The Hindu Business Line : When adivasis met Al Gore...

Adivasis from India and Al Gore? Improbable, but meet they did, at the Skoll World Forum (SWF) in Oxford. The adivasis opened and closed the Forum with their music and dance. But that's not all they were there for. They were on stage to present their worldview to an assembly of international scholars, intellectuals and social entrepreneurs. All this fits into the purpose of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship which was set up in 2003 at Oxford's Said Business School.

And the audience listened attentively as the adivasis spoke quietly, with dignity, in their native languages. They received the loudest applause of all.

A mixed lot

At one end of the Forum's spectrum were the pioneers. Bunker Roy of Tilonia, Rajasthan fame. His `barefoot' model of village-level self-sufficiency won the 2005 Skoll Award of $ 1 million. And Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the Father of micro-finance held a session, which had standing room only! Betty Murungi of the Urgent Action Fund in Kenya has demonstrated how institutions can reach money to individuals, taking considerable personal risks to challenge injustice.

At the other end of the spectrum was Al Gore, the former US Vice-President, and David Blood who used to run the investment bank Goldman Sachs. They are trying to persuade mainstream markets to invest in social and environmental causes by proving it makes good business sense to do so.

Blood and Gore!

Al Gore was the politician par excellence, his speech peppered with jokes and self-deprecating witticisms which held his audience even as he hammered out his environmental message. There was a lot of laughter about the Blood and Gore partnership, but Gore has won his spurs and convinced the cynics about his seriousness by his tireless campaign for the environment. The Blood and Gore speciality is risk analysis and investment advice.

They were joined at the SEF by Sir Ronald Cohen, chair of Bridges Community Ventures and the UK Social Investment Taskforce, who is taking venture capital to underserved poor communities in Britain. Also present were development finance institutions which have demonstrated the viability of venture capital in Africa and other developing economies. Andrew Robinson, head of community development banking at RBS/Natwest, showed how retail banks could help.

Movie stars with a mission

Hollywood veteran Robert Redford was present in a new avatar. This poster boy of the 1970s and 1980s used his formidable talent to fight for the environment. He described his lonely crusade, how he became a serious environmentalist before the idea became `sexy'. His Sundance village in Utah is a magnet for people who want a getaway that is eco friendly and offers exciting alternatives to the stereotypical Disneyland holiday.

Sir Ben Kingsley, who brought Mahatma Gandhi to life for millions of post-1970s moviegoers, offered to be the brand ambassador for the adivasi tea called `Just Change'.

In 2005 Kingsley and Jeff Skoll took the film to refugee camps in Palestine and other Arab countries to show young people that it was possible to win battles through peaceful means, to counteract the messages of hate that were being propagated by fundamentalists.

Adivasi-speak

Among such celebrities, the adivasis managed to hold their own with dignity and pride. The presentations were difficult to absorb even for postgraduate students. I explained that this was not a question of knowledge of English or lack of it. Often, it needed an academician's grasp of finance and economics to begin to understand the speakers. Yet, when the gist of the discussions was translated to them, they grasped the core and responded succinctly.

Subramanian, leader of the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, pointed out that they had come not merely to dance and sing but to present their point of view and share the experiences of their 20-odd years of community organisation and social entrepreneurship. Before coming to the SWF none of them had ever heard of the term "social entrepreneur". But they'd done it, organised their community, made a difference to people's lives and done it extraordinarily well.

Lalitha's comment stopped people in their tracks. Made them think. "Everyone talked about mobilising billions of dollars to invest in the social sector. The figures are mind-boggling. If we build strong relationships between communities, then we may not need such huge capital in terms of money. The crucial issue is how we share and how strong is our relationship." Lalitha was talking from experience not theory.

And Ayyappan's analysis was equally unexpected. "Is the social return on investment for this Forum worth it?" he mused. "For every rupee spent on the social sector, we want to measure what is the impact. The investment on this Forum also needs to be analysed... It is good to see that so many people are willing to invest in the social sector, without expecting monetary returns."

Socially responsible business

Said Rowena Young, the dynamic Director of the Skoll Centre, "At this year's SWF on Social Entrepreneurship, we hope to broker a new conversation among an incredibly energetic and eclectic group of individuals and institutions, all of them innovating around the supply of finance for projects and organisations engaged in work that is primarily committed to social objectives.

The SWF has been oversubscribed for the last two years. It would be wonderful if the IIMs could organise a similar event to draw in the Indian business world to engage meaningfully in social change; this has deeper implications than donating money for natural disasters. We can be proud of India's Independence only when no child cries of hunger. When our dalits and adivasis walk free and tall in this land, which has oppressed them for centuries. When our women do not burn for dowry.

The SWF brings these issues to the fore, to the attention of the corporate world. It attempts to challenge and change the raison d'etre of business.

The author is a Gudalur (Tamil Nadu)-based activist and Visiting Skoll Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford University.

The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was launched in November 2003 at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University with a £4.44 million donation from the Skoll Foundation. It aims to reach out to young social entrepreneurs... people who have an interest in business but not merely for personal profit.

The Skoll Foundation, headquartered in California's Silicon Valley, was created in 1999 by Jeff Skoll of eBay. The foundation's mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world through social entrepreneurship. Skoll, the millionaire founder of e-Bay, shuns the limelight and reportedly hates publicity, but is the quiet force behind countless innovative initiatives to fight poverty and injustice the world over.

(The author is a Gudalur (Tamil Nadu)-based activist and Visiting Skoll Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford University.)

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