural youth. Everyone sees more value in migrating to the city in
search of better prospects. So, if there was a social business that promoted modern
methods in agriculture and related activities that would solve two issues - make
agriculture more efficient, and reduce the pressure on urban infrastructure by curbing
migration. The social business needs to provide a link between the farmer and the end
user - something like a middle man who does not exploit the farmer! A telecom company
can partner with the social business to provide the communication channel for
information related to prices, market, better practices etc. Similarly it can connect the
rural artisans to the customers in other parts of the country; this will not only increase
awareness about the diverse art forms in the country but also make them economically
sustainable. Another model we discussed was 'rural tourism' - again to create awareness
about the rural heritage of our country, and re-invest the revenue into the village to
provide better facilities to its inhabitants.

The last topic we discussed was how a social business could help provide grassroot/
bottom-up solutions to the energy crisis. If it funds the capital cost of solar lanterns,
or promotes innovative and cheap windmills, it could solve the issue of lack of electricity
in the smaller villages - and at the same time create gainful employment in the village.
To sum up, I think we had quite a productive discussion. There was a good exchange of
ideas. All of us are very socially like minded and it really helped that some of us had
been involved in grass-root level work in the social sector. Also it was encouraging that
more than half of the group was below 30 yrs old - I think this is a great sign that more
and more younger people are thinking about social issues and want to do their bit to make
a difference.

As next steps we have decided to work on a couple of the above ideas - vocational
education loans, and the business to help connect the rural manufacturers to the market
through the mobile platform, do more research and develop a business plan. Also we
have decided to have more sessions like these and spread the word about social business
as a concept in general.

Participants
Nachiket Shelgikar
Nachiket - after completing his B.S. from the Carnegie Mellon University, he worked
with Deutsche Bank in M&A for a year in London. He left the Bank in August 2008, and
returned to Mumbai to work as a social entrepreneur.

Sanjiv K Shelgikar
Mr Shelgikar is a Chartered Accountant by profession, and has been associated with the
Videocon Group since 1984. He has committed to contribute US$1 million toward a
Social Business Fund in Mumbai.

Rajnish Dhall
Rajnish completed his P.G.D.M from the IIM (Ahmedabad), after which he worked with
American Express Bank in a variety of roles for 15 years, the last 10 of which were
overseas based. He left the Bank as a Senior Director in 2006 and returned to Mumbai to
work in the social sector(advising Aangan, an NGO which works in state run children
homes and as a member of the Justice Dhanuka court appointed committee to look into
the infrastructure of Mumbai municipal schools).

Madhu Menon
Madhu is a Chartered Accountant with over 23 years of banking experience, initially with
the Reserve Bank of India and then with American Express Bank ("AEB"). Since leaving
AEB in 2002 as Senior Director, responsible for Commercial Banking and Capital
Market activities in India, he has been an advisor to various business groups in India as a
wealth management and capital market specialist. He has a keen interest in using
commercially viable business models to stimulate and sustain social change.

Ramesh Ogale
Ramesh has more than 25 years of experience in the Real Estate sector. He promoted his
own construction company for building and marketing housing for low and middle
income buyers in the coastal Maharashtra region. Prior to that, he was working with
Makers Development Services, where he worked on various turnkey township projects.
As a result he is well exposed to construction practices, and project management. He has
also interacted with various housing finance companies throughout his career.

Rhea Rakshit
Rhea has an undergraduate degree from Vassar College, she also has a degree in
developmental economics from London School of Economics and has worked in
Swadhaar - a microfinance company in Mumbai.

Shefali Saldhana
Shefali has an undergraduate degree from University of Virginia; she worked in KPMG
for a year in Mumbai, before joining Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC)

Sunaina Saldhana
Sunaina graduated from University of Sheffield and now works as a merchandiser for
Ensemble.

Ana Saldhana
Ana works as an interior designer and also volunteers with a NGO - Chetana Foundation.

Rohith Balakrishnan
Rohith worked in a start up in IIT before joining Micro Housing Finance Corporation.

Namrata Kothari
Namrata - after graduating from University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of Science in Economics, worked in Goldman Sachs investment banking in the financial institutions group for a year, and then AQR Capital for two years. She moved back from New York to Mumbai in October 2009.

Meghna Mittal
Meghna - after graduating from University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, worked at Bear Stearns fixed income in New York for 2 years, and then Pratham in Mumbai for a year.