Growing Ecosystem of Social Entrepreneurship in India

The Growing Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in India: Innovation in Action

Madhukar Shukla XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, India

Madhukar [at] xlri.ac.in

Gerard Farias Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA

Gfarias [at] fdu.edu

Tata L. Raghuram XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, India

Raghutata [at] xlri.ac.in

2012 Research Colloquium on Social Entrepreneurship Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship

University of Oxford (July 16-19, 2012)

Objectives

To conceptualize the Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in India

To identify and map the constituent organizations of the ecosystem in India

To identify inter-relationships and gaps in the ecosystem

Caveats

This is a work-in-progress

Focus (at this stage) is on “Finding and Mapping” Not on “Analysis and Conclusion”

In that sense, it is more about “Search” Not “Research”

Social Entrepreneurship in India – Growth Trends

Conceptualizing Ecosystem

Ecosystem as Community of Practice (CoP): • “A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share

common concerns, problems, or passions for a domain, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise through interaction on an ongoing basis.” (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder, 2002)

CoP is characterized by (Wenger, 1998): • Mutual Engagement: participation in community, establishing

norms; collaborative relationships • Joint Enterprise: shared understanding of the ‘domain’ • Shared Repertoire: set of community resources

Conceptualizing Ecosystem

CoP (Ecosytem) impact through (Lesser & Storck, 2001): • Decreasing the learning curve for new entrant • Responding more rapidly to new market demands and

challenges • Reducing rework and “re-invention of the wheel” • Spawning innovations

Ecosystems evolve around local contextual conditions (Isenberg, 2010)

Conceptualizing Ecosystem

Social ventures evolve through different stages; the support requirements from the ecosystem differ across stages. • “we do need funding to scale up, but right now my challenge is to

put the organizational systems and processes in place.” • “the sector is at the stage for growth, but where is the pipeline of

talent.” • “we would like to expand the impact through partnerships across

the regions. How do I locate the partners?” Etc.

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Sowers of Seeds - Examples

Emergence of platforms which provide youth and young social entrepreneurs with transformative experiences, early-stage mentoring and role-models, e.g.: • Jagrity Yatra (Journey of Awakening) • National Social Entrepreneurship Forum • Spark the Rise • Villgro Fellowship, Gandhi Fellowship, Piramal Fellowship, etc. • PM’s Rural Development Fellowship

High “conversion rate” through these experiential exposures

www.jagritiyatra.com

www.sparktherise.com

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Pipeline Creators

Introduction of large number of academic programs/ courses and incubators during last 4-5 years • Full academic programs: Tata Institute of Social Sciences (2007),

Deshpande Foundation (2012), PRADAN-Ambedkar University (2012), Entrepreneurship Development Institute (2008), etc.

• Courses as part of a program: IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIFM, XLRI, XIM Bhubneshwar, etc.

• Non-”academic” programs: ICICI Fellows, Swaraj University, etc. • Incubators: Villgro Innovation Foundation, RTBI (IIT Madras),

Deshpande Foundation, etc.

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Life-cycle of growth and investment/ funding

Time/ years

Venture Founded

Grant/Seed Investment

Initial Investment

Philanthropic Angel Capital

Growth Capital

Private Equity/ Project Funding

Early Supporters

Very few organisations & with limited reach/ scale, e.g., • StartUp!, Dasra, UnLtd, etc.

Provide support through mentoring and network support; very little through seed capital funding

National Knowledge Commission, 2008

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Late Supporters

Old grant-making organisations: • Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, etc.

Emerging ecosystem of social investors with niche sectors: • Aavishkaar (Rural Innovations); Acumen Fund India (Education

and Health); Song Advisors (Education); Villgro (Rural/ Agri-business); Elevar Equity, etc.

Providers of technical support along with financial support

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Emerging Supporting Structures

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Technical Support Providers - Start-up Consultancy - HR support – Research & Advisory

Technical Support Providers

Start-up consultancy • Innovent, Start-up!, etc.

HR Support • Boutique social sector recruitment firms: Third Sector Partners;

Opportune Jobs; Jobs for Good, etc. Research and Advisory

• Nascent stage of academic research; few research grants for social sector focused studies

• Specialized organisations, e.g., Intellicap, doing some applied research

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Emerging Supporting Structures

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Network Support - Aggregators - Conferences

Technical Support Providers - Start-up Consultancy - HR support – Research & Advisory

Network Support

5 annual national level practitioner-focused conferences since 2009 • Intellecap’s Sankalp Forum, Khemka Foundation’s Forum on SE,

Villgro’s Unconvention, ACCESS Dev’s Livelihood Conference, & XLRI’s NCSE

Online Aggregators: • NGO MarketPlace, IndiaNGO, Sanhita, etc.

Provide commons space for SEs, Investors/ Funders, supporters, volunteers, academics, etc., to connect, and form partnerships

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Emerging Supporting Structures

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Advocacy Support -Sectoral Bodies -TiE

Network Support - Aggregators - Conferences

Technical Support Providers - Start-up Consultancy - HR support – Research & Advisory

Advocacy Support

Critical for providing an enabling policy and regulatory framework for social ventures

Very nascent and sector-specific, e.g., micro-finance, energy, etc. • TiE, NEN • Formation of National Association of Social Entrepreneurship

(April 2012)

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Emerging Supporting Structures

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Media

Advocacy Support -Sectoral Bodies -TiE

Network Support - Aggregators - Conferences

Technical Support Providers - Start-up Consultancy - HR support – Research & Advisory

Media

Increasing role in “mainstreaming” social entrepreneurship

Coverage of SEs in mainstream media • CNBC TV18’s Young Turks, NDTV’s Unstoppble Indians, MTV’s

Youth Icon, Outlook Business’ annual issues on 25 Good Businesses, etc.

Dedicated online publications • TheAlternative, ThinkChangeIndia, YourStory, etc.

Learning and Next Steps

Nascent but rapidly emerging ecosystem (significant constituents emerged during this work!)

Largely youth-led and youth-focused Most support organizations themselves are young

social ventures Significant knowledge-gaps about ‘who’s who? doing

what?’ among players in the ecosystem Next step:

• Identify the relationships among the constituents • Assess the nature of their impact across the life-cycle of the

ventures

The Growing Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in India - A Framework

Sowers of Seed -Learning Journeys -Youth Fellowships -Campus Clubs -Competitions

Pipeline Creators -Academic Courses - Non-Academic Courses -Incubators

Early Supporters -Philanthropic Capital - Angel Investors

Late Supporters -Investors -Funders/ Grant-makers

Emerging Supporting Structures

The Societal Context Socio-Economic, Cultural and Legal Environment

Social Entrepreneurial Venture (across life-stages) Inspiration => Plan => Proof of Concept => Early Growth => Institution Building => Scaling Up

Media

Advocacy Support -Sectoral Bodies -TiE

Network Support - Aggregators - Conferences

Technical Support - Start-up Consultancy - HR support – Research & Advisory