I’m writing this from halfway around the world in Doha, Qatar where I’m waiting for my flight to Mumbai. Although I’m a little groggy for the 12+ hour flight here, I can’t sleep because I am so anxious to get to India and start what will no doubt be a life-changing experience. I am thrilled to be traveling to India to study social entrepreneurship, a topic I have had a growing interest in over the past year, and something I think is a key tool in reducing poverty and improving the health and wellbeing of people around the world.
As we’ve read and discussed in class, and as I learned firsthand in trying to write a paper on the subject, social entrepreneurship is difficult to define. What interests me most is the characteristic of social entrepreneurs to continuously find creative solutions to problems. In our course text, David Bornstein’s How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, there are many stories of entrepreneurs who come up with a great idea to solve a social problem, such as lack of electricity access in rural Brazil or need for support for street children in India. But they do not just stop with one idea. If a challenge comes up, they come up with another idea to get around it. Or, if one thing works, they figure out what they can add to help people even more. I’ve never thought of myself as overly creative, but I hope I can channel some of the creativity from the many social entrepreneurs we will meet on this trip.
One thing that social entrepreneurs—like all entrepreneurs—need is start up capital. We were assigned to look at three Web sites that focus on funding projects and people in developing countries: www.globalgiving.org, www.kiva.org, www.globalindiafund.org, and www.samhita.org. I love the idea behind all of these sites, which is that people, in general, are very generous. When a natural disaster strikes, or a community member gets ill, or a family member loses their job, people reach out and help in anyway they can—no matter how small. By making giving easy, particularly across international borders, these sites create a network of helping hands around the world.
Each site takes a slightly different approach. GlobalGiving lets donors make tax-deductible contributions to projects around the world, who otherwise might not be able to afford tools to collect donations. The site presents projects by topic and region, making it easy for donors to find something of interest, and it gives specific details about what your gift can buy (for example, $10 can buy a backpack full of supplies for a child in Liberia). According to the site, GlobalGiving has had 205,406 donors give $48.7 million to 4,260 projects since 2002.
Kiva has a similar setup except instead of making donations, users making small loans. It also has great stats—since 2005, 602,445 lenders have loaned $232 million with a repayment rate of 98.79%. I love this idea because it helps people around the world start a small business, without relying on donations. You can choose to give to individual entrepreneurs, based on their vision for their business, or to community banks, who lend to many individuals. I also love that Kiva relies on volunteers to run its network, edit Web stories, and so on, so that 100% of your loan goes directly to the entrepreneur.
In class we have talked a great deal about Dr. Vyas’ efforts with Global India Fund. Key to this site’s model is that Global India Fund, along with Samhita, takes on the due diligence of vetting all the organizations on its site so that donors can feel confident they are making a contribution to a reliable, transparent organization that is effective and also uses its resources efficiently.
All of these sites let users make a real difference in the lives of people around the world. It is truly amazing what just $10 or $20 can do. I encourage you all to check them out.
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