Social Entrepreneurs Changing Our World

Dhruv Larka – Mirakle Couriers

Mr Larka has created a miracle with his company that employs only deaf adults as couriers. Even more importantly, he has created an inclusive and sustainable business with the handicapped, who are so often marginalised and not given jobs in India. Larka is not only academically brilliant and a humanitarian, but also down-to-earth. He studied at the SAID School of Business at Oxford University on a full scholarship from the Skoll foundation, taking electives in social entrepreneurship. After returning to India, he wanted to start a social entrepreneurship project. The idea for Mirakle Couriers occurred to him one day when he was sitting in a bus with a deaf man next to him. He thought that deaf adults could deliver parcels just as capably as any other person, as long as they could communicate via texts, signals, and images, and find addresses.

In December 2008, Larka started Mirakle Couriers on a capital of Rs.17,000, money left over from the Skoll foundation. According to Larka, deaf adults are more than capable of making deliveries; all they have to do is find a way to communicate. Google Maps and other new technologies help in finding addresses. Mirakle also includes a sign language sheet with every delivery so customers can communicate with their couriers.
In 2009, Larka was chosen for the Echoing Green fellowship that funds 15 social entrepreneurs worldwide each year. The fellowship gave him enough capital to invest in systems infrastructure, and take the business to the next level. Mirakle is currently delivering 60,000 shipments each month and hopes to increase this to 100,000 by the end of the year.
measure the impact their initiative has and communicate it with their investors and customers. Incubators and accelerators can also assist in making connections, fundraising, and giving valuable advice.

SOME POPULAR INCUBATORS ARE LISTED AS UNDER:

Echoing Green:
This international institute offers a two-year fellowship for social entrepreneur start-ups with a grant of $60,000 for individuals and $90,000 for two-person partnerships. It also off ers stipends for health insurance and gaining professional skills. In 2009, Dhruv Larka from Mirakle Couriers was chosen for the Echoing Green fellowship.

Unreasonable Institute:
This summer fellowship brings together 25 entrepreneurs from all over the world to the US to work with 60 mentors who offer advice and train entrepreneurs in essential skills to develop their programme to the next level. After completing the programme, fellows can pitch their ideas to investors. Cycle Chalao is one of 27 initiatives chosen in 2011 by the Unreasonable Institute.

Rainer Arnhold Fellowship:
This fellowship is for two years and caters to entrepreneurs who are working in the third world to solve major problems in health, poverty, and conservation. Along with networking opportunities and mentoring, it also provides a $10,000 annual stipend.

UnLtd India:
This is a one-year programme based in Mumbai that offers funding and training at three diff erent levels, ranging from those who are working on a project part-time to those who are looking at it as a full-time business. It off ers a wide range of funding to support all three levels, starting fromRs. 80,000 and going up to Rs. 20 lakh.

LARKA HAS CREATED A MIRACLE WITH HIS COMPANY THAT EMPLOYS ONLY DEAF ADULTS AS COURIERS. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE HAS CREATED AN INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS WITH THE HANDICAPPED DR MUHAMMAD YUNNUS WON THE NOBEL PEACE  RIZE IN 2006 FOR HIS WORK IN SETTING UP THE GRAMEEN BANK

Dr Muhammad Yunnus
– Grameen Bank
Dr Muhammad Yunnus is one of the most distinguished names in the social entrepreneurship fi eld worldwide. This pioneering Bangladeshi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work in setting up the Grameen Bank – a microfi nance bank that provides loans to the poor, those who can offer almost no collateral in return. Instead, the bank gives low-interest loans based on ‘trust, accountability, participation, and creativity,’ according to their website. The Grameen Bank has made a sizeable impact in the socioeconomic development of the poor and shown that one can give credit to those without collateral and create a sustainable business. Their loan recovery rate is over 97 percent, and today, even big banks like Citi are piling into the same market.
As of May 2011, the bank reaches out to 8.36 million borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women, in almost each and every village in Bangadesh. Small loans make a tremendous improvement to lives in these women who have taken up these loans and to their children. Moreover, the bank is owned by the poor: borrowers currently hold 95 per cent of the total equity of the bank, while the A courier boy government owns 5 per cent.

Anita Ahuja – Conserve India
Anita Ahuja is working with ragpickers in Delhi, those who sort out the waste trash, to create beautiful handbags for export. She is transforming waste matter into wealth with a profi table and sustainable business. Today, her company employs over 300 people, and sells her bags across the world.
Conserve India started as a waste collection project for the locality, and eventually reached out to other colonies on a non-profit basis. Even though it received grants from national and international organisations, it had to sustain itself by creating its own income. This is around the time that Ahuja realised that most ragpickers lived in almost inhuman and unhygienic conditions with their families, and were terribly bullied by contractors.
Ahuja started experimenting with the waste products and eventually began to layer the plastic waste to create bags. Her husband, Shalabh, helped scale up her idea with a machine that could produce plastic sheets from the waste material on a mass scale. Together, they began to create handbags and other accessories. Over time, Conserve India has grown to become a factory where each worker draws at least Rs. 4000 a month. What’s more, their revenues have touched the 5-crore mark! Together, they have created a fantastic business that helps over 300 families, one handbag at a time.

HOW TO BECOME A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Here are some tried and tested tips to get you started.

Find your cause
It’s great that you want to save the world, but then reality strikes, that you can’t. Instead, tackle the issue you feel most strongly about. Once you find the cause you are passionate about, identify the primary issues that are there in that fi eld. For example, if you are passionate about solar energy, think of ways to bring cheaper and aff ordable solar panels to rural areas. If undecided, join a non-profit organisation until you do find your passion, but do not make the mistake of entering a social entrepreneurship project with one step in and the other out of the door.

Create a business
Do not think of your project as a charity. You have to adopt the best practices, strategies, and management methods followed by businesses across the world while keeping your humanitarian cause firmly at the core of your business. Invest in the skills of your managers – for any enterprise to be successful, it needs to have smooth operations, a good marketing and sales team, and targeted consumers. Hire motivated, smart, and ambitious employees who are more experienced than you in their specialised fi elds. Differentiate yourself from charities and non-profi ts. Market yourself aggressively to create a brand in the mind of consumers. These same principles hold true for any business.

Communicate
For any social entrepreneurship project to succeed, it must be transparent and ethical. Make your fi nancial information open to attract donors and investors. Keep annual reports available for your investors and count the number of people your cause has helped. Develop an emotional connection with your consumers by projecting the right image through carefully controlled PR activities. With the Internet, there are a variety of new media platforms available; build videos, use social networking sites, and write a blog about your activities to garner support.

Partner with the right people
Think about getting corporate sponsorship for your brand by developing a partnership with an organisation with similar interests. Target the chosen organisation carefully and build a proposal that will win them over. Remember, you can’t do it alone. Other than the major corporate sponsors, also look at smaller companies that can help you reach your end goal, from transportation to marketing. Keep these in mind and you are sure to succeed!

Courses in Social Entrepreneurship
Although some say that entrepreneurship arises from the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of the individual and without certain innate qualities, one cannot proceed far. Entrepreneurship development courses have developed tests to calculate the potential of their candidates to reason, develop new ideas, and learn.
JGI Ventures, for instance, has started a two-year iDEA (Incubating & Developing Entrepreneurial Ability) programme in Bangalore that believes in motivating students to excel through sports, international exposure, rigorous training, and mentoring. However, prior to entering the Rs.500-crore incubation and training postgraduate programme, students are tested rigorously through psychometric skills and the ability to think on their feet.
There are few places where the business models and development skills required for social entrepreneurship can be learnt. Some Indian institutes that offer courses in social entrepreneurship are:

Entrepreneurship Development
Institute of India (EDI) is one of the fi rst institutes in India that started a course in social entrepreneurship. It off ers a Postgraduate Diploma in Management – Development Sector and Social Entrepreneurship. www.ediindia.org

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)
has a 1-year diploma programme in Social Entrepreneurship and a threeyear, part-time MBA programme. It is one of the very few institutes in India with a dedicated MBA programme for social entrepreneurs. There are loans and need-based scholarships available for this programme. www.nmims.edu

The Tata Institute of Social
Sciences (TISS) has a two-year, full-time MA degree in Social Entrepreneurship. Th e course has a good balance of pedagogical learning and practical fieldwork. Students have moved on to become social entrepreneurs and take up jobs in both profi t and non-profi t sectors. TISS has a range of merit and need-based scholarships available. www.tiss.edu

Investment firms that work with high-impact social entrepreneur companies:

 • Agora Partnerships
www.agorapartnerships.org

• Acumen Fund
www.acumenfund.org

• First Light Ventures
http://firstlightventures.com

• Good Capital
www.goodcap.net

Volumn 1 Issue 2