Jaroka Tele-Health wins mBillionth Award; Sets up Medical Relief Camp for Flood Victims

Congratulations to Atif Mumtaz, Digital Vision colleague. At a ceremony organized in New Delhi by its convener, Digital Empowerment Foundation, and sponsored by India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, OnMobile, and Intel among others, Jaroka Tele-health was presented the mBillionth award 2010 in the m-Health category. "We are now in a world where technology is capable of anything; from allowing physicians to review patient records on-the-go, to alert drivers in any city of nearby parking spaces while looking for spot, to surfing the Internet and watching movies; and what better way to celebrate it than this award for innovation in health and technology."

The Jaroka project was honored for its interactive interfaces, innovative design, aesthetic value, accessibility and most of all it’s relevance of content and utility value. Atif developed and refined a tele-health project during his Stanford fellowship and today the Jaroka Tele-health project treats over 50,000 patients in rural Pakistan each year. 90% of the patients earn less than dollar a day and live below the poverty line.
I also heard from Atif that UM Healthcare Trust has established one of the first regular medical clinics for flood victims at the edge of the flood waters in Noshehra District, NWFP, Pakistan. "Manned by our qualified staff of medical doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, we have started treating flood victims who total in millions and are waiting for aid to reach them despite the ordeal being almost a week old. We urgently require medicines to treat the influx of patients."
The mBillionth Award is dedicated to exploring the potential of the mobile sector and promoting game changing applications all across South Asia. The mBillionth secretariat at Digital Empowerment Foundation, New Delhi reached out to the entire South Asia region to solicit nominations across 10 categories: Business, Health, Education, Culture & Heritage, Government, Entertainment, Inclusion, Environment, Tourism, & News and Travel. The Grand Jury of the mBillionth South Asia Award reviewed more than 200 entries hailing from 8 South Asian countries, and chose 1-2 winners from each category.
Jaroka Tele-health is a joint collaboration between UM Healthcare  The project has attracted significant funding from USAID and ISIF Foundation. For more information, or to donate contact: UM Healthcare Trust, Established 2004; Dedicated to Providing Healthcare for the Rural Communities.
Offices in: Islamabad, Pakistan & Washington DC, USA
USA: +1 415 894 9506 PAK: +92-51 210 6304

What is BOP? And Why You Should Care

Bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is greater than half of the world population. And if you are reading this, chances are you are not BOP. But, read on anyway. Once upon a time BOP was the "third world" and the model of interaction (if any) with the BOP was charity or social services (like welfare). Activists ruled as the keepers of our conscience. With globalisation came the need for cheap(er) labor and BOP became the "emerging market". Entrepreneurs ruled. But then things got complicated. First world infrastructure (innovated at the dawn of the industrial age) did not scale in sustainable fashion to meet either the third world/emerging market needs or first world lifestyle. Worse still, communication channels (innovated in the computer age) became digital - making all this mess in live action, color video for all to see at the click of a button. So now what?
Now is the time to merge the best of activism and entrepreneurship and think of BOP as an innovation engine. It is the space for activism, entrepreneurship and business model innovation that allows for leapfrogging tired old industrial age technologies that are proving too costly in terms of environmental as well as human health. More than half the world population is a good market incentive for innovation.

We stand at a crossroad today where either we continue to export sustainability-challenged technologies or we partner with the BOP as the "next bench" to develop new technologies and create a new market at the same time.  

So - Is BOP Market or Strategy? A Mirage at the bottom of the pyramid? Capitalism gone haywire or Socialism gone haywire? A case for philanthropy? OR its not my problem; because its not interesting? or I can’t do anything about it?


I prefer to think of BOP as an innovation driver and as we know innovation is an extreme sport. Life would be dull without it. So watch it, support it, get involved. MediaX is kicking off a year of 21st Century Conversations with an all day seminar on Wednesday July 21called Social Media and Social Technologies: Changing Personal and Civic Conversations. the topic for my panel is : The New Realities of Grassroots and Civic Activism.

Social Entrpreneurs: Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor?

As a champion of diversity in the workplace, over the years, I have had sufficient opportunity to discuss glass ceilings with executive management as well as hold mentoring sessions around sticky floors - which is the tendency to develop roots in our comfort zone that makes every opportunity look like a glass ceiling. I (and many others) found the imagery evoked by glass ceiling/sticky floor to be quite effective in getting the message across.

Now that I've been researching the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, I have come to realise that the glass ceiling/sticky floor metaphor is one that can be dusted off and put to good use once again. The equivalent of climbing the corporate ladder in the social entrepreneurship scene is scale- If I can change the lives of a 100 people for the better, then can I move on to change the lives of a 1000? 10,000? A million? What must change? What stays the same? What part is process; what part passion?

Just as when articulating diversity as a business value (e.g. productivity, creativity, teamwork) it would serve us well to separate the challenges in social venture creation as institutional (glass ceilings) or personal development (sticky floor) and not allow one to masquerade as the other- the strategies to address the two are radically different.

I like the glass ceiling/sticky floor metaphor- its easy to remember and act on versus the other business buzzwords - or maybe its just in my comfort zone.

Transformative Potential of Social Entrepreneurship

I went to the AIF-Stanford University event "Transformative Potential of Social Entrepreneurship" not only as a supporter of AIF’s Digital Equalizer (DE) program but also because I wanted to show AIF my support of the topic, especially as it applies to the India growth story. I also hoped I would meet some new people and I did. While the whole program was energising, the bonus came from David Bornstein keynote and discussion. Insights about social entrepreneurship for me were:
1- Heart-driven: the reason why social entrepreneurs were effective and tended to outperform other entrepreneurs - Tolstoy quote :"everything I know, I know only because I love"
2- Profit vs. non-profit: "nothing will work but everything might". For profit structure is highly built so easier. But bringing organic green vegetables to inner cities will only happen for a non-profit at this time.
3- Role of supporters: figure out how government and business can meet regularly to create a friendship model (heart driven) of working together (as opposed to being adversaries doing lip-service)
4- Role of media- find stories of hope to bring about change - its like being a hunter/gatherer - there is so much negative news, the good gets drowned. Media can create a "Yahoo effect" - where a few good examples can get a movement going
5- Role of technologists: what are the technology platforms that can change the game?
6- Academics - create a discipline (minor) in Social Entrepreneurship - is happening but not very common

Other useful tips:
L3C- low profit for benefit hybrid model - now gaining ground in California: http://l3ccalifornia.org/# (also B Corp)
SOCAP - social business capital where funder gets capital back but no return - e.g. Acumen fund; Beyond Profit is a magazine that could have a "yahoo effect".

The message of the panel discussions was - "partner, partner, partner" - this field has been one of pioneers (with the arrows in the back) but now that situation is changed - to scale one must partner.

Folks and potential Customers, please look at open-source applications too

I cannot understand why the likes of Apple and Microsoft can generate so much passion, debate. and brouhaha. Whether Apple has overtaken Microsoft as the technology company with the largest market-cap is immaterial to me? My issue is with the predatory business models followed by leading technology corporates. Why do we as customers want to give up the freedom that certain technology corporates take away when we buy products and services from these predatory corporate giants?

Why not look at the possibilities that the open-source software model has to offer? Freedom for one. Freedom to use and do what you want to do with it? Freedom from periodic and costly upgrades. Freedom from anti-competitive lock-ins.

Isn’t that what you do when you buy any other product? You basically own the product for which you put down your hard-earned money. So, why should software be any different?

Now, look at Apple from the application developer perspective. The current Adobe Flash episode comes to mind immediately. Let us say you have a hot idea and have developed a solution for it. You want to implement your application on the popular Apple platform (iPOD, iPAD, iTunes or whatever!!). Go ahead... After all it is your idea and your freedom and privilege to do as you choose. That is what the sensible business model should be. But no, hold on, wrong assumptions.... If you want to get onto the above-mentioned platforms you must basically sign away your right to implement the same or similar solution on a competing platform. Outrageous, isn’t it? Did the platform vendor pay you to develop your solution? Was the original application your own innovative idea or did the innovative idea belong to the platform vendor?

Can I give an example from other industries? Honda and Mercedes are leading providers of auto engines to practically all competing Formula-1 platforms. They compete through the technology they have developed and have a right to migrate it to competing automotive racing platforms. That right belongs to them because they own the technology they have developed. So, why is application software any different? Shouldn't I have a right to proliferate my IT solution onto as many IT platforms as possible? I can understand having to invest in the platform provider's tools that might enable me to implement my task. But I cannot understand why I would give away my right to proliferate the solution?

So, the moot question is why would otherwise intelligent application developers give away their freedom on the intellectual property they have developed? One answer that comes to mind is short-term greed!! Instant gratification is a societal short-coming. This is a good example of it.

This aspect of succumbing to predatory corporate behavior disturbs my sense of personal freedom in the same manner as if some physical property I owned were to be taken away forcefully from me by a non-democratic government. Why would I want to let that happen to my virtual intellectual resources through the force of a one-sided corporate appropriation?

Folks and potential customers, go for open-source. If customers start looking at open-source applications and solutions with some passion and diligence they would find open-source solution developers stepping up to the pitch. Open-source solutions can be and are competitive, cost-effective and start-of-the-art.

How to Influence Others: 3 Tips

Rudyard Kipling has written "All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They". Change leadership is about influencing "they" into becoming "we". Kipling (I seem to remember) offers advice:
"I keep six honest serving men,
They taught me all I knew;
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who."

For me this breaks down to three things:
1. Ask open ended questions to unearth closely held assumptions that formulate opinions and positions. Address the assumptions to create change.
2. Be a good listener - this means genuine curiosity. If I find myself formulating my response in my head when listening - I know I will not be successful in influencing the other person.
3. Withhold judgement about core philosophies no matter how different. When wildly opposing values collide, you can still gain respect by agreeing to disagree.
Sometimes, honest communication like this take time (involves building trust) as pointed out by the HBR conversation about asking questions. So be prepared, In this age of globalisation and the reality of collaboration amidst diversity, changemakers separates their own core values from details to create the largest circle of "we possibles". At the level that social entrepreneurs operate i.e. social and economic prosperity for all - it would be hard to find anyone that doesn't fit the "we" circle.

Engineers For Social Impact: 2010 Fellows Announced

Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) Fellows 2010
Contact: Akash Raman, Engineers for Social Impact

+91-950-344-9871
akash@e4si.org

Bangalore, India [April 20, 2010] – The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) Fellowship Selection Committee is delighted to announce that after receiving and carefully reviewing close to 600 internship applications for its 2010 edition, it has made offers to 17 outstanding candidates for 9 roles at 7 partner social enterprises that focus on development by means of sustainable for-profit entrepreneurship.

E4SI 2010 Fellows come from a number of India’s prestigious engineering schools including IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and BITS Pilani – all from diverse backgrounds with excellent accomplishments and potential. E4SI 2010 Fellows include the student union President of BITS Pilani, student President of the entrepreneurship club at IIT Madras and Green Globe Foundation award winner. More information about the Fellows is available on E4SI’s website – http://www.e4si.org/

E4SI fellowships promise to be highly entrepreneurial in a way that combines the best of consulting, technology, and social innovation. Fellows will gain unprecedented access to the development sector as they work with leading social entrepreneurs, attend leadership workshops and pitch their ideas to thought leaders as they join an outstanding cohort of exceptional young leaders.

Partner social enterprises for the 2010 edition of the E4SI fellowship program are leaders in microfinance, education, energy, and healthcare. Among them are: Samhita Social Ventures Pvt. Ltd., an enterprise providing social organizations with access to funds, people, knowledge, networks and customers; mDhil, a firm that provides basic healthcare information to the Indian consumer via text messaging, mobile web browsing, and an innovative web site; iDiscoveri, an experiential education organization focused on self-discovery and meaningful learning in economically emerging societies; Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO India), a company that provides reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy services to rural homes and businesses; Husk Power Systems (HPS), an innovative triple bottom-line company that provides power to over 50,000 rural Indians in a financially sustainable, environmentally friendly, and profitable manner; Sarvajal, a social enterprise focused on delivering clean drinking water at an affordable amount (25 paisa per liter) to rural villages throughout India; and IFMR, a wholly owned subsidiary of IFMR trust, a private trust with the mission to ensure that every individual and every enterprise has complete access to financial services.

About Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI)
The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) Fellowship is a unique program that connects top engineering talent to credible social enterprises driving market-based solutions to development in India. It serves a dual need: matching talented students with worthy social enterprises and increasing awareness of for-profit approaches to development.

Engineers for Social Impact has been described as “a group of doers and dreamers” which seeks to imbue a culture of social entrepreneurship in India’s youth. Not only does it provide hands-on training for new doers and dreamers but they also gives its fellows complete freedom to be creative in their immersion experiences.

E4SI’s advisers, among others, include Nitin Rao (Director, E4SI & MBA Candidate, MIT Sloan, Cambridge), Ayan Sarkar (Associate, McKinsey & Company), Anand Shah (CEO of Piramal Foundation), Dr. Parth J. Shah (President of the Centre for Civil Society), Neerja Raman (Author and Research Fellow at Stanford University), Priya Naik (Founder and CEO, Samhita Social Ventures) and Dharen Chadha (former Global Director of Strategic Planning at J. Walter Thompson.)

Poverty: Its About Choice

Lindsay Clinton, of Beyond Profit is hosting (on Social Edge) a provocative discussion titled "what's wrong with being poor?" She asks "what if we are really just grafting our own notions about haves and have nots and quality of life based on our own limited experience?" The problem of poverty is multifaceted and the discussion thread makes for interesting reading (do check) but after a while I found my head spinning.

The outcome of a discussion should lead to action. So for me the first action is simplification: Its about choice.

Do you know anyone who chooses to live in extreme poverty (unfed, unclothed, unloved etc..)? I do. I met them last year travelling in the Himalayas. They are called rishis, munis, saints whatever. Wise men and women who have reduced their physical needs without compromising their mental prowess and in some cases enhancing it even. Its their choice. It is renunciation though their lifestyle would meet traditional definitions of poverty.


Do you know any child who chooses to live in extreme poverty (unfed, unclothed, uneducated)? I don't. Having grown up in India, surrounded by the poor, I cannot imagine a child choosing hunger over a full belly.

Poverty is no different than other forms of injustice- be it equal opportunity for women, minorities, religion etc. And just like them, it is unnecessary - if we only have the will.

Poverty is not a choice. If it is, I am fine with it. Lets not over-think the issue - this discussion reminds me of the debate in the seventies about working moms versus career moms - what's better?

Its about choice. and society benefits when its people have choices.

Mission Drift: The Bogeyman of Social Entrepreneurship

The initial public offer (IPO) by SKS Microfinance is a landmark event: likely to set the stage for other IPOs in this area. I find much to cheer about in this development as financial inclusion goes mainstream and scales so a dream turns to reality for many many more people who live under $4/day. Not unexpectedly, the recent hoop-la about the IPO has come from activists and NGOs who worry that this move spells a mission drift - a profit from poverty mentality versus helping the poor, that has always been the bogeyman of social entrepreneurship.

The issue is that pure philanthropy does not scale. Charity funding is critical in providing a start to change-makers driven by passion for helping the poor. However, once a business model becomes sustainable, its capital need is far greater than what can be met by traditional philanthropic sources.

But change is hard for many to swallow and hence appears the bogeyman of mission drift - all the things that are wrong with the business world. But the bottom line is that there are also many things right with the business world. Besides- just as many albeit different, things are wrong with the charity model. Of course things can always go wrong, with greed overtaking social mission as MFIs go mainstream, but that risk is far lower than the risk of stagnation and besides financial instruments exist to manage it.

With access to more capital, I actually think things will improve for the clients of MFI because there will be pressure to bring interest rates into alignment with traditional banks. In recognition of this Businessworld article says "Earlier this year, India's finance minister said non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs), including some like SKS, can be granted banking licences, signalling a greater role for MFIs. But India's central bank has pulled up MFIs for their high interest rates -- about 25-27 percent. That is about double the rate at which they borrow from banks, but still lower than moneylenders."

Actually this business of mission drift has become a particular peeve of mine because of my past 4 years of experience directly working with social entrepreneurs. The SKS IPO provides an example against which I can generalise. Budding social entrepreneurs face an uphill task as it is. They initially get ignored by traditional capital and foundation money is so scarce that the competition in the field of social entrepreneurship is unhealthy (results in inability to merge or collaborate later on). Two factors come into play: First, self doubt in the mind of the entrepreneur in entertaining a realistic revenue generation (Am I being social enough?) plan for sustainability. Second, many opt for an incorrect business model which later becomes difficult to change, especially given the negative feedback from their initial supporters. The way I see it, the issue of mission drift is an operational issue - to be managed like any other risk whereas having a built-in plan to get to sustainability and scale is a strategic choice which guides impact in the long run.

Boond: Micro-franchising for Achieving Scale in Social Impact

In October 2009, when I was a speaker at the Micro-Finance India Summit, I was truly humbled and awed by the entrepreneurs I met, some fresh out of college, who shared their business plans (ventures in various stages of development) with me. One thing that was common to all was that they took on great risk (financial, social, time investment) with amazing optimism and a can-do attitude. One such entrepreneur is Rustam Sengupta who has founded a for-profit social enterprise "Boond" (which in Sanskrit means a drop). I was captivated by the ambition reflected in the vision & mission: “Reach 1 million individuals with light, clean water and pest control by 2012”. But even more so by the fact that scale was integrated into the strategy and operations from the get-go. "Boond’s mission is to bring development to the poor living in remote areas of India through the specially designed Boond Development Kit. The specially designed kit consist of a Solar lamp, a water filter and a mosquito net and is sold through local villagers with 3/6/9 month financing schemes to make it affordable for the BPL household."
The unique aspect of Boond is its strategy to reach its market - the prepackaged kit is sold through the Boond Officer: Boond has put together a micro-franchising solution: a kit, a reseller and financing.

Boond development kit customers live in remote places that are hard to reach and without proper market infrastructure. So meet Boond Officer Bikash: a native of Manipur who teaches young children in the local school and earns about Rs. 2600 (US$58) a month. He is a talented singer and dancer, immensely passionate about Boond products, and has set a target for selling 30 kits in a month. The village he targets has less than 10% electricity coverage and no running water.

Boond has created a very low-cost solution: with just $20 a financier can empower a villager to deploy the kit.

I believe that the biggest development challenge for India is reaching, enabling and developing the rural market in spite of development in the metros. Boond has created a solution. "In India, nearly 300 million people still live in complete darkness while WHO statistics highlight that a million every year die from water borne diseases. Boond believes that these are the two biggest development challenges we face and can be surmounted by a collective effort of ordinary individuals. Malaria, nearly eradicated from the Western world still kills nearly 300,000 people a year and we believe that this is unacceptable since it’s easily preventable for a low cost. Boond is also trying to change the peoples mindset through its website and campaigns (www.boond.net) and encourages collective action to fight the biggest challenges faced by India today – Light, Clean Water and Pest Control" says Rustam.