Impact Entrepreneurship in India
Impact Entrepreneurship in India
Impact Entrepreneurship in India
Assistant Professor
Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship
IIT Kharagpur
WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
• Why is it important
problem • What is the scale
• What are the contributing factors
• What are the root causes
• Why is it solvable
opportunity
• What other approaches have been tried and what are their
results
• What would the world look like (your vision) if you solved it
• One day, all children in this country will have the opportunity to achieve an
excellent education
• To give people the financial tools they need – microloans, business training
and other financial services – to work their way out of poverty
We believe that all children deserve an excellent education and that high-quality
teaching in every classroom is the most important ingredient in ensuring that all
students learn at high levels. We also believe that the current education crisis is so
urgent that we need a new generation of leaders in all sectors who are willing to take
on the challenge, and that direct experience with the problem is the best way for
young people to become committed to solving it.
Based on these beliefs, our theory of change is that if the brightest college graduates
agree to teach in high poverty schools for two years, then:
a) the students they teach will receive a high-quality education now, and
b) those who teach will become lifelong leaders committed to social change.
Strategy and Business Model
• What about your team makes it likely you can execute this
plan
- Personal connection to mission
- Background, experience, expertise
- Networks—access to resources
• What expertise don’t you have and how will you get it
• How might the team composition change over time
Context
What other approaches to solving the social problem have
been tried
How will you communicate with the target market(s)? Marketing Communication
Remind consumers that you are there and what you can offer
BEST
• BEST: The most effective option
• ECONOMICAL: At the lowest cost
• SOLIDARITY:For all those who need it
• TODAY: As urgently as possible
Impact Entrepreneurship in India
(Swiss Embassy Report)
Impact Entrepreneurship in India
● Lack of infrastructure: Infrastructure and technology support for small scale farmers is lacking. There’s a shortage of
good quality seeds for poor farmers, inadequate storage facilities and transportation. Lack of efficient water management,
soil erosion and better irrigation systems is another big challenge. The techniques and knowhow of organic farming and
local ecology is losing significance rapidly, making the farmers totally dependent on external inputs for farming.
● Decline in interest: Even though 54.6% of India’s population is involved in farming, agriculture sector contributes only
13.9% towards GDP. The newer generations prefer to migrate to urban areas compared to farming professionally.
● Decline in land ownership: Landholding by farmers declined from 2.30ha in the 70s to
1.32 ha in 2000-0126.
● Lack of support: More than 250`000 farmers have committed suicide since 1990.
Technology: innovators can provide access to knowledge, technical insights and mentorship to yield healthy crops and
sustainable agriculture practices in India.
Capacity building : Innovators can also explore collaborations with grass root level organizations that require capacity
building support for small-scale farmers and drought hit areas.
Sustainable practice advocacy: There is need for championing the idea of sustainable practices, can bring strong advocacy
tools for Indian social enterprises and non-profits in the agriculture sector.
● Agricultural mechanization, supply chain, storage design: Entrepreneur communities can bring their expertise to look at
better mechanization products, supply chain system design, efficient storage design and low cost scalable solutions that can
make a big difference to poor/ small scale farmers.
● Post-harvest support: Entrepreneurs/investors can provide capacity building support for small scale farmers in India to help
them build market linkages, eliminate middle-men and tap urban to rural markets for sales.
● Financial inclusion and support for organic and sustainable framing practices:
Partnering with local organization can help Swiss enterprises to create new models of
financial aid and soft loans to allow
IIT Kharagpur
Avenues for Local Interventions in Agri-Value Chain
Local processing facilities eliminate middle men and increase farmer’s profit.
Under rural entrepreneurship scheme, govt. provides one time capital grant up to Rs. 20 Lakhs for setting up
food processing setup.
Food Processing Solutions
Problem :
Low farm income for small farmers: farming becoming unsustainable profession for
small farmers.
Supporting Data: Niti Ayog Policy Document: NITI, 2017, “ Doubling Farmers’
Income, states average annual income of Indian farmers to be Rs. 37000. Major
factors stated are :
Mono-cropping
Lack of finance for investment in new technologies
Irrigation facility ,
Poor crop management, weak resilience against pest and disease ,
Adverse effects of weather,
Lack of information on quality inputs (quality seed fertilizers etc),
Lack of proper market linkage,
Poor yield,
Lack of agronomy and business knowledge
Solution :
1. Quality inputs to the farmers ( affordable seed, fertilizer, pesticide, drip irrigation)
+ consultancy (handholding)
3. Finance inputs (linking with banks and providing affordable loans to farmers)
Clover:
1. provides agronomy guidelines and planning sales channel
2. Not into installation of green house, they don’t have low cost green house solution
3. Don’t offer input supply
● Rural vs. Urban Divide: A staggering 65% of the population lives in rural areas with limited access to hospitals
and clinics and relies on alternative medicines and government programs in rural health clinics.. In contrast, the
urban centers have numerous private hospitals and clinics that provide quality healthcare.
● Need for Effective Payment Mechanisms: Roughly 70% of patients pay for healthcare out-of-pocket because
there are no payment arrangements. Despite government initiatives the coverage of health insurance remains low
(less than 20%)
● Demand for Basic Primary Healthcare and Infrastructure: Basic infrastructure, especially in rural areas is still
lacking, with respect to sanitation and water management.
● Malnutrition: Dietary risks, protein energy malnutrition, particularly childhood malnutrition continue to be prevalent.
31% of children under 5 are undernourished34 and a third of adult women have a body mass index (BMI) lower than 18.5,
a level commonly associated with chronic energy deficiency. The poorest seem to live on less than 1’500 calories a day
compared to the norm of over 2’00035.
● Lack of awareness of mental disorders: 6-7% of the population is known to have some form of mental disorder36,
with no clear distinctions between rural and urban India. Over 90% of mental disorders are also estimated to go
untreated37. Many constraints contribute to these gaps, such as cost considerations, socio-cultural beliefs, stigma and
overall lack of health literacy.
HealthCare: Opportunities
● Medical devices: According to The Economic Times, the medical devices sector is
seen as the most promising area for future development by foreign and regional investors.
Recently, the government has been positive on clearing regulatory hurdles related to the
import-export of medical devices, and has set a few standards around clinical trials.
Founded: 2010
Impact: Retinal eye imaging device benefitted 2 million people in Chandrasekhar, VP, Phillip India
25 countries, bringing affordable early detection of preventable Semiconductor Division
blindness to places with low access to healthcare
Shyam Vasudev, Phillip India
Funds raised: $13 million Embedded System Expert
IIM Alumnus
Status: Expanding into new products; projected to be profitable in
the current fiscal year (2018)
Background
Chandrasekhar says he first heard about preventable blindness when a specialist from the Aravind Eye
A Conference talk, in 2005, on preventable blindness stayed with Chandrasekhar and, four years
later, he was ready to quit his job and do something about it. He decided to build a simple, portable
eye scanner and Forus Health was started in January 2010.
The Problem
In addition to the financial and economic impact of blindness, we also understood the emotional
impact, how a person’s own family treats him or her as a liability,
There were about 20,000 ophthalmologists in India for a country of a billion people.
That is almost like one ophthalmologist for every 60,000 to 65,000 people
Most of them would only be found in the cities. “So villages will be really deprived
The Mission
Forus has also managed to crack an important problem—to get people to accept and use
the product. Initially, they did this by demonstrating their retinal screener:
It worked well, and cost far less than imported scanners aimed at large hospitals.
From the very first model the company built, called 3Nethra, the screener was portable
enough for a pillion rider on a bike to carry it. So it could be taken from village to village.
Second, the device was easy enough for a class 10 graduate to operate.
The images from the screener can be sent to an ophthalmologist in a digital format for
viewing on his or her smartphone.
From 2011, when the first commercial model was launched in the Indian market, the
screener has seen iterations, with improvements and additional features being added and
multiple models created.
Funding , Current Status and Scaling
Forus raised $5 million in 2012 from IDG Ventures and Accel Partners, and
another $8 million the following year, with both investors participating in
addition to the Asia Health Fund.
The money helped the company start building a more comprehensive set of
technology applications—both software and medical devices—that is now ready
to function as a cloud computing-based remote medical diagnosis platform.
The platform will also function as a service and could accelerate its revenue
growth in the coming years.
Revenue Model
The eye-imaging device sells for between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh;
Forus also has another revenue stream from the recurring annual subscription—in the range of Rs
20,000-25,000 per year per device—that the health care providers pay for its cloud-based software
and storage for the purposes of remote diagnosis.
Impact
The eye scanner itself has been installed in 1,100 hospitals as well as diagnostics labs, diabetics
treatment clinics—as diabetes-related blindness is an important factor—and the Aravind Eye
Hospitals.
The screener is now used in 25 countries and around two million people have benefited from its use
Energy: Challenges
.
According to an April 2018 report titled “The Evolving Energy Landscape in India”35, although
energy use in India has doubled since 2000, per capita energy consumption is lower than the global
average.
Nearly 17% of rural households in the country still do not have access to 100% electricity,
and 33 million households (approximately 240 million people) do not have access to grid-based
electricity36.
The lack of electricity hampers productivity, leading to lower income generation, concentrated workload
(during periods when electricity is accessible), and increased exposure to health risks due to use of
alternative energy sources.
Dilemma with alternate energy sources: There’s a lack of nuclear energy sources to meet the energy
demands in India. Renewable energy sources need large investments almost prohibiting the government
or public sector units from taking it up.
Energy: Opportunities
● Untapped potential: There is a scope to fullfil the gaps in the following renewable
energy sectors:
- Presently, solar only covers 3% of 100 GW potential capacity. Many parts of India receive 300 days
of annual sunshine which presents an opportunity for constant solar power generation.
- Provide clean energy products (solar lanterns, solar home systems (SHS), solar
pumps, solar photovoltaic water heating and energy efficient cook stoves) for
efficient lighting and heating/ cooking.
- Provide electricity through micro/ mini grids that use technologies such as
biomass-gasify small hydro, solar photovoltaic and wind to supply power to unelectrified
and under-electrified communities.
• ACCESS: Having infrastructural constraints and social issues, it becomes harder to make Education
accessible to all segments of the society (women, minorities, poor).
• COST: The cost of Education is very high even for the people and places where it is accessible. E.g. the
competitive pressure on students & parents forces them to appoint private tuitions & trainings to supplement
the school Education.
o There are more than 300 languages spoken in the country and makes it difficult to offer Education tailored
to specific social segment.
o Children of poor families are forced to work and miss out the learning opportunities.
o Illiterate adults have very limited opportunities to get educated at later age in their lives. Link
The challenges of Education in rural India
Rural Education constitutes almost 90% of the schools. The most common problems that hinder the growth
of Education in rural India can be pointed out as:
• Quality of Teachers: Teachers in rural educational centres in villages are paid poorly, often leading to poor
quality of teachers or lack of effort, ultimately forcing the student to suffer.
• Lack of proper infrastructure at these rural schools is also a big concern. Most of the school don’t have
proper classrooms, teaching equipment, playgrounds and even basic facilities like sitting chairs, blackboard,
toilers etc.
• Financial Constrains: Children from low income groups miss schools, instead assist the earning member
of the
family for extra income.
• Lack of transportation Most villages have poor connectivity from one place to another. Children, most of
times have to walk miles to reach these government funded schools.
• Lack of livelihood oriented education: The is a major disconnect between school education and
livelihood prospects in rural areas, which lead to indecisiveness regarding higher education and vocational
Higher Education in India : Landscape
Despite its ranking as one of the top three education systems globally, India faces challenges
with respect to quality and access to education for all.
Globally, India has the third largest higher education system in terms of number of institutes, after the United States of
America and the Republic of China.
With 795 universities, 39,671 affiliated colleges and over 1 million teaching faculty, the
country produces nearly 2.5 million graduates annually.
However, this caters to only 10% of India’s youth. This has resulted in a high unemployment level which is currently
projected to be 18 million.
On the other hand, several employers in the country find it difficult to access and hire suitable and skilled talent.
Despite achieving an enrollment rate of 95%, the ASER Report 2016 found that nearly half of the students failed to match
the reading, writing, and arithmetic abilities expected as per the standard .
Link
Prospects of Technology Interventions: Realized in the Covid Era
•Encourage collaboration among students, teachers, parents, alumni, activists & institutions
•A consistent grading system to measure and rank Students, Teachers, Schools & Universities
•Promote alternate education & ideas like virtual labs, gamification, story based learning etc.
•Computer aided adaptive testing and statistical feedback and customized learning
Improve Accessibility
•Online & open information portal accessible anytime from anywhere to everyone
•Bring the books & other resource (videos of lectures, speakers) online
•Promote distant learning initiatives to spread the education in rural areas
•Provide online courses to students with special needs.
•24×7 schooling for those who cannot attend regular schools during daytime
Link
Prospects of Technology Interventions: Realized in the Covid Era
Online Education System’s Advantages (Cntd…)
The private partner under PPP contract can provide the following range of services separately or in various
combinations:
(iii) Support Services (IT facility, digital technologies, library, playfield, gymnasium etc)
(vi) Management of public schools (with the existing staff and facilities)
(vii) Operation of public schools (provision of teaching and non-teaching services including staff)
(viii) Provision of teaching services in private schools to publicly funded students (school voucher system).
Link
PPP in Education Sector in India: Examples
Link
PPP in Education Sector in India: Examples
UNNAYAN: MERA MOBILE, MERA VIDYALAYA | ECKOVATION :
The scalable model to ensure quality education in government schools started in Banka, Bihar and
upon proven success expanded in Jharkhand with the name Gyanodaya.
"Mera Mobile, Mera Vidyalaya: Accessibility of education to the palms of the students“
"The project has been recognised under the "Innovation" Category of Prime Minister's
Excellence Award for Public Administration, 2018 Link
PPP in Education Sector in India: Examples
Eckovation’s Affordable
Services: Competitive Exams
Social enterprises in India seek to address gap in access to quality education and skills in : Some
major sectors of interventions-
Demand for vocational/ skill training: By 2025, India will have a working population (age 15-64 years) of approximately
959 million people59 and most of them will require vocational/ skill training.
National focus on skills development: Recently, India set up Prime Minister’s National Skills Development Council
(NSDC) to coordinate various schemes provided by various ministries..
In-firm skills training: Only 17% of manufacturing firms in India provide any training for employees 60.
High growth areas such as manufacturing, automotive, retail, trade, transport, construction, hospitality and healthcare have
the ability to provide the required expanded employment.
Public private partnerships in the country are already in the process of strengthening rural infrastructure such as Industrial
Training Institutes (ITIs), polytechnics, community polytechnics and vocational education in secondary schools.
Workers such as technicians, welders, fitters, paramedics, tourist guides etc. are to be skilled with a twofold objective- first,
to close the skill gap of an already qualified workforce and second, to provide formal vocational training to those who have
acquired skills informally.
Education, Training and Employment
Currently, there are nearly 190 million adults who still lack a bank account48.
They turn to alternate informal providers of credit that come at a very high cost, leading them into a cycle of
poverty that transcends generations.
A vast segment in unorganized labour sector lacks access to credit and financial security
Between 2014 and 2017, however, the percentage of people having bank accounts in India increased from 53%
to 80%49. These include 1,646 million deposit accounts and 196 million credit accounts (with banks or MFIs) .
However, given the vast under-banked population, there are significant gaps in effective financial inclusion that
can truly aid a gradual climb out of poverty.
Financial Inclusion: Opportunities
Social enterprises aim to plug this gap in the sector by providing a range of services, such as:
microfinance, (b) digital peer-to-peer lending, (c) affordable housing finance, and (d) cashless transactions.
The scope of financial inclusion extends beyond banking services to insurance, equity products, pension
products, and more.
Microfinance enterprises have leveraged a major gap in the financial inclusion sector in India by providing easy
and affordable credit to those who are not part of the traditional banking system.
Other enterprises support access to credit and insurance by leveraging technology for credit and risk assessment,
and facilitation of easy credit to individuals or SMEs.
The penetration of mobile and internet services has catalyzed the emergence of digital banking service
providers.
Financial Inclusion: Opportunities
Solid waste management and a lack of access to basic sanitation facilities are two key challenges in
India.
The lack of effective solid waste management techniques and systems can lead to the spread of harmful
diseases, causing epidemics of cholera, diarrhea, and hepatitis, among others.
The safe disposal and treatment of sewage through sanitation facilities is also necessary, considering untreated waste can
potentially enter the water stream, leading to contamination, infection
The country generates 54 million tons of solid waste every year, which either is dumped in landfill sites or overflows onto
streets and open gutters, awaiting clearance by street sweeping crews of local governing authorities.
Over 300 million people (20%) still defecate in the open – a majority of which are women who lack access to toilets and other
sanitation facilities.
The lack of basic sanitation facilities and the increasing generation of solid waste have numerous negative consequences for
different aspects of an individual’s life, including severe negative health and quality of life impacts, particularly in low-income
communities.
Sanitation: Opportunities
Across the sector, there is a strong preference for models that incentivize
behaviour change or introduce contextual and easy-to-install/manage
sanitation and solid waste management solution
More than 600 million individuals in India face extreme water scarcity due to the growing demand
and a constraint on supply86.
While water scarcity and stress is an issue, the added cost of accessing clean water is a heavy burden on
most households, especially in areas where clean water is hard to come
by or groundwater tends to be polluted.
Members of one in every four rural households in India have to walk for more than half an hour every day
to collect drinking water.
Water-borne diseases like diarrhea and cholera are responsible for loss of lives and productivity, with India
losing about 73 million man-days of work due to water-borne diseases 87.
Water: Opportunities
Social enterprises are working to address
challenges in this sector through water harvesting
and storage, water supply and distribution, and
wastewater management.
The local leaders mapped the available resources and livelihood options in the village, to the problems identified.
Scarcity of water was addressed through water harvesting solutions supported by MGNREGA
Market linkages for surplus production were developed, enabling efficient resource utilisation (like establishing cold
storage), and fostering current village enterprises.
Biogas and Fertilizer production was undertaken for self sufficiency in energy
Social Entrepreneurship: A Route to Atma Nirbhar Bharat
Affordable
and scalable
Healthcare Supply chain
solutions Interventions,
Local disruptions
Energy
Innovations
and
Affordable
Self reliance
Finance &
Fintech solutions
Agriculture , Food
Security, allied
Edtech, IT,
sectors, Local
Software,
Rural Entrepreneurships manufacturing
Applications
And innovation
Thank you!
Entrepreneurship in Social Sector ( EP60038)
Slot – G3, Credit -3, Autumn Semester
Course Content ( All the above components are interspersed across the semester)
Part-4: Team Projects –Case studies, ideation, business plan competition, judged by panel of experts and institutions, opportunities
for real implementation. Dedicated teams may get a chance to tie up with national level accelerator programs for mentoring, training and
funding experts,
Faculty : Mrigank Sharad, Asst. Professor, School of Engineering Entrepreneurship, IIT Kharagpur
Email : [email protected], [email protected] , Phone: 9933956943
Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (EP60038)
(F Slot)
Prof. Mrigank Sharad
Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering
Entrepreneurship, IIT Kharagpur
Selection for
Case Study Bplan
Accelerator programs
Completion Competition
for mentorship and funding
Selected Case Studies will be published in the School’s Startup Magazine. Best
submissions may also be submitted to Entrepreneurship publications.
Teams willing to implement their ideas on ground will also get support in form of
Team-building, mentorship, training and funding options (based on merit), with the
help of collaborating Pan-India Startup Accelerator Programs
Project on
IOT Product Design
Raspberri-pi
Node-MCU
Battery Management
Micro-controller programming
Sensor interfacing
Android Application
AI