A mantra to live by: If no one else will take the initiative, then do it yourself.

I am writing a series for Beyond Profit Magazine on women social entrepreneurs. Below is my second contribution from a conversation I had in August, 2009 with Pooja Warier, co-founder of Unltd India, and someone I am proud to call a friend.

Pooja Warier, the co-founder of Unltd India, has this to say for women entrepreneurs, “If being an entrepreneur is tough, then being a woman entrepreneur is tougher, and being a young woman entrepreneur is tougher still.” But this hasn’t stopped her.

Pooja has never opted for the easy path in life. In fact, her dream job when she was a girl growing up in Kerala was to become an astronaut. When she reached adulthood and realized math and science were not her strengths, she became interested in psychology, which eventually led her to become a social entrepreneur. Pooja describes this career change as an unconscious decision; one day she looked up and realized the work she was doing constituted the work of a social entrepreneur. The process of transforming into a social entrepreneur started when Pooja was working with an organization in Mumbai focused on educating street children. After six months, Pooja noticed a major difference in the way she viewed her work as compared to the way the founders of the organization felt. The organization’s work was their life’s passion, whereas for Pooja, it was just a job. Through them, however, she understood the power to create social impact by living and breathing what you do each day. She quit the next day. Pooja cites this experience as a key juncture on her path to becoming a social entrepreneur. It turns out that determining what you don’t want to do, is as important as discovering what you do want to do.

Unltd India provides seed funding, along with start-up services, to individuals with an idea or early stage social venture. The organization is unique in the social investing space in that it focuses on investment in individuals with no prior track record–essentially, Unltd takes risk where other investors would not. Pooja was first exposed to Unltd’s investing strategy while working in the Unltd UK office, where she met her founding partner, Richard. The potential for the Unltd model to work in India was clear. Pooja carried that passion forward and gained internal support to shadow three entrepreneurs in India in 2006 to understand their specific start-up requirements. Encouraged by her findings, Pooja approached large Foundations and NGOs in India to adopt the model. Although intrigued, none of these incumbent organizations were willing to run with the idea. Feeling frustrated, Pooja recalls a conversation with Unltd UK’s CEO at the time, John Rafferty, who said, “Why don’t you just do it yourself?” And so she did.

Armed with a strong co-founder in Richard, she launched Unltd India in 2007. They have provided monetary and management support to 44 investees in India and are adding more. Now, Pooja says, her brain will not turn off. She constantly sees possibilities for new social ventures. She and Richard are the force behind, Journeys’ for Change, and the recent launch of the HUB in Mumbai, a creative workspace that brings together and encourages collaboration among those working on the most pressing social issues. When asked if she views herself as a leader, Pooja answers yes, but she defines it as part of being a role model to her investees and staff. Her view – “If you are asking others to take initiative, you need to exemplify it yourself.”

Recognizing the opportunity…and having the guts to take the first step

I am writing a series for Beyond Profit Magazine on women social entrepreneurs. Below is my first contribution from a conversation I had back in July, 2009 with Ms. Chetna Gala Sinha, founder of Mann Deshi Bank, and a truly inspiring woman.

Chetna grew up in Mumbai, India, as the third daughter in a middle-class family with six children. The expectation for daughters was clear – prepare yourself for marriage. A young Ms. Sinha, however, had other ideas. She recalls experiencing anger over the inequality between herself and her brother, who got to continue his studies undeterred. She deferred many a marriage proposal to continue her education in economics and commerce. In time, Chetna did marry and accompany her husband to his rural farming community. However, her passion for commerce and economics, along with her drive to question the status quo, went along with her.

In 1997, Chetna started the Mann Deshi Bank, the first in India to loan to rural women. The bank now serves over 120,000 women, with five branches in Maharastra and has spun off a business school to advise rural women looking to start a business. Her organization’s success is undeniable, but we were more interested in knowing what motivated her first steps.

Interestingly, her motivation was the shock that came when no bank would loan to the ‘backward castes’ in her village, including her husband, when market prices plummeted after the harvest in 1995. Clearly, a need existed for a financial institution that would provide support to these local farmers, and her attitude to the large incumbent banks that refused to see this opportunity became, just you wait…we will show you. And she did – gritty resolve makes for the start of a powerful movement.

This is how Chetna describes Mann Deshi, not as a bank, but as a movement. The vision to empower rural women means ongoing advocacy work to change outdated policies and systems that block women’s rights to control the household finances. Obstacles are ever-present, dealing with bureaucracy and local corruption are common occurrences. Chetna’s mandate to put solutions into practice has not wavered though, and support grows from both men and women across rural India willing to follow her lead and speak out.

The incidence of successful women social entrepreneurs is growing. Those who work at Mann Deshi get to see this trend first hand as it is often the women customers themselves that drive the agenda for their credit needs. Indeed, Chetna comments that most of the implemented products and services at the bank have come from suggestions from their women clientele. When asked why this is, Chetna responds that women are already in the habit of listening to their families, communities, and the market to work out sustainable solutions. A lifelong practice Chetna herself clearly demonstrates.

How to conduct a thorough job search.

Slowly realizing I have no idea. Before now I had never had to conduct one. I was hired out of undergraduate, mutual liking that was determined during an internship.

Simple enough process, right?

1. update the cv – check

2. add to google reader all relevant job sites, send word out to contacts  – check

3. make a list of all companies you want to work for – check

4. call them, make connections, gather information – check

5. write up a short ‘blurb’ to introduce yourself – check

6. get your ‘what am I looking for’ story down to 60 seconds – check

7. start writing those personalized cover letters – check

8. make some time to feel totally overwhelmed – check, check check!

Forget what I said about simple above.

How do you ever filter through all the possible opportunities? You could spend every waking moment looking (I am not a believer in the power of the Universe to send one my way….although lately this strategy is tempting).

So I have now made a list of criteria to help, problem is when an interesting job comes along that doesn’t meet the newly laid out requirements, I stretch them.

The whole process takes a lot of energy, and at times (as a friend pointed out to me) can feel a little like groveling.

I am starting to like Seth Godin’s idea of not bothering with a resume at all - I will not be put into a box! Unfortunately not sure the prospective employers will agree.

Why conduct a thorough job search?

So I will not have to do it again any time soon!

Cause related marketing to get your heart pumping…

The Girl Effect highlights a true phenomenon that microfinance consumer research picked up – women are better loan candidates – they are better savers and repayment rates are higher than with men, but best of all they spend on health and education for their families, creating a strong ripple effect.

Conclusion – It makes good business sense to invest in a girl.

A tech solution for the print-disabled.

I get excited about technological solutions that add real value to underserved people’s lives. It is why I started to follow Benetech’s blog. Benetech is an organization that develops new tech solutions with the goal to better serve humanity and improve lives.

Benetech launched Bookshare, with the mission to provide those with print disabilities equal and timely access to print materials. Started out of the US, as of last year, Bookshare is now in India where over 10 million have a visual impairment, and 3 million are children.

An individual with a print disability is not able to access books easily. They have visual impairments, physical or learning disabilities that prevent them from seeing, holding or reading a book. This restricts their access, and previous solutions were expensive and time consuming.    

Bookshare’s model is simple, scan and upload massive amounts of print materials (books, textbooks…basically anything that is only found in a print hardcopy). Certify those with print disabilities and charge them a nominal access fee to the online library (400 rupees). From there the printed word can be downloaded and converted from text to speech format.

This solution is simple, fast and provides expansive access to printed materials online that is growing daily. Unfortunately, the Indian copywrite laws do not yet allow organizations working with the print disabled to convert books to scanned online copies.  In 120 other countries this law has been amended. The next step to expanding this service in India is to appeal to the Copywrite Office for this change, as Indian books, in local languages need to be added in large numbers to make the library a viable solution for India’s print disabled.

A Personal Crusader makes for a powerful Social Entrepreneur

This past weekend I attended an Unltd India retreat for their level 1 and 2 investees’ and had the good fortune to be present for Saturday’s guest speaker: Vivek Anand. Now I have heard some powerful life stories of how extraordinary individuals have arrived at their commitment to a given social cause, but none quite like his. In an hour, Vivek gave us a glimpse of himself that was egoless, raw, and beautiful. He had all of us engaged with his forthright and informal manner of speaking, and for many his story brought forth a torrent of emotions. Vivek runs The Humsafar Trust (I am told Humsafar translates to fellow traveler in Hindi), with a mission to develop a holistic approach to the rights and health of sexual minorities and promoting rationale attitudes to sexual minority.

His personal journey of growing up a gay man in India led him to this mission. In his words, homophobia is not as large an issue in this country as in other parts of the world – in India the main issue is ignorance. This creates an uphill battle where Vivek and his team struggle to counter common misconceptions, which he was open to sharing with us. Some believe it is a sickness, a disease, a western phenomenon brought to India. Others worry about the acceptance of homosexuality leading to acceptance of beasteality and child sexual abuse. Yet others worry that Vivek’s work will convert people into being gay, meaning a stagnant population growth and less marriages. These are myths Vivek has to patiently dispel time and time again, with educated media personalities no less!

Until a few weeks back when section 377 was overturned in the high court, homosexuality was considered a criminal act, a law that was established back during the British Raj era. It is good news that the tides are shifting, but the decision has also brought many fears to the surface.

This is why the support and education work that Vivek and Humsafar are doing is so important, but he doesn’t see it as work, but as his purpose in life. Vivek grew up knowing that his natural preferences were considered criminal, that is not an easy path to walk and has created a man that will never stop trying to shift attitudes to accept homosexuality in India.

The Art of Trekking

Up at 5am on Sunday, which is the only day off in my 6-day work week, so it took some serious motivation to roll out of bed for this hike (oops, ‘Trek’) to Chandan Vandan Fort. 

I love trekking and wanted to make time to experience more of it in India. (My first trek was over Christmas near the Himalayas, where we actually drove to the top of the mountain and then walked down it, a little a-typical).

I’ve done my fair share of hiking, in western Canada mostly, where hiking is a not-to-be-missed experience, and in Hawaii recently through canyons & waterfalls. However, this Sunday’s trek was an adventure with a different spin (as with so many things here in India). My impressions…

 - Biggest group I have ever hiked with – 24 people of various ages and fitness levels, at times spread out all over that mountain, some self-proclaimed experts at the top, with others still scaling the first hill, and invariably the ‘Picture Happy Crew’ stuck in the middle giddily snapping away. (I’ll let you guess which one I was).

- “Difficulty level 2″ was the rating for this trek. I am not in that bad shape, this should be easy right? Wrong! Failed to mention that if the path is no longer passable then our fearless (and bouncy) guide would find his own way up, usually the most direct route regardless of height and obstacles like falling rock.

- When we started walking along the edge of one side of the mountain to reach the top I wondered why our guide was carrying a length of rope. I discovered a few minutes later when my feet slipped out from under me and the edge rushed up towards me. Luckily I hung on… still not really sure what he would have done with that rope if I had really been pitched over the side….I didn’t try and find out.

- Cows at the top, yes cows. “How did they get up here? I mostly see cows moving very little, if at all, not the type of creature you expect to scale mountains?” In response to the query, guide says: “they walked, just like you. After all they have 4 legs, we only have 2.” Duh.

- If the trek says ‘monsoon trek’ this does not mean leave your sunscreen at home. You could get a fluke day where the rain comes for 5 minutes and then the sun beats down in such force that you slowly turn into a lobster (well actually that would be just me that slowly turned bright red).

Doing well by Doing Good

Is it possible? This article in FT got me thinking…

A favourite line of senior management when I worked at Unilever was, “we can do well while doing good!” Followed quickly by examples of household brands associated with a soical cause. I questioned this…at the end of the day profit was the objective and social missions associated with branding seemed to last only as long as the sales growth did.

I now work for a Social Enterprise in India focused on increasing an essential health service in a country that needs access to better health care for its many poor citizens. I first learned about the term Social Enterprise from my MBA prof Dr. Sharma, and was instantly sold on the power of being able to build a business 100% centered around a social cause. I felt this finally cracked the code…this was really doing well by doing good.

But as with most things in life, the answer is not that easy. The Eureka moment I felt in the classroom does not exist for me in reality. My observation is that a hybrid ”social business” either skews towards a non-profit, where soical mission leads at the expense of profit and self-sustainability, or profit and self-sustainability lead at the expense of the social objective(s).

Don’t get me wrong I am not disheartened. I do believe that the attention Social Enterprise (SE) is drawing towards new ways of working, the development of innovative business models, and pulling in high quality talent is powerful. I am just not convinced that SE represents a true 4th sector, but more introduces new ways of working to existing ones.

What about on an individual level – maybe that is where opportunity exists? I want to personally ”do well, by doing good”. If I committ my skills to a cause and search out a career where I feel I can have the most social impact (be it at a large corporation, small growing SE or NGO) aren’t I making a difference?

So, is it possible? Can Corporations, SEs or Individuals DO WELL BY DOING GOOD? 

No easy answers, but I am glad to be on the path that has me searching for them.

My first collective meditation session

Wednesday meditation sessions started in California 11 years ago and now are happening throughout the world as this unique model is increasingly adopted by special individuals. Last night I had the chance to attend my first one in Bombay hosted by Madhu and Meghna. There is an aura that is wholly positive the moment you walk through the door to their apartment and are warmly welcomed. I know of few places, full of new people, where there is no artifice. This was a room full of pure souls, people who ‘lead with their hearts’ and I was happy to be in their midst for an evening.

The Wednesday meditation model is as follows…meditation from 7:30-8:30, followed by an inspirational reading, then those present are encouraged to share an ‘ah-ha’ thought or moment of gratitude from their day or week. Dinner in silence follows, which has been cooked in the true spirit of sharing by the host, hostess, and a friend.

It didn’t matter who you were in that room, all were equal, all were welcomed, and all added a positive energy just by being present. How rare this is! The group was thankful for acts that are often taken for granted (an aftermath of meditating in the NOW perhaps…). We were grateful for spontaneous generosity, new faces, the warmth of acceptance, unassuming friendship, a dog’s untainted nature, a door that is open to everyone, and my favourite – the silence.

What factors drove some voters away?

It is election time in India, determining which party will take the country forward. Instead of a 1-day vote however, due to the size, and to ensure the maximum level of organization (important for a country that deals with voter identity fraud), India votes by State, each having a different voting day. The whole process takes over a month, with results due May 16th. The two main parties are the BJP or the Saffron Party and the incumbent Congress Party, whose President is the well-known Sonia Gandhi.

The State of Maharashtra’s voting day was April 30th. A compulsory Holiday was issued on Thursday to encourage people to get to the polls. The State also declared April 29 & 30th to be “dry days” -  trying to ensure citizens go to the polls with a clear mind. However, despite these measures and the fact that 26/11 was expected to drive more concerned voters to the polls this time round, voter turnout in the State was much lower than expected. Ending with 51% turnout, versus the 60% (and 65-70% in Western Maharashtra) that the State is used to seeing.

Some are blaming the scorching heat, others voter apathy. My personal opinion is that it was the too tempting long weekend that drove some to miss voting. With a mandatory Holiday on Thursday and Friday being May Day many likely took the opportunity to have an extended long weekend. I’m not convinced that it makes sense to give States in India a day off to vote, likely better to ensure a mid-week voting day, and open the polling booths early and keep them open late so citizens can come before and after work hours. Although I have never dealt with the voting booth crowds and wait time in India, which I hear can be quite bad, so perhaps this is not a feasible option. I myself did take advantage of the 2 consecutive days off to visit a small fishing village an hour outside of Mumbai – wonder if I would have done the same if I was registered to vote in India? I like to think not…