Child Labour - A Pic

Sarvajal

This is a follow up post to this where I gave a short introduction to Sarvajal.

Sarvajal – the branded name of Piramal Water – means “water for all”. It operates on the principle of franchise ownership in rural areas in several states across India and currently uses reverse-osmosis filtration, as per WHO standards. There are several for-profit providers in the clean water space in India, but Sarvajal offers the lowest price point at 25 paise (less than one US cent) per liter, without subsidies. 

Business Model

The company’s efficient business model, based on scalable delivery solutions undertaken by local entrepreneurs, contributes to this attractive price point. After making an initial investment, local operators enter into a profit-sharing scheme with Sarvajal, which in turn covers capital and maintenance costs. Entrepreneurs are therefore incentivized to bring clean water to as many people in the community as possible, instead of focusing on system maintenance. 

As it continues to evolve its model, possible future developments include “ATM-like” water kiosks placed in convenient locations and fully automated refinery systems.

Earth Day 2010

Earth Day -- April 22 -- each year is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment.

Earth Day, celebrated in the US on April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

"The earth is in greater peril than ever, but there is also unprecedented opportunity to build a new future. Earth Day has the power to bring about historic advances in climate policy, renewable energy and green jobs and catalyze millions who make personal commitments to sustainability - “A Billion Acts of Green” – mobilizing the power of people to create change by taking small steps in our homes, our schools and our businesses that add up to an enormous collective action."

Visit here for more.

Remembering CK Prahalad

Prof. CK Prahalad, amongst the greatest management gurus of the past century and one of the original "bottom of the pyramid" strategists, passed away at the age of 68 last week.

Read this note about him, written by one of his former students (Blair Miller).

The world has experienced a great loss this weekend. Coimbatore Krishnarao (CK) Prahalad, strategy guru,University of Michigan Professor, and mentor to me and many others, passed away last Friday evening.

There are few people who have created a global movement that has changed the way millions of people see the world - and CK Prahalad is one of them.  I first heard about CK through his book, "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid".  The idealist in me was moved by his words of dignity and a new approach to poverty alleviation and the pragmatist in me was driven by his talk of business models and market opportunity.  I immediately left my job, was accepted to the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and moved to Ann Arbor to learn from this remarkable man. I am merely one of thousands, perhaps millions, who were inspired by Professor Prahalad's message.

While CK was one of the world's most respected strategy gurus (ranked #1 in the top 50 global business thinkers) it was clear that his life's mission was to change the way the world thought about poverty.  He believed in the dignity that came with giving the poor a voice and a choice in the decisions they made about their lives.   And most importantly he believed in humility and deep listening.  He once told me that, "when you do your work, go with real humility Blair, for the poor know more about life than you could possibly imagine."

What makes CK so amazing is that he was not walking the halls of the United Nationsor the State Department to address poverty; he was waking up Fortune 500 companies to his vision of social change.  He was attempting to convert the seemingly unconvertible, and he was creating an entirely new paradigm in his wake.

CK created a language (Bottom of the Pyramid, for example) that allowed the business community to talk about social change and simultaneously allowed the social sector to talk about capitalism as a tool to fight injustice.  This contribution alone demonstrates his sheer brilliance in the face of one of the greatest cultural and ideological divisions of our time.

CK's work was always grounded in his deep commitment to education.  Despite his fame and prestige he always continued to teach and to listen.  I will never forget my first day in his class, when he had assigned 100 business school students, with hundreds more waitlisted, to read philosophy.  The typical MBA's were waiting for him to deliver his lecture supplying them with their first framework for innovation and instead he asked us to reexamine our lives and the society in which we lived.   Let's just say that was not the typical assignment for business school, but CK was not a typical man.  He once said to me, "I don't like to think inside the box, I like to create my own box."  And he did just that.

Our final exam for the class was to write a two page essay on where we saw ourselves in five years.  My vision was to be at Acumen Fund, and that vision has become a reality.  It is amazing what happens when someone like him asks you about your dreams and then gives you the confidence and support to realize them. CK Prahalad was not just a guru or an icon he was a teacher and a mentor.

Last year I asked CK to speak at the Acumen Fund Fellows Graduation.  During his presentation he told us, "If there was one thing I could wish for it would be to be young again."  While CK could not have his wish, his voice, vision, and passion now live in those hundred of companies, thousands of social sector organizations, and millions of people around the world who are young enough at heart to hope, to create their own box, and to see the world through a different lens.  These people no longer see the developing world filled with poverty and corruption but instead see these markets filled with opportunity and hope. 

CK, we will carry on your legacy and as you told us we will "work to see the world not for what it is, but what it can be". Thank you, Professor Prahalad; you will be missed.

E4SI fellows-2010 announced

The cohort of E4SI Fellows for 2010 has been announced and yeah, I am one of them.

This time there are 17 fellows, 6 from IIT Kharagpur, and four, yeah, four from my hostel itself.

Go through the bios of all the fellows here.

MAKE US PROUD, TIGER

The Economic Times carried an interesting article about Tiger Woods today.

FIVE MONTHS OF SHAME & SCANDAL, AND THEN 

on the first green after a long layoff, applause and cheers. Woods, battling his tawdry past, did not know how his fans would react to his comeback. But at the first swing, as the ball flew into the skies, his mood too lifted out of the gloomy hole it was in. And as he moved from hole to hole, his fans cheered him on. From despair to joy, a fallen star to a born-again Tiger — you just can’t keep a champion down for too long.

Well, you just cant keep a champion down for too long, can you?

Colours of Life - A Pic

Photo credits: http://community.acumenfund.org/photo/dsc0089-1?context=user

Sarvajal - Water For All

To start with, I would say that Sarvajal is an organisation that I am very fascinated about, and I would be spending my summer vacations working here, as part of my E4SI fellowship.

Sarvajal is a social enterprise that develops sustainable drinking water solutions for rural and urban populations where the quality of water is often the cause of more than 60% of common health ailments. 

It strives to make clean and pure drinking water accessible and affordable for everyone. It has a scalable business model that empowers rural entrepreneurs to participate in the growth of their community while providing a socially beneficial and economically viable solution for all. 

I would write about its whole business model in a later post.

Engineers for Social Impact

E4SI is a fellowship program that connects top engineering talent to credible social enterprises driving market-based solutions to development in India. Presently, the fellowship is being offered to highly motivated students from IITs, some NITs and BITS Pilani. 

The E4SI fellowship program was founded by Nitin Rao in 2008, when he was in his final year at NIT Surathkal.

And yeah, I have been selected as one of the E4SI fellows for 2010. This summer,I would be having my immersion experience at an organisation called Sarvajal at Ahmedabad.

And all I say is, "Yo yo...I am very happy".

School Chale Hum

Photo edited by me.
Photo credits: http://community.acumenfund.org/photo/img2663-1?context=user

Old friends and Nostalgia, and a confession

To,
A good old, and beautiful, friend.


I am writing this entry today, in the hope that you shall read it one day and smile.

To be frank, I have been lucky enough to make so many good friends over the years. I thank God for everything I have and everything I have achieved so far. But, you know, life teaches you most things when you are going through your toughest days. Being at school was just so easy, I never realised the presence of my friends, and how important they were to me. But then came one day, when I had to leave you all and go to college. I never thought I would find it any difficult. Believe me, today, I swear those two were probably the toughest years of my life.

Life devoid of arts, literature, movies, music, love, passion and friends like you, is worthless. For me, my best friends are those whom I miss. And being frank, I missed you and I still do.

You know, life is such a bitch. It takes away  the most precious possessions from you to let you know how important they were to you, and then gives them back to you again! I am thankful to God I know you again.

I know life has been tough on you. I just wish you do well in your life and keep smiling. May God bless you. 


A good old friend.

Terracycle- Outsmart waste

An interesting company I came across. They aim to be the "Walmart" of "trash". Really nice concept.

1 Bicycle per Person (1BpP)

What is 1 BpP ?

One Bicycle per Person (1BpP) is a community of passionate people which addresses the tremendous unmet need for affordable bicycles at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP).

Today, there are more than one billion bicycles in use globally. And since 2001, more than 100 million bicycles have been manufactured annually. That's double the production of 25 years ago, growing more than twice as fast as global population. But while perhaps half these bicycles are in mainland China, where they have been key to rapid development, most of the rest are in developed nations. 

1 BpP shares the same dream of ending extreme poverty. Social enterprise empowers that dream with a plan of action: applying market-based strategies to achieve a social purpose. And the simple and proven strategy is the use of entrepreneurial approaches - using business smarts to add value to the value chain where it will do the most good. Affordable personal transportation adds value to every social enterprise's value chain, and each of us can help right now to meet this urgent need by adding our acumen to the 1BpP value web. Together, we will do well by doing even better.

Education, and the Right to Education

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."


Thanks to Kapil Sibal and the Congress government for pushing through this bill.


Education is no more a privilege. Its a fundamental right. It is a right of every child in our country to receive education till the age of 14 years, without paying for it.

Its a big step towards a brighter tomorrow and substantial efforts are essential for its implementation, taking into account both equity and quality.

Some salient features of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act:

• It makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 to 14 and specifies the minimum norms in government schools. 
• It specifies reservation of 25% seats in private schools for children from poor families, prohibits the practice of unrecognized schools, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation and no interview of the child or parent for the admission.
• The act also provides that, no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education. 
• Provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them at-par with the students of the same age.
• Right to Education of Person with Disabilities till 18 years of age has been made a Fundamental Right. 
• The act also provides for establishment of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and State Commissions for supervising of proper implementation of the act, looking after the complaints and protection of Child Rights. 

MyArt - Let there be light!

And God said: "Let there be light," and there was light.

Well, its abstract. It signifies light.