Posted on October 9, 2008 by Raj Melville
I had the chance to visit Agastya’s operations in Hubli earlier this year. Agastya is a NGO based in India that is hoping to transform the educational system by making it more interactive, experimental and interesting for children. Recently Ramji Raghavan, Agastya’s founder visited Boston and I had occasion to meet and hear him speak passionately about why he started Agastya after a career in banking.
Filed under: Education, India, Rural Education, Schools, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, non-profit | Tagged: Agastya, Education, Hubli, Mobile Lab, Ramji Raghavan, Rural Education, rural teachers, Schools, Science Center, Science Education | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 16, 2008 by Raj Melville
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit the Deshpande Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurship Sandbox in the Hubli/Dharwad area. The Foundation was established by Desh Deshpandeand his wife Jaishree. As part of their effort, they have brought together 25 young Indians, who have shown a commitment to the social sector, for a year long fellowship program. Each fellow is expected to work with a village and understand the issues first hand.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Hygiene, Philanthropy, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, non-profit, water and sanitation | Tagged: Deshpande Foundation, Foundation, Hubli, India, Karnataka, NGO, Sandbox, self help groups, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, toilets, village life | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 29, 2008 by Raj Melville
Recently micro-finance has caught the attention of the public specially after Prof. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006. One of the challenges that micro-finance faces is that beyond providing its borrowers with credit, it needs to make sure that they also have marketable skills and training that will increase their income generating capacity and the required business skills to help them manage their enterprises.
Filed under: Micro-enterprises, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, microfinance, Rural Development, Rural Education, women entrepreneur, micro-finance, woman owned business, Hubli, Maharashtra, Mhaswad, Karnataka, India, Chetna Gala Sinha, Mann Deshi | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to spend a month in India and visited several NGOs while there. One of the innovative organizations is BAIF (Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation) — I visited their operations outside of Hubli in Northern Karnataka state and wrote an article about their work for Lokvani.com, that I have reproduced below
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Rural Development, Rural Entrepreneur, Water, Water resources | Tagged: Agricultural Development, BAIF, ecology, ecosystem, Hubli, India, international development, Karnataka, Manibhai Desai, rainwater harvesting, Rural Development, Water, Water resources | Leave a Comment »
