Social Entrepreneurship

Over 60% of the Indian Population still lives on less than $2 a day. India is placed second highest in terms of net income inequality among 34 countries in the lower middle income group. India has made rapid strides in Economic Growth but how can the country maintain healthy Gross Domestic Product growth while addressing the inequality among its citizens?

Social Entrepreneurs are a key stakeholder segment to engage in delivering such basic services and opportunities efficiently and effectively to the underserved in India. Every year, Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Awards organized by the Schwab Foundation and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation attracts hundreds of Social Entrepreneurs from all over the country. Some of them employ innovative, cost efficient and often technology enabled business models that deliver basic services to those who lack access.

Many of these organizations work at an impressive scale serving millions of low income households and transforming their quality of life. An example is Aravind Eye Care System in South India, which focuses on curing blindness among India’s poor. The hospital chain serves approximately 12,000-15,000 outpatient visits and 1,500 surgeries each day. Karuna Trust and its public private partnership model serve over 2 Million low income clients by transforming government primary health centres into hubs of low cost, high quality healthcare delivery.

When compared to magnitude of Social challenges facing the country, their efforts fall short; their impact is often limited to select geographies. How can India build on the wonderful work by these pioneers for social change at a national scale? True public-private collaboration is the key to make this happen. When designing and implementing policies, the government should draw on the knowledge and experience of social entrepreneurs, the ideas and dynamism of it youth and the capabilities of the corporate sector to plan and execute large scale projects.

With half of population under 25 years of age, India has an unrivalled youth demographic. Beyond their direct reach and impacts, social entrepreneurs represent a powerful idea, an idea that is relevant today more than ever before. That business can be a vehicle to create both economic values as well contributes to building a fair and equitable society.