After living in India for 6 months, that's what i observed professionally, working in the social sector.
India is filled with social problems, but also overwhelmed with millions of social enterprises, NGOs and Foundations.
So, what’s missing? “Social innovation” is the new buzz word of the development sector and usually is associated with the term “sustainability”, The World Economic Forum describes it "as the application of innovative, practical, sustainable, business-like approaches that achieve positive social and/or environmental change."Working closely on research and business partnerships for different fields gave me an in-depth perspective on the way social sector entities operate.
It is completely different to read how the impact is well-measured, and the services are well-delivered on paper and to live the experience during work, and the insights from walking the streets in India.
I managed to recognize what could be the highlights of my learning experience:
-Awareness for the underprivileged about the services
-Support system for early-staged social enterprises
-CSR and the lack of fund for women-focused social enterprises
-Support system for early-staged social enterprises
-CSR and the lack of fund for women-focused social enterprises
During the past few months, I learned that Awareness is an important and vital key to tie-up your SE services with your target group of beneficiaries. Advocating for your cause and services with the BOP is the only way to keep people engaged with the impact and the force of mixing your business with the good within the communities, on field.
Also, updating your SEs’ products and programs doesn’t necessarily mean the increase of the impact you reach. As important is the impact evaluation after implementing the project, so is the need assessment. Unfortunately, most of the SEs forgets about that; which pushes them with the worst outcomes especially if they are tech-aligned.
Secondly; “Connecting the dots” concept is definitely missing within the social entrepreneurship eco-system in India and globally. The worst of the social problems is never to be solved with replicating models of solutions, organizations and enterprises who work in the same cause need to unite their forces to create a holistic approach addressing the problem. I think there where the incubators and accelerators entities come in, to link the isolated islands together.
Thirdly, I learned a lot during my work with “Magic Bus” about the CSR and cause-related marketing. I learned about the corporate bill and got to speak with corporates individuals very eager to reconsider their CSR policy. Unfortunately, very few of these corporates put into consideration funding disadvantaged women-focused initiatives.
Last but not least, learning by practice what the social sector is really about is a completely different level than just reading about it in books and watching academics talk about it. And I was lucky to be exposed to such a variety of organizations that gave me a very profound perspective on how to evaluate the impact and the strategies of each of these entities.
Secondly; “Connecting the dots” concept is definitely missing within the social entrepreneurship eco-system in India and globally. The worst of the social problems is never to be solved with replicating models of solutions, organizations and enterprises who work in the same cause need to unite their forces to create a holistic approach addressing the problem. I think there where the incubators and accelerators entities come in, to link the isolated islands together.
Thirdly, I learned a lot during my work with “Magic Bus” about the CSR and cause-related marketing. I learned about the corporate bill and got to speak with corporates individuals very eager to reconsider their CSR policy. Unfortunately, very few of these corporates put into consideration funding disadvantaged women-focused initiatives.
Last but not least, learning by practice what the social sector is really about is a completely different level than just reading about it in books and watching academics talk about it. And I was lucky to be exposed to such a variety of organizations that gave me a very profound perspective on how to evaluate the impact and the strategies of each of these entities.
