Social entrepreneurship seeing real change, says Niti vice chief
NEW DELHI: India cannot make a transition to becoming a high middle income economy by concentrating exclusively on profits, said NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar on Thursday.
He was speaking at the social entrepreneur of t he year (SEOY) 2018 award organised by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, an affiliate of the World Economic Forum, and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation of the Jubilant Bhartia Group.
Kumar said social entrepreneurship is where the real change is taking place.
“The key, in my view, is that these are people who are doing well by doing good and they create value and do work devoted to serving the under-served,” he added
Kumar said the NITI Aayog too has set up five incubation centres that work with social entrepreneurs helping create livelihoods.
The award went to Prema Gopalan of the Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) which aims to revitalize rural economies by putting women in charge.
“This recognition will go a long way in making visible the invisible revolution that rural Indian women are creating in their communities,” Gopalan said. Working in areas affected by climate change, Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) has unleashed women farmers, entrepreneurs and grassroots business leaders who are solving the problems of their communities through small businesses. The SSP model comprises four ventures: a federated network of 5000 self help groups; a resilience fund for women-led businesses; a rural school of entrepreneurship and leadership for women; and a market aggregator that provides warehousing, branding, marketing and distribution services to lastmile business women.
In addition, it has catalysed the government, i nvestors, financial institutions and Indian and global corporations to partner directly with grassroots women business leaders.
As a result, 97,874 women in drought and flood-affected villages have set up enterprises in clean energy, sanitation, basic health services, nutrition and safe agriculture.