Spotlight on Self-Sustaining Social Businesses

India Inc. continues to go all out to make its presence felt globally, led by its by now almost proverbial front-runner - our information and communication technology (ICT) industry. But even as scores in Indian cities reap the benefits of this flourishing sector, a few socially-minded people are beginning to talk seriously about the urgent need to bridge India's urban-rural digital divide. Still fewer Samaritans - like Ashoka Fellow Satyan Mishra - have gone beyond mere lip-service, to actually use their rural ICT experience to make a difference where it is most needed.

Born to a middle-class family hailing from village Madhubani (Bihar), Mishra carries indelible childhood memories of what the lack of sustainability can do to village betterment projects. At the age of 8, he witnessed the collapse of a successful watershed management project, aimed at blocking a wild river passing through the village to prevent floods and use the river silt to enrich eroded land, thus changing lives of many. The project failed when international funding was withdrawn. The villagers' helplessness not only rankled Mishra but also started a train of thoughts on sustainable means to improve the life of India's teeming rural populace.

Change needs to be driven home

In 1999, Mishra was invited to be part of Madhya Pradesh's state government e-governance project - Gyandoot. Salaried state government employees were supposed to provide government information through information kiosks, but as is so typical of such government endeavors, they were just not sufficiently concerned, and hence involved with the task at hand. While the employees didn't do enough to promote the service, the villagers didn't know how to use the centers. How would change ever take place?

Mishra realized that merely installing technological infrastructure in a rural environment doesn't empower rural people. He opines that "investments in social entrepreneurship may have a higher gestation period, but are sustainable and even profitable over a period of time. It's just that the business model has to have components of both social and commercial objectives." But any village endeavor based on ICT must be successfully monetized - i.e. proven for its income-generating capacity - before being handed over to a local rural entrepreneur who has been trained to manage it as a business, albeit for social benefit. Only then will a conventional village ‘information kiosk' model be sustainable and hence, widely replicable.

Establish a sound business plan

Drishtee was thus born of the recognition of the need to offer rural India connectivity, to liberalize its middleman-dependent, exploitative economy, by backing the concept that a socially beneficial business at seed stage is a business like any other, requiring a sound business model. In Mishra's words, "The recipe is the same as for any other entrepreneurial venture/spirit. If at all, the challenges are a bit more persistent and therefore one needs to be really passionate about creating change. We've been challenged by infrastructure, social, government policy related concerns. But the biggest hurdles were raised by people who are used to viewing villages as their fiefdom, where development can only take place through the mode of subsidy. Nevertheless, we constantly feel motivated by the support of the village community - especially women and children - who see a great opportunity in Drishtee."

So - a kiosk must be driven by a trained local rural entrepreneur genuinely interested in earning, and bringing about a change in the local economy. Kiosks must be established only after a detailed feasibility survey certifies that the village has a minimum population of 1200 families, and the local tele-communication situation, literacy level of the targeted age-group, and paying capacity of the villagers favor its sustainability. A kiosk is finally set up after Drishtee offers the entrepreneur a license of operation - which brings another franchisee onboard its growing social franchise platform. A kiosk is usually located at a prominent location accessible to villagers from 3-5 surrounding villages.

The 1700 odd kiosks that Drishtee runs in Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Assam are all run by rural entrepreneurs - preferably matriculates - who own their kiosks, thanks to capital assistance received from Drishtee's tie-up with ICICI, Acumen Fund and now through the MFI initiative of Drishtee Foundation supported by agencies like Nike Foundation and IFC. But Drishtee does more than train, hand-hold and monitor the activities of the kiosk.

Ascertaining the bouquet of services

Alongside the entrepreneur, Drishtee carries out a need-analysis survey to determine the demand for cost-saving products and services. The idea behind this is for the kiosk to offer a range of services to decentralize information and empower villagers to take informed decisions, while simultaneously enhancing the revenue-earning capacity of the kiosk. The services may include access to government services such as retrieving records or information, filing of applications for licenses or  certificates, availing agricultural information or products, health information and services, rural lighting products, household items, educational opportunities such as Computer Courses, Accounting and English learning packages, financial products like insurance, banking products and digital photography facilities.

A typical Drishtee kiosk is installed in a small room or any shop-like enclosure in a village area. The kiosk-owner only has to learn to operate a simple menu-driven application requiring minimum data entry that runs on an online portal. Other training sessions focus on capacity building to deliver various services and products to the villagers.

While the initial Drishtee model was a one-way, city-to-village service model, initiating with government or Drishtee's database-driven services, now it expands to a two-way channel, whereby rural products and services are also made available to the urban population. An impact assessment revealed that when wholly implemented, the Drishtee model results in a 10-15% increase in rural income or savings by eliminating their supply chain of intermediaries.

In the social business sector, small is big

The result may be small but it is measurable, which isn't surprising considering its novel approach. For this, Drishtee won the Development Market Place Award (World Bank) in 2003, made it to Deloitte's ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in India, and was one of only two Indian companies and 47 ‘visionary' firms the World Economic Forum counted as Technology Pioneers 2007 for their life-changing innovations.

Undoubtedly, Mishra is well en route to satisfy his desire to make a substantive difference to the life of the rural poor. But India needs many more Mishras to reach out to its 600,000 villages. He opines that although servicing the rural community is a great entry point for young social entrepreneurs, more recognition at the grassroots level and within the Government and private sector would bode well for budding social entrepreneurs. In this regard, he cites his Ashoka Fellowship as having been immensely useful especially in terms of building partnerships and seeking funding.

For more information: Drishtee Development and Communication Ltd., http://www.drishtee.com or email: info@drishtee.com

Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and author of two books. She also writes funding grants and software for a charity working in the health sector.

Issue BG78 Sept07