THE HUB Day # 6

Our last day in Mumbai consisted of meeting at the HUB with Unltd India, and the ACUMEN Fund. The HUB is a location in Mumbai where social entrepreneurs can come together for meetings, rent office space, volunteer with the community, and a meeting place for NGO’s and young social entrepreneurs potential collaboration.
Unltd India’s vision is to create a culture/support system where individuals can act upon their visions without the help of the government. This organization works with start up NGOs that are 3-4 years old to provide incubation support through the HUB, and the Unltd Lab. The Unltd lab consists of 3 levels of loans and acts as a testing period for the organization. They have an extensive process of assessing individuals and their ideas. Individuals who come to Unltd must have a personal connection with the service, be resourceful, and attract money (not necessarily to make money). Their idea must have potential such as being in demand, or need, and prior research should be done to ensure that they are invested and are aware. An important piece that start up programs must have is to be willing to give back to the start-up community once they have succeeded. All these criteria are essential for Unltd investment.
After meeting with Unltd India, we had the opportunity to meet with ACUMEN Fund. ACUMEN Fund is a 10 year old organization that invests in programs concerning water safety, renewable energy, agriculture, housing, and health. The health portfolio is 10 million, and several projects are functioning throughout Mumbai. They strive to influence social entrepreneurs to create a positive social impact impact, but we were surprised that they are were to provide evidence of their programs’ impact, and Although they are unable show how far their investments have gone, It was fascinating to hear about their programs and the extent of innovation one idea has brought to surface.
It is amazing to see the concept of social entrepreneurship utilized within these two organizations. I was excited to hear about previous ideas people had come up with to start their enterprises. One project was called the Bee Box, and a lady they now call the “Honey Lady” started distributing bee hives to allow people to make and then sell honey for more hives. There was no follow up of the Honey Lady, and I am curious to find out the extent of sustainability of the project.