The Hindu Business Line : Social biz models showcased at ISB competition

Rasoi seeks to create a web of community kitchens, Sanjeevani a global health market harnessing the power of herbal medicine, Transbright seeks to brighten the lives of visually-challenged by training them to become medical transcriptionists and Doctor Seed has a mandate to improve farm productivity in China.

While Suddi Kiran seeks to leverage technology from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and use gamma radiations to transform sewerage sludge, Maker's Inc wants to harness the power of Indian artisans by integrating the supply chain and empowering them.

These are just a few representative proposals that were presented during the 99 Second Elevator Pitch at the Indian School of Business here last week as a part of the Asia Semi-Final of the Global Social Venture Competition. The two-day event sought to select a few such proposals for the final contest — to be held at Haas School of Business, Berkeley in April 2007 — leading to possible funding of some of these projects.

The participants included representatives from Taipei (Taiwan), Thammasat (Thailand), NUS (Singapore), Bimba (China) and management students from the ISB and IIMs and SP Jain (Dubai).

Social projects

One contestant wanted to know if there was any value one could attach to human life and said that the health project she was working on was aimed at saving lives.

Transbright has successfully managed to harness the hearing and speech faculties of blind people to turn them into medical transcriptionists. Now they plan to scale this up, stating that it not only opens up a case to take up a social cause but also makes business sense as they have a model that can make it successful.

Dr Seed, a proposal from China, sought to improve the farm output, insulating agriculturists against the vagaries of nature by harnessing the power of local bio-fertilisers. Another proposal related to cultivating aloe vera in West Bengal by engaging some 70,000 farmers and converting drought-prone parts into prosperous agri-hubs.

The Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, during the inaugural session said that the Rural Business Hubs could offer immense potential for entrepreneurs to reach out and tap into the huge rural market in India.