Shrey Goyal

I recently gave my two cents on the microfinance industry in India, with reference to Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2012 and The Social Performance Report 2012 released by ACCESS Development Services. The piece is the cover story for The Sunday Guardian to be published tomorrow. Here are a few quips:

In 2006, by the time Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, microcredit was already touted to be the frontrunner in the race to eliminate global poverty.
…
In India, absurd rates of growth were observed, and the achievements of this industry were exaggerated as a means to good publicity… this boom culminated in SKS Microfinance, India’s largest MFI, growing to nearly a billion dollars and debuting at the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2010.

In the same year, the sector was rudely awakened from its state of “complacent arrogance” by the Andhra Pradesh government…

In a populist move by politicians, the state government stepped in with an ordinance that took this sector by the neck, effectively allowing borrowers not to repay their loans, and curbing any further microlending. A problem that needed to be treated with a scalpel was attacked with an axe.

The Andhra shakeup, tyrannical as it was, did lead to churn in the sector. The past two years have seen the sector take a hard look within itself and attempt to restore some of its lost dignity.

You can read the full piece as the issue hits the stands tomorrow morning, or on The Sunday Guardian website at Atonement: Indian Microfinance Looks Inward.

Muhammad Yunus and Mosammat Taslima Begum with Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony at Oslo in Dec 2006

Bonus Trivia: The article carries a photograph of Prof.Yunus and Mosammat Taslima Begum at a performance in Oslo in December 2006. Taslima Begum was one of the initial borrowers from Grameen, who used the €16 (US$20) loan in 1992 to buy a goat and subsequently became a successful entrepreneur. She later became one of the elected board members of the institution, and accepted the Nobel Prize on behalf of Grameen Bank’s investors and borrowers at the prize awarding ceremony held at Oslo City Hall.

About the Sunday Guardian

A weekly newspaper for the discerning readers. Based in Delhi, it is also published simultaneously in London- under the name ‘India on Sunday’. The Sunday Guardian is now available in Chandigarh too.

The newspaper is a brainchild of leading Indian journalist and author, MJ Akbar— who has donned many attires in his four-decade-long career and has been part of many innovations in the Indian media industry.

Once inside the room, you have control. Over everything. You can do things. You can make things right. The stuff that dreams are made of, behind the door. Jordan is standing right outside the door.

The room empowers you. Jordan knows that.

The key to the door rests with the League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen. They make things happen. Some call it a secret society. Some say its a cult. No one really knows much. Jordan is not in the League.

Jordan passes by that door every day, sometimes catching one or more from the League move in or out. At least hoping to catch them, have a few moments, look into their eyes, read their lips, understand what it takes, understand what lies inside. But Jordan doesn’t have the key. Forced to be content staying put right outside, Jordan has a white picket fence to look forward to. Jordan dreams, and tries, everyday, to get the key, go inside for once, join the League, make a dent. With the key, Jordan could, and would, make sure nothing remains the same. Jordan will never get the key. Jordan is outside. Jordan can’t change things. Not much anyway.

Robin was outside. It took many years. Meetings. Attempts. Appeasements. Favours. Conciliation, Bribing, Division and Destruction. Robin did it. Jordan looks up to Robin. Sometimes, Jordan envies Robin. Robin was just better. Or just luckier. Or a bit of both. Either way, it took a lot of work. Robin is in the midst of things now. Robin’s in!

The room is empty. Well, there’s a table, where tea is served. The League meets here, at the table. Drinks tea and leaves. Robin also drinks tea with them now. Robin is in the League. The League does not change things. In fact, the League opposes change. But only when inside the room. Robin can see that now. Robin can’t change things. Not any, in fact.

The room is nothing. Robin can’t let anyone know; the League doesn’t speak to anyone. The key is meaningless. There is no hope. Nothing will change. Robin knows that. Jordan doesn’t.

Would you rather be Jordan, or Robin?

Think about it.

Are you in Brussels? Or nearby? Are you into Social Business? Do you like beer? (And we’re talking Belgian beer!)

I’ll be in Europe over the next couple of weeks for a couple of engagements. Firstly, I am to attend the Global Social Business Summit organised by the Grameen Creative Lab and the Yunus Centre in Vienna as a Young Challenger. A week later, I’ll be at the Global Peter Drucker Forum as a Peter Drucker Challenge awardee, once again in the Social Ecologist’s own city, Vienna!

I’m very excited about both of these events, and its no surprise that Vienna is the world’s number one destination for international congresses and conventions. The city of dreams, of music, of mystery.

» Read the rest of this entry «

This is the second in a series of articles exploring the Boston University – Urban Business Accelerator (BUBA), a unique social enterprise startup advancing inner city small businesses while providing experiential learning opportunities to students. Last week, we covered how BUBA maximises its social impact by working with the community immediately local to it.

Mobilising University Resources

Social entrepreneurship is now a growing fad at Universities, and schools across the world are targeting the social sector, with many considering integrating it with their strategic missions. But how is that supposed to work? Can universities really achieve a shift in paradigm by dragging students to seminars and guest lectures once a month? » Read the rest of this entry «

Millennials today largely want control of their own destiny. Studies show that more and more students and young professionals wish to turn their skills and latent talent towards socially responsible initiatives. As ‘doing well and doing good’ increasingly becomes a buzzword amongst organizations and Universities alike, it is worthwhile to look in to efforts successfully realizing tangible impact on society through innovative and sustainable means. » Read the rest of this entry «

The concept of ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’ is at the height of its popularity now, especially since the publication of a book of the same name by James Surowiecki in 2004. It opens with an interesting anecdote about the 19th century English polymath Sir Francis Galton’s experience at a livestock fair. He noticed a wagering competition in which were invited to guess the weight of an ox on display. Eight hundred people wrote their guesses on slips of paper, including a few butchers and farmers, and many others casual guessers.

The exact mark: 1,198 pounds, was hit by just one guesser. Galton was pleasantly surprised to see the median value to be 1,207 pounds, within 0.8% of the weight measured by the judges. Even more interestingly, the mean of the guesses, or the estimation of the crowd, was 1,197 pounds, within one pound of the ox’s actual weight.

John Kay, one of Britain’s leading economists, relates the events that followed:

A few years later, the scales seemed to become less and less reliable. Repairs were expensive; but the fair organiser had a brilliant idea. Since attendees were so good at guessing the weight of an ox, it was unnecessary to repair the scales. The organiser would simply ask everyone to guess the weight, and take the average of their estimates…

The post enters more familiar territory later on.

If the farmer gave his friends any other information about the beast, that was also to be posted on the market door… Professional analysts scrutinised the contents of these regulatory announcements and advised their clients on their implications…

Some brighter analysts realised that understanding the nutrition and health of the ox was not that useful anyway. What mattered were the guesses of the bystanders…

Mathematicians from the University of Chicago developed models from which it was possible to estimate what, if there had actually been many guesses as to the weight of the animal, the average of these guesses would have been…

Can you guess what happens at the end?

(Hat tip: My friend and former colleague, Gopalkrishnan Iyer)

The World Youth Movement for Democracy, under the aegis of the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC, held an essay contest to encourage young people around the world to express their thoughts, hopes, and dreams regarding democracy and human rights in their respective countries. My following essay was judged to be amongst the top globally, and of the 3 finalists from Asia, and was published in ‘Youth in Action: Paving the Way for Democracy’ by NED in June, 2011.

Empowering the Young Indian Voter

The world’s second most populous country, India, is also its largest democracy; a system instituted over 60 years ago by national leaders and freedom fighters after enormous sacrifices and struggles to achieve independence and to secure the citizens of the nation, the right to participate in the process of their own governance. Thus, for India, participation of the people in the electoral process by exercising their right to vote is of utmost importance, with out which it ceases to remain a representative democracy that it set out to be.

However, while overpopulation, illiteracy and poverty remain amongst India’s major economic and social problems that this system aspired to tackle, these same factors also lead to abuse of the democratic structure itself by politicians who have continuously exploited the gullible masses and manipulated them to cast their valuable votes on the lines of religion, caste, creed, region, colour, race or gender. Politics in India has been marked with taking advantage of social malaises prevalent in the country for spreading hatred and garnering votes.

With economic liberalisation and a new economic policy, the 1990s saw the rise of the middle class in India, a class of young citizens that has benefited the most from the nation’s economic boom. The emerging youth of India, well-educated, capable of looking beyond petty issues and adept to make informed decisions, was expected to take the baton forward for the nation and rid the political system of its malaises by electing competent and honest representative to power.

However, the young generation of India had shown signs of not appreciating the hard-earned right to vote. When the country went to polls earlier this decade, it was those among the 880 million people surviving on less than $2 a day — many of them illiterate and easily manipulated by politicians — who turned out in force, while the corresponding turnout amongst the 50 million eligible voters comprising of students and young professionals of the country, especially from urban areas, remained abysmally low. Besides this, voter turnout was quite low in urban areas in general as well, significantly lower than the rural parts of the nation. In Delhi, India’s capital city, it was 47 per cent in 2004. And in some parts of the capital, it was as low as 26 per cent.

This trend is seen in many developing as well as developed democracies, and poses a significant threat to the virtue of democracy. Looking at the sad state of affairs, the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a not-for-profit organisation that works with citizens and governments to bring about comprehensive solutions to the problems faced by the Democratic system in India, decided to face the challenge with innovative ways to reach the youth in India.

They were joined by Tata Tea, the World’s second largest and India’s largest tea brand. Along with a large market presence in India, Tata Tea is also looked upon as a physical and emotional revitaliser, a unifying force, consumed by the rich and poor, aged and young, across social and economic strata of the citizenship in India alike. Thus, collaborating with Janaagraha, Tata tea also established thought leadership for the brand by becoming a catalyst for ‘Social Awakening,’ with the message ‘Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re’ (Every Morning, don’t just get up, Wake Up!), as the tagline for the ‘Jaago Re! One Billion Votes’ campaign.

The initiative aimed at awakening the youth of this country to the importance of exercising their right to vote as a means to bring about the change they seek, with an objective to create a platform that will motivate the vast numbers of Indian youth to participate actively in the electoral process of the country. The campaign seeks to empower the youth to influence polity by exercising their right to vote.

As citizens in a democracy such as India, one’s most powerful identity is the political identity of a voter. Yet this identity is neglected by most, either out of cynicism or out of fear of the hurdles involved in exercising the right to vote. Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is thus a clarion call to the youth, to jettison the cynicism and take the first step towards citizenship. What is amazing is the fact that this is a campaign for the youth, wholly conceptualized and executed by the youth as well.

Janaagraha brought its comprehensive knowledge on electoral processes, and structured citizen participation as key elements of the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign, while the necessary financial and outreach support needed for such a mammoth project was provided by Tata Tea, a pioneering example of corporate-public partnership to bring about meaningful change in the society.

At the crux of the initiative is the website www.jaagore.com, which is a one stop site for all needs of the potential voter. The site, along with mobile service technology and IVR support, provided users with an end to end platform to facilitate voter registration, informing voters of their electoral constituency, location of their respective polling booth, etc., and hosted an online voter registration engine to allow citizens across the country to fill their voter registration forms in 5 minutes and also get directions to submit the form at the relevant office in their city. Hence, the Jaago Re One! Billion Votes campaign is not only a call to action but a platform which provides any potential voter all the information and facilitation he or she needs to become part of the electoral process.

The campaign was publicised by Tata Tea as a part of their own advertising efforts, with television, print and online ads focussing on creating awareness and inspiring the youth of this country to participate in the voting process, thereby creating rapid and mass awareness for the campaign. This was integral also as demonstrated by the insights from surveys conducted amongst youth in India, which indicated that over half of the younger population who didn’t vote faced lack of awareness. Outreach partnerships were also made with other prominent media channels including Lok Satta Andolan (prominent newspaper in West India), PRIA (North India), Yahoo! India, Radio One FM 94.3 and Midday.

The campaign was a huge success, and at the onset of the 2009 parliamentary elections, reported having registered 589,677 new voters, while driving awareness to many others. The cutting edge technology and meticulous planning behind the campaign is illustrated by the fact that jaagore.com was recognised as an official honouree at the 13^th Webby awards, an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.

Janaagraha was also the pioneer behind ‘Jaagte Raho!’, a non-partisan campaign with a vision of improvement in the quality of political leadership, by encouraging the youth to participate actively in various causes and play their roles in improving the Indian democracy by providing them with a platform to together and effectively channel all these energies in a manner that creates a tangible impact. The Bengaluru Electoral Systems Transformation (B.E.S.T), result of sustained advocacy efforts of ‘Jaagte Raho!’ with the Election Commission of India (ECI), is spearheading efforts to provide all citizens of Bangalore with electronic photo identity cards, thus facilitating flawless electoral lists and giving everyone their right to vote, with plans to scale out to other cities in India in the future.

Similar efforts have been seen in the past couple of years, aiming at mobilising young India for the first time, using mass media and other channels popular amongst the youth. ‘Exercising Franchise for Good Governance’ (EFG), a non-profit organisation set up in Delhi in November 2008, with the slogan “Bad politicians are elected by citizens who do not vote!” organises weekly jogs around Delhi to get people to cast their ballots, and sending buses to do the same at universities, markets and shopping malls in other cities, to get India’s apathetic middle class, and especially the young, out to vote.

Other corporate entities have also joined the efforts, and have come up with innovative ways to encourage voting. 2009 saw a number of stores and shops in and around Delhi and other major Indian cities offering, what they called, ‘Democracy Discounts.’ Designer clothes, books, mugs and wristbands were available on discount upon following a simple procedure – one just had to flaunt the “blank ink mark”, a mark left by indelible ink used in the electoral process in India, as a proof of having exercised their right to vote. To further popularise the campaign, mugs were carrying autographs of famous Bollywood (Hindi Film Industry) director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, widely seen as an icon for Indian youth. Since these products are aimed primarily at the youth, who also form a major chunk of the non-voting population during every electoral season, these corporate campaigns that made the voting mark a style statement proved to be very successful.

Much of the interest in political process and understanding of the significance of able leadership was embraced by the youth in the wake of terrorist attacks on the city of Mumbai in November 2009. When the 19 year old Kaizad Bhamgara was faced with the pain of his loss and frustration over the ineptitude of the government’s response to the aforementioned terrorist attacks, which took away the lives of three of his friends, he was inspired to set up, initially, a facebook page, which later scaled into a Web site, a YouTube channel and a blog, aiming to encourage his peers to vote in India’s national elections, to be held soon afterwards.

The attacks which had left more than 170 people dead and more than 230 wounded, had spurred India’s disillusioned middle-class youths to sudden political action, with realisations over the dismal standards of leadership and dissatisfaction with their own non-participatory attitude. Indian political analysts thus concluded that young voters played an unprecedented role in determining the composition of India’s next government.

Hence, while India’s middle-class youths blew off voting as a waste of time in the past, the new generation technology and applications such as social media and the likes that helped the youth engage with one another were now being used to expose the misdeeds of political leaders and encourage them to influence the political arena by the power of their vote. Text messaging also emerged as a new and powerful medium of awareness, with almost 400 million people in India owning cellphones.

Such scenarios are not unique to India, and have been seen all over the world in the recent past. The political scene in the United States was also largely influenced by new age modes of engagement and youth participation, which has been seen as a powerful positive intervention in one of the most powerful democracies of the world.

The time has come, for the youth to participate in the democratic process, and thus to determine the future of their respective nations and of a democratic world which they have to live in.

References & Bibliography:

• IANS, “Vote, get a ‘democracy discount’”, Apr 26, 2009, available online at: “Vote, get a ‘democracy discount’ – The Times of India” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Vote-get-a-democracy-discount/articleshow/4450342.cms
• Jaago Re! – One Billion Votes Website, www.jaagore.com
• Jaagte Raho! Website, http://jaagteraho.net/
• Janaagraha Website, http://www.janaagraha.org/
• Page, J., “Educated, informed and well-off, but too apathetic to vote in India”,  The Times, April 18, 2009
• Ray, A., “Bangalore’s Shantinagar to have spic-and-span electoral roll”, Daily News & Analysis, Bangalore, Saturday, Aug 28, 2010
• Wax, E., “India’s Youth Vote Rises From Ashes Of Mumbai Attacks”, Washington Post Foreign Service, April 7, 2009

What is Rise?

The Mahindra Group is one of India’s most reputable industrial houses, and as a multinational conglomerate, operates in over 100 countries across the globe (famously on every continent except Antarctica). They work in aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket, automotive, components, construction equipment, defense, energy, farm equipment, finance and insurance, industrial equipment, information technology, leisure and hospitality, logistics, real estate, retail, and two wheelers, with market leadership in several of these spaces. And it is the above question that they have been ceaselessly exploring over the past year.

When I first came across ‘Spark the Rise’, it seemed like a typical CSR campaign, which in India is usually about a philanthropic donation made to a charity in education, healthcare or the likes. In fact, Mahindra is already a well known entity in the philanthropy and volunteering space in India, primarily through the activities of the KC Mahindra Trust, which has notably worked on literacy as well as vocational education in India,and is known for their Project Nanhi Kali (which supports the education of over 50,000 underprivileged girls) and Mahindra Hariyali (a 1 million tree planting campaign). Their Employee Social Options Plans is similarly an exemplary program through which over 35000 Mahindra employees plan and lead their own service projects every year.

But Spark The Rise was still different.

Mahindra has created a digital platform for individuals, groups and organisations to submit project plans online at www.sparktherise.com. Visitors to the site can view projects to offer advice or get involved by volunteering or donating money and equipment. Spark the Rise is thus a platform where ‘Sparks’ can start projects and ‘Volunteers’ can get involved in them to help people to Rise.

From Aug 2011-Mar 2012, the initiative awarded eight winning ‘Sparks’ with monthly financial grants of Rs. 4 lakh each. Of these, five were chosen by public vote and three by an expert jury. In April 2012, the top two winners from each month by public vote and six entries chosen by an expert jury – became a part of the Grand Finale, with three of the winners taking home Rs. 20 Lakh each and one receiving a grant of Rs. 40 Lakh.

But the funding is just a small component of the impact of this movement. Mahindra has realised that Indians all across are to taking charge, and are realising their own understanding of Rise. They are thus not merely touting their own horn or initiating a small project or two in the name of Corporate Social Responsibility. They are instead choosing to identify, aggregate and empower others who have taken the responsibility on themselves.

Innovators, entrepreneurs and change agents are now able to showcase their work and connect with like-minded people to amplify their efforts. Spark the Rise has become a community of >250,000 people working together to drive positive change in India. Thousands of people from all across India submitted >6,000 projects, of which 1,346 have been showcased on www.sparktherise.com, and 48 projects have received a grant from Mahindra. These projects have now found new fans and followers in the form of the hundreds of people that have connected with them to volunteer, donate, and advise the project champions.

This is indeed a milestone in corporate citizenship in India. Rupee for rupee, the social impact of this initiative is disproportionate as compared to most other CSR efforts by Indian corporations of recent. In fact, for once the term ‘CSR’ seems misfit, and it can be said that it is corporate social innovation that has seen dawn in India.

Spark the Rise is thus promoting a rich culture of initiative and innovation by bringing people together to work for change. All ‘Sparks’ – not just the ones who have received grants – have thus utilised this unique platform to promote ideas, motivate volunteers and raise funds for their projects aimed at building a better India.

I was in attendance at the Grand Finale held at the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai last month as a panel moderator, and shall be writing about the event and about the idea of ‘Rise’ in the coming weeks. Now that the initiative has embarked on its second year, it’ll be interesting to see how it evolves and uses its learning from the first edition as it seeks to answer: What is Rise?

(A modified version has been cross-posted on the Mahindra Rise Blog)

Hello all,

Here it is: my new address on the web. For now, I have imported some posts I had written earlier on social innovation, entrepreneurship, events, and film and book reviews, and shall continue to share other older pieces. But of course, the coming month or so shall see other developments on the site as well, besides new posts with summaries of more recent experiences and reactions.

Keep reading.