By Munmun Nath

Social entrepreneurship involves identifying a social problem such as illiteracy, unemployment etc. and using market-based solutions to drive social change. The key difference between a social venture and a non-social one (regular business) is that the former measures its success by social returns generated while the latter is primarily about generating financial returns. A social venture is self-sustainable and does not depend on aid. In this respect, it is different from NGOs and not-for-profit organizations.  Though the term social entrepreneurship was coined in 1960s, social entrepreneurs have always existed throughout history. David Bornstein, an author who specializes in writing about social innovation, writes that even Florence Nightingale, who created the first professional school for nurses and established standards for hygiene and hospital care, that have shaped norms worldwide, was a social entrepreneur in her own right. However, the idea of social entrepreneurship was truly put to practice only after 1980‘s with the founding of Ashoka: The Innovators for Public‘ by Bill Drayton, the father of social entrepreneurship. 

Today, social entrepreneurship has evolved from being an individual‘s calling to the mission of large networked organizations. It is estimated that in 2007, around 40 million people were employed in the social entrepreneurship sector. The number of volunteers was even greater and stood at 400 million. India has been a centre of the social entrepreneurship movement right from the beginning. It has a large percentage of population living on less than a dollar a day and the government‘s resources are severely limited to meet their needs. Micro-lending was one of the earliest social entrepreneurship initiatives launched in India with NABARD being established as an apex agency for rural finance in 1982. AMUL and SEWA are names that immediately come to mind when one thinks of social entrepreneurs in India. Ashoka, the earliest proponents of social entrepreneurship, started its activities in India about 25 years ago when it chose its first 'Ashoka Fellows‘ - people who have an innovative solution to a social problem and the potential to implement it. Since then, Ashoka has been supporting the ventures of these Fellows‘ through training and capital.

There are many other examples of social ventures that are doing good work in the country.  George Foundation, established in Bangalore in 1995, leads co-operative farming projects such as Baldev farms, which trains rural illiterate women in farming and cattle rearing and encourages them to share resources such as wells, tractors etc.  Vision Spring is a social business that provides access to low-cost eyeglasses to the poor allowing them to be able to work and support their families even after their eyesight becomes weak. Headquartered in Hyderabad, Vision Spring not only provides quality vision care to people in professions that need good eye-sight such as tailoring and watch making, but also provides rural employment opportunities through its direct sales forces who are given kits to sell these eye glasses door to door. Acumen Fund provides small loans and training to enterprises that provide affordable healthcare, safe drinking water and clean energy to the poor. Projects include building water pyramids in Rajasthan, low cost treatment of chronic diseases at AyurVaid hospital in Kerala, and providing all-purpose, low cost LED lamps as an alternative to kerosene lamps.

India has ample opportunities for entrepreneurs to be innovative and make a difference to the lives of those at the bottom of the pyramid. Someone said, when it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened. For social entrepreneurs who believe in making the future happen, surely the sky is the limit.

If a business entrepreneur is a change agent of economy, a social entrepreneur is a change agent of society

-Joseph Schumpeter (Economist) 

By Deepak Nanwani

Even though these buildings consume almost as much natural resources as the normal ones, these buildings are designed in a manner that they “give back” to the environment.

When the pre historic man constructed a hut for the first time using bamboo trees and coconut leaves to protect himself from sun and rain, he was starting to exploit nature for his humble needs. Apart from destroying trees he also disturbed the natural habitat of the insects and birds in those trees and interfered in the cycle of nature. That was just the beginning. We have come a long way now. As the buildings get higher and stronger; using more and more concrete, energy and other natural resources, we are dangerously close to an ecological disaster. We are using resources at an unprecedented pace and slowly, but surely digging our own graves. Does this mean we stop constructing houses or for that matter other buildings for our comfort and safety? No! This brings us to the concept of green buildings.

Green buildings are called so because of their eco-friendly nature. Even though these buildings consume almost as much natural resources as the normal ones, these buildings are designed in a manner that they ―give back‖ to the environment. Use of renewable sources of energy and eco friendly measures to reduce energy consumption during construction as well as in the normal course of its existence are two important features that  distinguish these buildings from other conventional buildings. 

These buildings rely on natural  light for most of their lighting needs. They have glass exteri- ors that enable sunlight to pass through, thereby reducing the lighting costs inside these buildings. Additionally  these structures use passive cooling techniques that help in  reduced use of air conditioners leading to reduced en- ergy consumption. Some of these techniques include  breeze catchers and roof ponds.

Another important feature of green buildings is use of renewable sources of energy, especially the solar-wind energy hybrid. This hybrid involves the installation of small windmills on the rooftops and solar cell panels wherever possible. These two energy sources work in conjunction to reduce the dependence on conventional electricity grid. The energy generated from these renewable sources is stored in batteries. This energy might not be enough to meet the energy requirements of these buildings in totality but it can definitely augment the conventional electricity supply and help in bringing down the energy costs drastically. 

A recent survey claims that installation of rooftop solar panels alone can help most buildings to reduce their energy consumption costs by 10-12%; which is significant considering that the application can be extended to residential areas, especially independent houses. 

And last but not the least, there is always a water harvesting system. This system helps in harvesting rain water to meet water needs for sanitary and gardening purposes and thus, reduces the water consumption. Even solid kitchen waste is recycled to generate some form of energy (biogas, electricity etc). Ministry of Renewable Energy is giving huge subsidies for commercial and personal use of solar heaters, solar cookers and solar cell panels. The concept of harnessing naturally available resources in an environmentally acceptable manner is not a new concept – a lot of Mughal monuments including Fatehpur Sikri use the concept of passive cooling. So all that is needed now is a will and realisation that green buildings are not just a fad but the need of the hour. 

How to Volunteer

We called for a Global Action Day on 28th June, 2008 for the Bhopali’s sitting on indefinite hunger strike. We decided to call for solidarity fast that day with lot of people showing interest and enthusiasm. We decided to go to the dharna site at Jantar Mantar and sit with the bhopali’s the whole day. We managed to reach there by around 12.00 noon after a few work back home. I was on my second day of fast [I was having a 3 day fast from 27th to 29th].

By Nishank 

Volunteering for social causes is a relatively new trend among the youth in India.

Volunteering implies devoting personal time on a regular basis for making things better for the underprivileged around us. This can include teaching a group of children on weekends, raising funds for a cause, spreading awareness about a social issue, etc..