3 social enterprises (and some shopping and worship)!

Earlier this week, our group met with three different organizations; each one uses an innovative and sustainable strategy to affect social change within a community in India. I strongly encourage you to check out the organizations if you have any interest in social entrepreneurship. Here’s a synopsis of their missions:

Under the Mango Tree (UTMT)

Vijaya Pastala founded UTMT in 2009. After working for years at the World Bank in DC, Vijaya moved back to India after the earthquake to help restore the country. Because buildings were largely ruined, she held meetings under the mango trees since they provided shade in the summer heat, thus marking the birth of UTMT’s namesake. In a nutshell, UTMT uses bees to reduce poverty in rural parts of India. Pollination is critical for a healthy and robust harvest and bees are responsible for pollinating. And to think we just thought they were there to help make us honey for our tea! By increasing the number of (the hardest working) bees available to farmers, their crop yields increase and they are able to sell more goods. This results in increased income to put towards educating their children or procuring adequate healthcare. As health, education and income increase, poverty decreases. Et, voila!

UTMT is called a hybrid organization, consisting both of a non-profit sector and a for-profit sector. This hybrid approach is becoming much more common given the recent reduction of grant money available; companies need to come up with ways to self-sustain. The non-profit sector of UTMT conducts training for rural farmers so they learn how to keep the bees and harvest honey. Similar to many non-profits, it has research, advocacy and policy components. The for-profit sector assesses market access, market supply and chain management for a honey business. In selling the honey produced by the bees to the food, hospitality, and gifting industries in India, UTMT is able to make a profit on their product. Remember me mentioning the fabulous store I recently visited called Fabindia? Well, UTMT honey is sold there! UTMT’s model is sustainable and being replicated throughout the country. This simple idea has improved the livelihood of families and communities living in some of India’s poorest districts. A brilliant example of how identifying and addressing a simple need can produce outstanding results.

Founder of "Under the Mango Tree," Vijaya Pastala, presents to us about their innovative approach of using bees to reduce poverty in rural India.

Be! Fund

The Be! Fund is a fairly new organization that was born last July. They use media to inspire young entrepreneurs in India. Here’s how. They run media spots on local television and radio programs about “local heroes.” These heroes are young entrepreneurs whose ideas have helped to strengthen their community in some way. The media spots are intended to inspire young people to contact Be! Fund and apply for a small amount of money to kick-start an innovative idea. Be! Fund also provides training and support to these budding social entrepreneurs. A few examples of their current “local heroes” include: a woman who uses leaves from trees in rural India to make compostable plates, which she sells to make a profit while employing several women in her village; a man who invested his money into buying a truck to transport rural farmers to markets so they can sell their goods; and a man who recycles plastic bottles in his village to earn a profit. While these investments may seem insignificant, they have been revolutionary in providing work and income to many of India’s rural poor. I especially appreciate that Be! Fund focuses on young people who may or may not be educated, but who are visionaries in their communities. They are able to identify a weakness and offer a sustainable solution to address it in an innovative and profitable way.

ATMA

ATMA is a NGO that aims to strengthen other NGOs in the education sector in India. In Bombay, there are 66,000 NGOs, and in India, there is roughly one NGO for every 400 people. (1:400). That’s an astronomical amount of NGOs! Because there are so many people living in India, the government is not able to adequately support everyone, which is why NGOs play such a critical role in this country. ATMA essentially provides free consultation to start-ups and other NGOs working on educational issues to strengthen their overall operation, something they couldn’t otherwise afford.

After our morning meetings, we set out to do some shopping in an area of town called Bandra, which is home to a mix of street vendors and storefronts – a little something for everyone. As soon as we approached the street vendors, I immediately felt like I was back in a Moroccan souk with everyone eager to get my attention to buy their goods. There were Indian outfits, bangles, shoes, scarves, jewelry and trinkets galore. Knowing that we’ll be doing much more shopping, I didn’t buy too much, but I had a blast watching and helping my fellow classmates barter to get some awesome stuff. As we were walking the streets, the wind started to pick up and we quickly noticed that the street vendors were wrapping up their goods in tarps. Realizing that a massive rainstorm was about to hit, we sought cover in a local store. Monsoons are no joke. Such strong rain that you almost pity the ground for having to bear the brunt force. As we watched the storm come through, some impoverished street children noticed us in the store window. There was a small boy, maybe six years old, carrying his younger brother who couldn’t have been older than two. They were begging us for money and it was just gut-wrenchingly sad. I’ve traveled to developing countries before and this is not my first time being approached by young children begging, yet it just never gets any easier or less devastating. I just remind myself that we are here trying to better understand the world and hopefully help to address these injustices. Slipping them some money on the way out of the store, it was time to move along to our next stop.

Picking out new shirts for my classmate, Vidisha.

Sade found some fabulous clothes!

Monsoons!

Children asking for money on the street. 

Our group visited Mahalakshmi Temple, which was built in honor of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. In India, some people worship her daily. As we approached the temple, we purchased flowers to offer the goddess and we removed our shoes in the street since you must be barefoot to enter. Walking into the temple, I felt a sense of calmness that I haven’t been able to channel since I arrived. Powerful energy. We offered our flowers and received some in return that had been blessed. We each also received a touch of red powder on our foreheads. Exiting the temple, we fell back into the hustle of the city, but I was quite pleased to have been able to find some peace among the chaos. Our evening ended with dinner in southern Bombay at a traditional Indian restaurant. We returned home late and immediately fell asleep to prepare for what the next several days would have in store. More on that soon!