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26 April 2012, Sankalp Forum

The Promise of an Asian Social Enterprise Corridor

Sankalp Forum, a platform that supports socially relevant small and medium enterprises, republished Gateway House's Director Manjeet Kripalani's article. Kripalani blogs about the hurdles social entrepreneurs in India face and the alluring idea of an India-South East Asia Social Enterprise Corridor.

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At a recent April gathering of social enterprise entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers and academicians in Mumbai, a panel debated the building of an India-South East Asia Social Enterprise Corridor.

The idea is alluring. India is seeing a blossoming of social enterprises – commercial ventures which fulfil a neglected social or economic need – across the country. New ideas for finance, power generation, conservation, food production, crafts revival are being put to good use, with decent profits being made.  According to Intellecap, an India-based social investment advisory firm which has raised $200 million over 10 years for social enterprises and was the curator for the gathering Sankalp Summit, there are 30,000 social entrepreneurs in India.  More than 25% of the organizations they advise  – mostly addressing issues of education, healthcare and water –  impact  over 50,000 people living at the Bottom of the Pyramid.  More than 60% of those entrepreneurs  operate in regions with tough  business environments, including low income states like Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. According to a recent survey released by Intellecap, 40% of India’s social enterprises operate in rural markets, and almost as many –  35% – produce goods and services for both  rural and urban markets.

 



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