Category Archives: Social Business

Responding to Clayton Christensen’s article on Government’s potential role in Social Innovation

Posted on August 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

My recent post on Clayton Christensen’s article on Social Innovation resulted in several comments and responses questioning the appropriate role of the government in fostering social innovation. I do believe there is a role for government to play in encouraging growth in this sector. I believe the Office of Social Innovation is a well intentioned attempt by Obama of putting Social Innovation on the nation’s agenda. I also believe that the government should try to be a transparent facilitator where needed and then get out of the way and let the market work its way.

The single most critical issue for a young, startup social entrepreneur is the lack of a well structured ecosystem to encourage social innovation. This is where the government can play a significant role. Some of the things it can do are to: Continue reading →

Some thoughts on Clayton Christensens article on Social Innovation

Posted on August 3, 2009 | 10 comments

Clayton Christensen, who has written extensively on a number of strategic ideas, recently opined in The Huffington Post about the potential role the White House Office of Social Innovation could play. (The article was co-authored by Vanessa Kirsch who founded New Profit – an interesting organization itself espousing a venture philanthropy model) Continue reading →

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Posted in Investment, Philanthropy, Politics, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Venture Capital, venture philanthropy

Tagged Clayton Christensen, Echoing Green, New Profit, non-profit, Office of Social Innovation, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Social Investment, Vanessa Kirsch, venture philanthropy, White House, yunus

TIECON Social Enterprise Track Provides New Perspective

Posted on June 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

For the first time TIECON EAST – TiE Boston’s annual conference on entrepreneurship and innovation – had a dedicated track on Social Enterprise. The three panels in the track – ‘Healthcare Innovation in a Global Village’, ‘IT & Communications for the Developing World’ and ‘Feeding 9 Billion people’ – were all well attended and engaged the attentive audience with the incisive discussions. Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote for Lokvani about the sessions. Continue reading →

How to multiply your social impact 2X to 6X

Posted on June 9, 2009 | 1 comment

In 2005 Kiva launched a website that allowed individuals to provide small loans to needy entrepreneurs around the world. The money was directed through microfinance institutions (MFIs) to their customers. When the site launched it had only 7 businesses in Uganda. Then their story got picked up by the Daily Kos and donations started flooding their site. With all the subsequent publicity Kiva was unable to line up beneficiaries fast enough to keep up with the donations coming in and for a while had to put a hold on its site.

Fast forward to 2008, Bala Vishwanath, an alum of top Indian tech and management schools – IIT and IIM – saw an opportunity to unstick the Kiva bottleneck and to multiply the social impact of every dollar. He quit his job and worked to setup www.UnitedProsperity.org United Prosperity helps provide loan guarantees that enable poor entrepreneurs to borrow from Microfinance Institutions to build their enterprises in developing countries. Continue reading →

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Posted in bottom of the pyramid, India, international development, Micro-enterprises, micro-finance, microfinance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tagged India, Kiva, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainable development, United Prosperity, yunus

Reply to comment about Rural Indian Consumer

Posted on May 13, 2009 | 4 comments

In response to my recent post on Rural Consumers, Joost Bonsen of MIT commented.

Thanks much for your survey of the rural consumer landscape in India. I’m curious how what you’re observing either reinforces or differs from the Hart-Prahalad BOP thesis and the cases they give, such as Hindustan Lever, etc. Plus how much of the consumer goods sector is dominated by MNCs or affiliates versus homegrowns? And finally, what’s the rural analog to Walmart or the old Sears Roebuck catalog or other innovations in the distribution systems?

I got to thinking about what he had asked and decided to write up a separate post instead of replying as a comment. So here goes. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Agricultural Development, BOP, bottom of the pyramid, India, international development, Poverty, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Rural Education, Rural Entrepreneur, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development