On Monday we met with both UnLtd India and the Acumen Global Fund. Each of these organizations operates with the goal of encouraging social change through the financial support of social entrepreneurs. UnLtd India financially incubates the ideas of social entrepreneurs in the first four years of the life of an idea. I love this model because, by reaching out with support in the first years UnLtd India that idea can grow from a solid base.
Both of the meetings took place at “The Hub”, which is an open air loft space that functions as rentable office space for social entrepreneurs. I love this idea because it promotes so much peer support, idea sharing and support and I truly feel that the greatest ideas arise from peer collaboration.
I was particularly inspired by our meeting with UnLtdIndia. We met with Pooja Warier, the vivacious and extremely intelligent co-founder and Director of the organization. Her vision and acute awareness of the social climate of entrepreneurs in India lends itself to creating a functional launch pad for those entrepreneurs’ ideas, through UnLtd India. We met at “The Hub”, which is a lofty area where entrepreneurs can meet, share ideas, work and be inspired.
Following the conversation with Pooja, we engaged in a very interactive session with two UnLtd India employees – Karen and Roshan. The interactive and informal nature of our meeting lent itself to a very open, question-driven session in which many members of our group were able to really connect with the organization, its’ people and its’ mission.
Karen led us through three examples of social entrepreneurs who had been funded and launched by UnLtd India. This was the most inspiring part of the meeting for me because these ideas, which have gone on to receive additional funding and success, are not grandiose. I think that so many people in our field of work, myself included, sometimes feel that the need “the one” great idea that will change the world. Even the title of our class textbook encourages this mindset. What UnLtd India showed us was that even the smallest or most basic idea can, in fact, change the world. It may not be changing the entire world as we think of it, per se; however, if an idea changes the way or scope in which an individual lives their life – isn’t that changing their world?
The greatest social change need not affect masses and masses. If our ideas can simply change one aspect of one community’s existence I truly believe that then, the goal has been met. Social entrepreneurship, social impact, social change – these buzz words tend to create a feeling of need to create an impact for the greatest amount of people possible. I certainly relate to this and understand those feelings. The meeting with UnLtd India was so valuable because it started me thinking about narrowing the scope of my interests and truly perfecting a program that will seamlessly and effectively create an impact for that group. Once tested, only then would it be appropriate to scale up the intervention, program or business to reach the masses.
This sentiment is analogous to the simple children’s story of the tortoise and the hare. We can hope and we can certainly dream about truly “changing the world” and there is no fault in that. What I will carry with me from meeting with UnLtd India is that it doesn’t take a “change the world” idea or mindset to truly affect the ways in which people live their lives. Focusing on a smaller population, with one simple idea can certainly carry out the tenets of social entrepreneurship and social change and provide a platform for that big, change the world idea.
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