Category Archives: Social Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur’s Notebook

Posted on August 13, 2008 | Leave a comment

I have spent the past several years counseling a number of startups and emerging social entrepreneurs. As I have gone over numerous business plans, ideas strategies, I have been trying to distill some of the learnings from the growing pains of these various nascent enterprises. I hope very soon to write about this on this blog. Continue reading →

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Posted in Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur

Tagged Entrepreneur, Management advice, New Business, New Venture, Social Business, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, startup, Steven Gold, Venture Capital

International Development Design Summit

Posted on August 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

Yesterday I attended the final presentation of the International Development Design Summit at MIT – the brainchild of Amy Smith, MacArthur Fellow and lecturer in MIT’s Mechanical Engineering department. This, now yearly, event brought together nearly 60 students from 20 countries around the world to work together with a team of mentors and staff to tackle a number of design problems facing NGOs and non-profits in developing countries. Continue reading →

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Posted in Agricultural Development, BOP, Education, international development, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, sustainable development

Tagged Agricultural Development, Amy Smith, BOP, design, engineering design, IDDS, innovation, international development, invention, MacArthur Fellow, mechanical engineering, MIT, Rural Development, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tapan Parikh – Technology Review’s Humanitarian of the Year 2007

Posted on August 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

I had the pleasure of meeting Tapan Parikh a few weeks ago when he presented on a panel at a conference to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of my alma mater, IIT Bombay. The panel focused on the latest trends in technology with the rest of the panelists discussing emerging areas in nanotechnology, biomedicine and energy. Tapan provided a refreshingly different viewpoint that emphasized the needs of the end user in developing countries. By harnessing technology to make things simpler, Tapan has provided platforms that make the daily grind of field workers in rural parts of the world a lot easier. Continue reading →

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Posted in BOP, Information Technology, international development, micro-finance, mobile technology, Poverty, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tagged Berkeley, CAM, cell phone, ekgaon, Guatemala, human-computer interaction, humanitarian, India, Information Technology, microfinance, MIT, mobile technology, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Tapan Parikh, Technology Review, University of California

Prof. Yunus continues to speak on Social Business

Posted on July 30, 2008 | 1 comment

Prof. Yunus continued to speak about his vision of creating social businesses to help address some of the pressing issues facing us. He was hosted by the MIT-Bangladesh Students’ Association and Bhin-Golardho – a Bangla-centric group – during his visit to Boston.

He challenged the youth to start social businesses by saying. “I would like to say that while we at Grameen have done a few things, there are many causes that are waiting for you to take up”

You can read Ranjani Saigal’s write-up of his visit here on Lokvani

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Posted in micro-finance, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tagged bangladesh, Boston, business models, grameen, micro-finance, microcredit, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, womens issues, yunus

The New Philanthropy – New models for Social Impact

Posted on July 27, 2008 | Leave a comment

I had a great time attending the conference to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of my alma mater, IIT Bombay. The event was well attended with over 800 attendees and very well organized. It was fun catching up with some of my classmates after 30 plus years!

I had the pleasure of moderating a wonderful panel on “The New Philanthropy – New models for Social Impact” with four great speakers presenting a wide range of activities that their different organizations pursue in the social sector. The panelists were