impact enterprises in india : challenges and best practices

MEASURINGTHE VISION

Social Impact Measurement

FUND RAISINNGAND FINANCIALPERFORMANPERFORMANCECE

HUMANRESOURCES

COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH

ByManju MenonIDEX Fellow, July 2015 Cohort

IMPACTENTERPRISES

Challenges and Best Practices

IMPACT ENTERPRISES - Challenges and Best Practices

- Manju Menon, IDEX Fellow

Dedicated to all those who believe in their ability to contribute towards a better world



ACkNowlEdgMENTSThis report is an outcome of research effort over a period of four months and would not have seen the light of the day but for the patient insights shared by the entrepreneurs and managers of social enterprises. Thanks to each one of you, who took time out of their busy schedules to sharing their journeys,experiences and insights with me. Impact Investors and Incubators,who obliged to respond to my relentless pestering and queries deserve a big thanks on my part because without their version of the picture, the story would have been incomplete.

In particular,I would like to thank Rajeev Kher and Ulka Sadalkar from SaraPlast(3sindia); Pavin Pankajan from AquaSafi Purification Systems Private Limited; Dhimant Parekh from The Better India; Neelam Chibber from Industree Crafts Limited; Nachiket Kulkarni from Sustaintech India Private limited; Inir Pinheiro from Grassroutes Journeys Private Limited; Shahida from Maya Organic; Arjun Bolangdy from Pollinate Energy India; Umesh Malhotra from Hippocampus Learning Centres; Jayaroopa Jeyabarathi from Unitus Impact; Mukesh Sharma from Villgro; Andrew Hobbs from Village Capital and Radha Kizhanattam from Unitus Seed Fund and Siddharth Tata.

Special thanks are due to Bhavna Mathur Nair and Quinn Fegan from IDEX India team for their invaluable support in arranging for being the conduit to the network of social entrepreneurship in India. Also placing my gratitude to Rajesh Varghese from Ashoka India for his inputs on the questionnaires. My co-fellows from IDEX July 2015 Cohort deserve a warm applause for their support and motivation during this journey of knowledge especially Priscila Costa for her insightful inputs and Rianna Starheim for proofreading.

I owe this study to the support from my family which enabled me to undertake this assignment, especially my six-year-old daughter, who not only patiently allowed me away from home to participate in the fellowship, but also kept me on my toes by asking for daily progress on my work.

This study is an independent assignment undertaken by me as a part of IDEX Accelerator Programme. While the data and information provided here with is true and verified to the best of my ability and information, IDEX shall not be responsible for any omission or error in the content provided herewith.



Impact Enterprises are ventures that are conceived out of the necessity of solving a socio-economic-environmental problem, however using a market linked approach. A commonly used alternate terminology for Impact Enterprise is Social Enterprise. Most of these ventures follow a double or triple bottom line approach.

The report is an outcome of primary research as well as secondary study on the challenges faced by Impact (social) enterprises and was prepared with the objective to identify typical challenges faced by Impact enterprises in India and enlisting some of the best practices as to how some organizations have overcome these challenges. With this report, author hopes that the study will help budding social entrepreneurs overcome these typical challenges and thus improve their chances of success. Besides, the report can also be used as a reference by researchers in this field and thus enable them to analyze these challenges in detail. Author also hopes to provide useful context to young professional who aspires to explore career in this sector.

Typically, impact enterprises are successful at a small scale within a local context, but face problems as soon as they begin to scale. Thus they often struggle to reach to more customers or attract talented human capital or obtain the right types of funding or technical expertise that can help them adapt their business models at each stage of development. To have a wider perspective in the study, organizations with 3-20 years in operations were chosen, as they have either established or have evolved a working model that helped them to financially sustain, while expanding their impact.

The study emphasizes understanding whether those enterprises continued to measure their social impact alongside their financial results; human resource

challenges faced by such enterprises, profitability, ability to raise funds and how do they communicate with their stakeholders.

These specific areas were not chosen randomly, but rather were an outcome of interactions with both the entrepreneurs themselves as well as impact investors enlisting them as key areas of determining success of an endeavour. All organizations under study were unanimous in their opinion that it is important to find a likeminded investor or supporter, especially during their early stages. The study also reflects that having a strong revenue model which is tried and tested will lend the organization time to patiently await the right investment opportunity and still grow the organization organically until the right time arrives. One of the biggest challenges while scaling up is to remain relevant to your customer while keeping the revenues ticking. External factors may or may not be always favorable.

Interestingly, it was discovered that there are many Impact investors in the ecosystem, ready and interested in supporting these social enterprises, but often they have trouble finding investment-ready impact enterprises that have a validated business model. The entrepreneurs who set up those enterprises have a larger vision, where profit is just the beginning and the social impact is the ultimate goal. While some entrepreneurs let the social result of their business create the impact, some others are extremely assertive that the social results and financial results must march hand in hand. While it cannot be judged which approach is correct, it is definite that balance of the two is what decides the success of these impact enterprises. Hopefully, the study can help some new enterprises in the balancing act between Social impact and Profits.

AbSTRACT



RESEARChMEThodology

This report was developed based on inputs and insights obtained through personal discussions with selected Impact enterprises as well as Incubators and Impact Investors operating in the country. The report is supported with references derived from a broad literature review on Social enterprise and Impact investment space, with focus on India.

The enterprises for the study were shortlisted ensuring distribution across sectors: Water, Sanitation, Livelihoods, Health, Sustainable Energy, Clean energy, Impact Journalism, Social Tourism and Education. The selection of enterprise were also made based on the parameters such as age of the enterprise, mission, size, legal structure, investment raised as well as target segment.

The tool for data collection was primarily direct interviews or a questionnaire, in the cases when a personal meeting was not possible. All the investor and ecosystem enablers were also interviewed personally to capture their observations.

The Annexure gives the details of all the enterprises under the study and nature of their work. However to minimize subjectivity and protect confidentiality of the respondents, the feedback of entrepreneurs have not been directly associated with organizations.

Since the objective of the study was to identify best practices in overcoming common challenges faced by impact enterprises, organization selected for study were not early stage startups but those who have been operational for at least a few years. The youngest organization is 3 years old and the oldest 21 years old. With Bangalore becoming a startup capital of India with support ecosystem available, 60% of the respondents were operating from Bangalore, whereas

40% of the respondents were from other locations.The following impact enterprises are covered under this study: Grassroutes Journeys Private Limited, Aquasafi Purification System Private Limited, The Better India, Maya Organics, SaraPlast(3sindia), Sustaintech India Private limited, Industree Crafts Limited, Pollinate Energy India and Hippocampus Learning Centres. Most enterprises were registered as a private limited company and two were registered as Sec 25- nonprofit company. Of the interviewed respondents, 60% were founders themselves and in other cases, it was senior management representatives.



INTRoduCTIoN

Impact enterprise – the term might sound new but the concept is definitely not new in India. SEWA Bank and AMUL are thriving examples of enterprises born out of a social need and thriving as a profit making businesses and are still the best definition of an Impact Enterprise (IE).

To understand IEs, let’s start by looking at some of the definitions –

A Duke University report defines Impact Enterprises as financially self-sustainable and scalable ventures that actively manage producing significant net positive changes in well being across underserved individuals, communities and the broader environment.

The Rockefeller Foundation defines Impact Enterprises as organizations that intentionally seek to grow and sustain financial viability,realize increasing social impact,and influence the broader system in which they operate.Collectively, they have the flexibility needed to adapt to the changing dynamics of problems and can deliver inventive and timely solutions.

The emergence of social enterprises as an organisational model to solve social issues came into prominence in the early 2000s.This was partly to do with the realisation that came to focus with Prof. C K Prahlad coining the term Bottom Of Pyramid – for business parlance and highlighting in his book that this segment of population are not to be seen as just receivers of development grants but a potential customer base too.Around the same time, microfinance institutions were gaining

prominence across the world, especially in India.The outcome was that suddenly the investors started opening their wallets for a new breed of entrepreneurs who were using market driven approach to solving social issues while sustaining the enterprises financially.Slowly, Impact investment evolved as a separate asset class in the investment Industry.

For the purpose of this study, Impact enterprises are treated as those ventures that are incorporated as commercial entity, conceived out of the necessity of solving a socio-economic-environmental problem, and using a market linked approach.

An important aspect of social enterprises is the role of the enterprise in bringing about systemic change. Such enterprises very often find no precedence for their initiatives and assume the role of changing the attitude of government, civil society and target customers using a market linked approach.

Impact Enterprise as a sector is still young in India and lacks detailed studies in terms of evolution, success defining parameters and dynamics involved. This requirement is what led to conception of this study itself where the goal was to identify and understand some typical challenges faced by Impact enterprises in India and at same time, pin down some of the best practice to overcome those challenges – to give aspiring entrepreneurs, professionals and researchers a qualitative understanding of some common challenges that are faced by Impact enterprises. This shall help them to address similar challenges and avoid pitfall in their own organizations or startups.

ChAllENgESfoR IMPACT ENTERPRISES



Raising capital

Hiring and retaining qualified

staff

Building the value

chaintop tHRee cHallenges to sustainaBility anD scale

A social or Impact enterprise functions with a dual objective: solving social problems and maintaining a financially viable business. This corresponds to these enterprises facing challenges that are typical to conventional business as well as to non-profits. This study is an effort to analyze challenges which are specific to Impact enterprise as a sector.

A recent review of the landscape of social enterprises in India by Intellecap has quoted that the top three challenges to sustainability and scale cited by the businesses as:

1) Hiring and retaining qualified staff 2) Raising capital 3) Building the value chain

Previous studies in the sector have also highlighted the availability of skilled human capital by Indian social enterprises as a critical factor, and a major challenge. Access to finance is another commonly cited problem for social enterprises in India and refers to the financial barriers related to the lack of equity, debt, and working capital for start-up enterprises, in addition to non-financial barriers, such as a lack of financial literacy.

Dhimant Parekh,

staying relevant to our customers is our biggest challenge, and we are constantly

working towards the same

The big debate around impact enterprise is balance between social impact and business viability. Therefore, another important area that needs to be explored is measurement of impact of social enterprises (Impact enterprises).

In addition to the above, the significance of communication with all stakeholders as well as outreach to the target groups is increasingly becoming important for businesses globally. This is even more relevant for social organizations. With the social media advancement, communication becomes a part of strategy function for most organizations.

For all Impact enterprises, all the above key challenges are significant – it’s a matter of age of organization as to which is the most relevant of the challenge. The relevance might also vary a bit according to business sector, especially sectors with no precedence. Let us explore these four challenge areas with real life examples.

01SOCiaL

enterPriSe

Hiring &Retaining talent

communication

acccess to Funds

impactMeasurement



MEASuRINg ThE VISIoN: SoCIAl IMPACT MEASuREMENTA.

Every Social Enterprise / Impact Enterprise starts with a vision to overcome a challenging social scenario and hope to make a meaningful impact in that space. Thus, keeping a clear, measurable view i.e. Impact measurement, becomes an important tool for organizations to assess the progress of their efforts and to check progress against vision. Apart from serving the interests of the funders who were bought in with the view on social impact, this also helps the social enterprises to determine if they are indeed making a difference, to market/customers/stakeholders and to secure or maintain funding and to improve the services or products they deliver and their organizational processes.

Across LifecycleImpact measurement and reporting is required throughout the lifecycle of these organizations, as the vision / purpose of setting up an organization never dies.

Alignment with Strategy It is imperative for Impact enterprises to develop an impact measurement plan in tandem with the business plan, so that they can refine measurement strategy as the business or revenue model changes.

Impact OpportunityAs startups assess “market opportunity”, they should also strive to quantify “impact opportunity” – i.e. the baseline against which they can measure social impact. But the temptation to build a viable product, launch a beta, and start generating revenue and quickly rise to the top of entrepreneurs’ glam list, is a potential pitfall to be avoided by Social Entrepreneurs, as it leaves little time and resources to build the data collection and operations infrastructure needed to measure and track social impact effectively.

While traditional business are concerned with profit-generating outputs, a social enterprise must produce outputs sustainably (advancing a desired social or environmental outcome) as well as profitably – for which they need to identify metrics (strategy) as well as need to put resources to actually measure and document it.

I decided to explore following aspects of Impact measurement as part of this study:

a) View of social entrepreneurs and Impact investors as to how significant is measurement of social impact is.

b) How to measure i.e. Deciding the Impact metrics and methodology to measure.

c) Can the measurement of impact be made simpler?

While there is no denial among the enterprises as well as investors that Social Impact of business has to be measured, on the methodology, the practices are diverse. Most of the organization under study have developed clear methods for measuring their quantifiable Impact and they track it on periodic basis. The perceived social Impact achieved by their businesses is seen as seemingly legitimate social Impact performance which is very good or beyond expectations on a 7-point scale.

Seven out of nine enterprises had aligned their Business metrics with Social Impact. That means, on every unit of service/ product they sell, they have formulated/calculated social impact derivative results. Some other organizations also used methods like social audit and evaluation studies to trace their qualitative Impact.

It was also observed that while organizations start with business metrics initially, they gradually move towards a more in-depth analysis or deepen Impact measurement methods so as to capture the qualitative outcomes as well.

neeLam Chibber, mOther earth

the social audit exercise has not just helped us in sharing our impact results with

investors, but also enabled us to share the value created by us among all stakeholders in the system. We realised the overall impact

of our interventions through the process.



View from Investors and Incubators: The significance of measuring impact has been strongly upheld by investors and incubators. They unanimously opined the need of having a well defined social impact metrics alongside the business metrics. This is considered to provide clarity to the entrepreneurs and all other stakeholders. It is significant to measure the progress of the social outcome of their investment.

When asked about the methodologies, Jayaroopa from Unitus Impact opined that Impact is best measured by simple well -defined metrics. Given the fund’s focus on livelihoods, they customize the metrics that they track to arrive at measuring the number of poor impacted and the increase in income to the working poor.

Villgro has an in-house proprietary tool which is customised based on the sector and the business

model of the enterprise. Village Capital, on the other hand, mentions that they follow B Impact assessment methodology, however want the entrepreneurs to develop individualised metrics that are linked to their business. According to Radha from United Seed Fund, Impact assessment is crucial for them as an investor and make sure that impact is intrinsic to the business model and the measurement also can be can be done through business metrics. Radha from USF states, “We discuss, analyse and set Impact metrics clearly in our Share Holder Agreement and track it regularly. We also internally fix certain Impact milestones in each of our investments.”. At the fund level also, USF is committed to measuring impact and comes out with a report every six months and disseminate on their website. Siddharth resonates the same view that each company has a theory of change and from that is derived the metrics, aimed to measuring the breadth (number of people reached), depth (degree of improvement brought in the lives of those people) and segment( which section of society is impacted) of Impact. Thus it is no different from the business metric and is an extension.

All of the above suggested that Impact measurement shouldn’t become an irrelevant function and a burden to an enterprise and for that identifying relevant metrics and following an easily manageable method is recommended.

mukeSh, ViLLgrO

a well defined impact metric keeps an enterprise focused, especially when they

have to take tough decision. it instills confidence on all stakeholders

However, the general practice seen was to evolve a standard set of impact metrics that are linked to operational outcomes which when captured also provides an account of impact created by them. One

organisation mentioned that they used volunteers for data collection for their Impact assessment, which kept their costs low, as well as made the process objective and unbiased.

Impact metrics need to be defined from the beginning, alongside financial metrics

The basic metrics need to be linked to business metrics to makes the measurement easy, and to keep focus

Going forward, organizations should proactively measure non-financial metrics, including those not directly tied to the business model

Approach your investor – they might have proprietary tools to measure impact

Disseminate your Impact results proactively. Impact measurement should be part of Quarterly/Annual Reports

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Best Practices:



conclusion:This study indicates that most of the social/Impact enterprises have been concentrating both on tracking their financial performance goals as well as the social Impact goals. The nature, methodology and frequency vary, but the same is tracked in a proactive manner - including the ones that are not directly tied to the business model – a significant practice for the sector to achieve a level of accountability and transparency as well as to capture the diversity and depth of Impact achieved.

Interestingly in most cases, the enterprises found their social impact to be far beyond the expectation or imagination of the founders when they initiated. Most of the respondents, especially the founders, opined that, while they were sure about the positive social outcome of their business, the actual results were overwhelming and encouraging to them as entrepreneurs.

Most of the Impact enterprises were using directly quantifiable and operationally linked metrics to measure Impact, except four organizations, that were periodically assesssing the qualitative aspects of their Impact as well. Finally, while measuring the Impact is important, so is disseminating the information.

fuNd RAISINg ANdfINANCIAl PERfoRMANCEb.

Fund raising is one of the trickiest pieces for social (Impact) enterprises. If an enterprise pitches a social agenda, it runs the risk of being seen labelled as a non-profit, closing many investor gates even before discussion. On the other hand, investors are also wary of too much focus on wealth generation thus non-delivery of social value. Thus, there is a fine line that Social Entrepreneurs tread while approaching investors. Therefore, it becomes extremely important to clearly communicate the values of the organization when approaching funders. A recent review of the landscape of social enterprises in India by Intellecap indicates financing as one of the top challenges among social enterprises in India.

Conversations with investors reveal that there is no dearth of capital and Impact investors cannot find active pipelines across sectors, while the dichotomy is that Impact enterprises don’t find too many likeminded investors for them.

There is some difference of opinion among stakeholders as to whether the supply of capital is the problem for social enterprises, or whether it is the lack of viability of the business. Research suggests that while there is no shortage of ideas and capital, there is a shortage of tools for developing compelling propositions to

promote investment. Some of this is being addressed through mentoring of social entrepreneurs, developing impact investment networks, and improving the level of information on social enterprises, as well as by creating more diversified approaches to securing capital.

To understand this better, the following aspects were discussed with the enterprises through difference questions:

1. Their business model 2. Success in raising funds3. Factors that helped them in attracting investor(s)

anDrew hObbS, ViLLage CaPitaL

Working on a good pitch is essential. sometimes pitches are too technical and

don’t address value propositions and differentiation clearly



The strength of business model: Almost 70% of the respondents expressed that their organization has a strong revenue model in place. The remaining 30% thought that there was still scope to refine the same. The need of refining and updating its revenue model based on external factors as well as customer requirements was experienced by all entrepreneurs. Respondents also mentioned that it took them considerable time to develop the revenue model. Also, some said their revenue models underwent revision every three year, due to market dynamics. Many entrepreneurs have tried to strengthen the value chain and offer more value propositions to their end customers as a part of strengthening their business model for e.g.: Financing facility ,training or market linkage etc.

Success in raising funds: Eight out of the nine the enterprise participants in this study have been supported by an Institutional incubator/ investor at some stage, whereas the one that hasn’t raised fund has a parent non-profit organisation outside of India. While 80% of the organizations have an Institutional investor currently on board, the others are planning to raise the next level of funding or have established business linkages for growth. One organization hired an investment banker to drive the process.

One big factor in the whole discussion on funding is around how much equity is to be diluted to investor. The house seems to be divided on this as some entrepreneurs are comfortable diluting the equity since it helps them achieve underlying Social Impact, others were uncomfortable on this issue. Founders expressed the demand of patient capital during early stages. Most

organization mentioned that external investors help in bringing more discipline and accountability and pushes the organization to perform.

Factors that helped Impact entrepreneurs in attracting investors/ hindered in scaling up: Among the factors that helped the IEs under study, in attracting investors, presence of a strong business model offering innovative solution to a social issue was the single strongest factor. Conducting a pilot and creating a proof of concept helped. Presence of a strong team, and also proximity to an ecosystem like that at Bangalore, had also come up as a factor among respondents. One organisation stressed that market knowledge, customer-focused approach, low-cost, high quality offering backed with a passionate bunch of people helped them to attract investments.

Interestingly, for one organization, the emergence of a competitor helped in getting them identified as a parallel, yet more impactful alternate for investment. However, the same doesn’t always hold true, especially when the sector is not performing well as when organizations in similar spaces do not perform well, it discourages investors to look at that sector with interest, even though each IE might offer different value propositions.

In one case, the product /service became so powerful that investors were keen to fund.

Among constraints, factors such as an execution heavy business model that cannot scale up fast, is seen as one of the biggest constraint for finding right investors. Most of the organisation that plan to raise funds in near future are focusing on building the team and refining the business model, before taking their business for fundraising.



View from Investors and Incubators: A typical entrepreneur is the one with a brilliant idea and passion in the heart. The same is true for social entrepreneurs as well. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs end with that only and don’t make that extra effort to understand the business side of the idea. Investors point out that the common challenges for funding are threefold: not being prepared when they pitch, little understanding of the investment space, and being unrealistic about the fundraising process. Let’s understand each of these issues:

1. Preparing for the right pitch: It is an unfortunate and not uncommon sight that IEs come for

meeting investors without doing sufficient groundwork in terms of team, revenue model, customer insight etc. and this puts a poor first impression with investors. Sometimes the teams are not very impressive. Sometimes certain domain knowledge is absent (for e.g.: sales / marketing). No differentiated skills are seen and there is absence of well-rounded experienced team members. This is very important because in India we don’t see to many business backed by Intellectual Properties. Thus when people work on similar business models, they need to bring out the factors that will help them perform better than others. A good team gives that assurance. Also, many times entrepreneurs don’t spend enough time to understand the customer and identify whether he will use his product or service. Siddharth points out that a business should be able to tell a cohesive story to the investor, which should cover a well articulated plan, demonstrated unit economics and execution capabilty.

2. Little understanding of Investment space: Many entrepreneurs are driven by passion alone and lack

understanding on the basics of investment terms while meeting potential investors. The good news is that this challenge can be easily mitigated by some efforts from entrepreneurs. There are enough networks and platforms that can help the aspiring entrepreneurs overcome the challenge. Siddharth opines that taking part in a good incubator programme helps. He also points out that Incubation programmes should be able to bring our investible lots of enterprises at the end of the process.

3. Be realistic about your ask: Emerging from lack of business acumen are situations where

the IEs get misguided and look at unrealistic terms and conditions for investments, which might be related to equity dilution or valuation etc. Sometimes IEs also get carried away by the few large scale success stories. This creates disconnect among entrepreneurs and investors. An entrepreneur should know what kind of investor he/she want to approach, why, how much should he raise and its planned use. Also, it is important to know what value are you going to get from your investor beyond funds.

JayarOOPa Jeyabarathi, unituS imPaCt

a pitch that delivers proof of concept, traction and good team

is essential. trying to keep the business model simple and clarity

on use of funds definitely helps



conclusion:A strong revenue model that keeps the organization cash positive and profitable is extremely important for attracting investment and it also helps an organization to bootstrap until they identify the right investor. Revenue models will be dynamic and need continuous refinement. Product based enterprises need to continuously innovate and add bouquet of services to monetize the business.

With many enterprises that will be building up a whole ecosystem around it, it is important to strengthen the value chain and optimize it as they grow. Most of the investors agree that understanding the right financial structuring and readiness to dilute some equity would be necessary in the beginning. However, the promoters should have considerable equity to drive them to perform. Also with lot of tech-enabled business in development, entrepreneurs should also invest time for developing good user interfaces, which is often found lacking. Having a strong Impact goal plays a big role while refining business models, because it keeps the business focused and avoid being distracted while exploring new revenue streams.

Best Practices:

Develop strong customer insight/ market learning- Investors will better entertain entrepreneurs who have a strong knowledge and know how about his or her business, market and the end consumer

Spend some time to develop a network of mentors and advisors. Right references can add value

Be clear about your ask - Meet couple of investors and take advise before you actively start fund raising. Also be clear on what are you raising for

Participate in a good incubation program that actively engages with the entrepreneurs helps in refining the business model and connects the entrepreneurs with the right network

Prepare a good pitch - Be ready with a good pitch that covers aspects such as problem, solution, value propositions, differentiation, team and fund required, Intended use of funds

Have a strong understanding of legal and regulation aspects of your business

Building the team around - Investors want to know the execution capability

Quite often Impact enterprises are part of an ecosystem. It is essential to clearly establish the role of organization in the value chain

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huMANRESouRCESC.

Having a strong founder and building a core team is critical to the success of any organization, including an Impact enterprise. It is essential to have the team that is the right fit for the objective of the enterprise. Often, too much emphasis is put on passion as opposed to a practical approach to the business. A right balance of various skill sets and temperaments are important for the enterprise to be able to handle needs and contingencies of diverse natures.

Research has indicated access to talent - qualified, quality and affordable employees to work at social enterprises, particularly at the mid-management level - as a key constraint faced by Impact investors. The lack of finance to pay market rate salaries is the main cause of this challenge, with the consequence that these businesses are unable to hire or retain qualified staff and experience a high staff turnover.

To explore about challenges in human resources, enterprises were questioned to understand the following aspects:

1. What are the human resource challenges that they face?

2. What did they do to overcome some of them?

All the organizations under study have faced some form of human resource challenges during different phases of the growth. Interestingly, one of the entrepreneur commented that having a co -founder itself is important, as it keeps even the founder on his toes and makes one more accountable and mission driven. Organizations that were set up by individuals brought in either a co-founder or a senior manager to drive the mission.

Some of the key HR challenges are stigma to join untested sectors/stigma sectors and retention of field level teams.

Stigma attached to various aspects of social work also adds to talent worries e.g. For one of the organizations that works in the sanitation space, it was challenging to attract employees to join the mission initially. They had put in concerted efforts to provide a sophisticated work environment to their workforce. Along with offering employee benefits they have engaged in a trust building exercise that has gradually helped them to overcome those cultural challenges and today they have over 300 people working with them. Another organisation mentioned that their field staff were initially hesitant to work in slums as it was not a glamorous job. However,

when they begin to experience the impact of their work, things changed.

One organisation mentioned that since Impact enterprise is an upcoming sector, new talent is still not considering the sector as a long term career option. You might get good volunteer, but getting full-time employees in the sector is a challenge. Until the time an organisation grows in to a full fledged entity, this challenge remains.

With few organizations that had sales forces at the field level, retention had been an issue. Most of them mentioned that attracting and retaining middle management and the top management was not a problem, but the field level staff retention becomes a challenge. The constraint with field staff was often linked to paying market salaries and also for the need of training them as a sales force with a social mission, rather than just a behavioral change agent. Organizations shared that very often, field level staff will not differentiate between a regular commercial entity and an Impact enterprise, thus paying market salaries becomes inadvertent.

PaVin PankaJan, aquaSafi

the first five people in your teamdefines the culture of your

organisation. so spend time inchoosing your team



However, these challenges have been innovatively handled by the organizations under study:

Two organisations mentioned that attracting talent was never an issue for them because their service became the voice of the organisation and it motivated people to join.

All the organizations mentioned that strong internal communication brews transparency and motivates people to associate with the organisation.

At the field level, one of the IEs undertakes a detailed trust building process and thus has been able to reduce issues related to human resource considerably.

One of the IEs was able to create a positive brand that attracted people to associate with them.

Some IE’s focused on identifying staff from local areas so that there is not need to relocate them. One of the IEs follows a one-month induction period for rapport building and relationship building with every new employee.

One IE mentioned that they identified competency maps for potential employees at a field level and hired candidates matching these parameters. This helped them in hiring suitable candidates to begin with and reduced attrition.

One IE trains sales staff/part-time employees also for considerable time till they begin to share the vision. It helped new joins to acclimatise to the working conditions before starting to give targets to them.

Some of the organisations have a hybrid model where their non-profit entities are involved in social development programmes in the geographies they operate. This has helped them in developing a multifaceted relationship with their ground staff, thus reducing attrition.

All the entrepreneurs agreed that talent is critical factor for the success of any enterprise and they focus on building their organisation culture to attract, retain and grow talent at all levels.

View from Investors and Incubators: All the investors stressed on the need of a good team as critical. Villgro emphasizes that building the team is one of the most critical, but often ignored aspect about building an enterprise. Quite often, the mindset of team building is still not existent and people are often treated only as employee and not stake holders.

Siddharth points out that since business plans are very volatile and lastly evolving, what works today may not relevant in coming months, a good team is capable of carefully calibrating and consolidating the change, and that is significant factor looked at by any investor.

Jayaroopa from Unitus Impact reflects that a founding team is something that is very critical for any investor. To recruit quality talent, any venture - social or otherwise, talent needs to be incentivized adequately with monetary and/or non-monetary incentives. Only then we will see more talent entering in to the enterprise space.

Jayaroopa also provided tips to budding entrepreneurs, stating that a founder should have his vesting schedules for employees clear from the beginning. Consulting an advisor and keeping those transparent will avoid unfavourable situations later.

Andrew from Village Capital indicates that some time people try to become cheap at wrong places, which could be even in hiring. Radha from United Seed Fund echoes the same mentioning that talent is crucial for any startup, but for Impact enterprises it becomes more challenging, because they might not be able to pay market salaries in the beginning. And some business might need people to work in remote location that make recrutiments and retentions difficult. On the challenges on attracting talent, Siddharth suggest entrepreneurs to network with educational institutions and inspire young talent to join them.



conclusion:The day the idea is converted from passion to business, it ceases to be one man’s game. Every business, commercial or social, needs a strong team for it to succeed. There is no shortcut to managing human resources than to provide them with right work environment, building up an organizational culture that they could be proud of while remunerating well.

Talent becomes significant, as very rarely we have founders who might have multiple skills, thus a cross functional core team of co-founder and senior management becomes critical. The founders should have a mix of offering in his or her place, and recruit others who complement these skills.

Once on ground, hiring the right person, inducting, training and motivating the resources become key functions, especially when functioning in lean times and handling multiple roles.

The entrepreneurs also opined that working for a social/Impact enterprises need additional skill sets that involved understanding of the social problem addressed by the organisation and bringing about behavioural change in the communities. For an Impact enterprise, its also important that the mission should be spoken to all employees through various forum and internal communication modes.

Best Practices:

Focus on team building right from the beginning. It is essential for setting up an enterprise, raising capital and achieving organizational goals

If the enterprise has an execution heavy operational model, field staff become critical. Offering right induction and training, offering market-linked salaries and improving working conditions helps in retention

Transparency with team and establishing a good work culture helps

Attract interns who are keen to work in challenging assignments

Leverage your network and connect with as many people as you can

While building up a core team, get ready to offer benefits beyond salaries. And be clarified on the same

Have an advisory board - Focus on building one

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CoMMuNICATIoNANd ouTREAChd.

Communication and outreach is a necessary function for any organisation, whether it is a non-profit, conventional business or Impact enterprise. While mainstream conventional businesses have gone a long way in this aspect, where they have specialized teams to handle it, the same doesn’t hold good for many non-profits and Impact enterprises. Communicating within the organisation is mostly an intrinsic function. However, communicating with stakeholders outside the organisation doesn’t come by design. With social media tools gathering momentum, organisation are trying to engage with external stakeholders using them.

One of the objectives of this study was to understand whether Communication and Outreach has been handled as strategic function by the respondents. For that, the respondents were asked some question revolving around the following aspects:

1. Perceived functions of communication in their organisation

2. Does the organisation have a dedicated staff/team to handle their communication

3. Significance and use of new media to connect with stakeholders

Who handles communication?Five out of nine organisation have a dedicated staff or a team to handle the communication functions and one has outsourced the external communication. With the rest, it is either handled by a core team member or a staff member as an additional responsibility.

Six out of nine organisation mentioned that they are in to Business to Customer (B2C) business and communicating with end customers as well as public is a critical business function. One organisation mentioned that a considerable part of their customer interaction are handled by their sales force, thus an increases brand presence would reduce the conversion time considerably. One organisation mentioned that since they are a product company, who has Business to

Business (B2B) business so far, they haven’t invested much on the outreach and external communication aspect. However, they intend to enter to B2C business soon and thus would need more outreach activities planned.

Three organisations mentioned that they invested in using technology to improve internal communication, which had helped them in improving operational efficiency. Yet another mentioned that they proactively engage with their staff and have internal communication methods in place. This helps build transparency at work place. All the organisations stressed on the need to have strong branding, outreach and internal systems and their focus to work towards them.

Significance of new mediaAll the organisations studied have websites and social media accounts. But except four of them, others were either not active on social media or were just moderately active with occasional posts. All the enterprises consider that a good presence on social media can help them in raising brand awareness and enhance organisational image. Also since some of the business is B2C in nature it can also attract new customers or raise awareness about the social issue and the solution. Organisation were unanimous is agreeing that it definitely helps to connect with more supporters if they are active.

JayarOOPa, unituS

in a B2c business, the entrepreneurs must focus on simultaneously building their

processes while engaging in pR exercise



View from Investors and Incubators: On PR and external communication, the investors also agreed that it depends on the business model to decide how aggressive and at what stage one should focus on external communication. In aB2B business, communication and brand building may not be relevant to begin with, and can be gradually built up. But for a B2C company, it has to be taken as a strategic focus.

The need of a basic website was considered necessary. Andrew from Village Capital suggests that social media can be used as not just a platform to speak about an organisation, but also to attract talent, build a knowledge network, etc. Mukesh from Villgro stressed the importance of communicating with stakeholders, mentioning that Villgro has a very proactive communication with all its incubatees and had built

upon that strength. However, he mentions that lack of proactive engagement with key stakeholders is an issue that exists in the ecosystem. Radha from USF mentions that every publicity is good, because it helps brand recall. But one should be careful burning cash on it. The use of communication depends on strategy, but new media is definitely a free of cost platform. Everyone should have a website and relevant media presence.

Communication is also a culture that has to be built in to a system. It is very critical internally also, because each team plays and different role and company should focus on promoting open communication between teams. Then only feedback from customer will reach the leadership. Also the people in different teams will be able to deliver properly.

conclusion:There is no disconnect among enterprises or among investors about the function of communication and outreach. However, only B2C businesses have linked this function directly to business goals. In all other cases it is not given equal significance. While entrepreneurs like to enhance and improve their communication efforts, it is equally important to balance it with your business deliverables. Do sell, but do not over sell.

Publicity and brand building need to be balanced with operational acumen, especially in B2C business

When communication and outreach is carried on a strategic function, then it yields to specific business results. For e.g.: It helps raise more awareness about the problem

Proactive communication with key stakeholders is equally important

Internal communication helps build trust and complements to good HR practices

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Best Practices:



ECoSySTEMfoR SoCIAl ENTREPRENEuRS



An Impact enterprise ecosystem consists of entrepreneurs as well as support organisations that use financial and non-financial methods to support entrepreneurs. There are also a number of organisations funding and improving the infrastructure of the ecosystem – access to finance at a sector level, access to value chain or to markets, for example. Government policy is an important actor as policy and programmes can be important enablers.

An enabling ecosystem, therefore, needs to cater to both the commercial and social parts of a social enterprise, creating a business climate in which entrepreneurs can start and grow, but also provide support for the specific social (“doing good”) aspects.

Based on the discussion with enterprises and Impact investors and enablers, the following attributed were highlighted on ecosystem for IE in India:

1. The ecosystem today has many players but still has a lot of potential to grow in terms of Incubators and early stage Investors.

2. Certain sectors are seeing more pipeline whereas certain other have not seen such traction. The ecosystem calls for more collaborative efforts to support more fields to emerge and the approach has to be proactive that a reactive one.

3. Policy support: a). No tax holiday or benefits alike Special Economic Zones for commercial entities. b). Government policies on Financial Inclusion eg. Pradan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana; Mudra Bank Yojana, Swach

Bharat Abhiyan etc are facilitating change , but yet to pick up speed at grassroots level.c). Internet Penetration, Smart phones and accessibility to news and media is a big push factor for many IE’s.

4. No precedence of similar business becomes a barrier for institutional donors/financial institutions in lending credit. Also, unavailability of small consumer loans among customers by mainstream financial institutions limits the purchasing power of end consumer.

5. Social Barriersa). Social taboo associated with failure is strong in India. Society need to evolve to level where failure in one’s

venture shouldn’t be linked to a person’s personal life. Then, we will see more risk takers and entrepreneurs entering this space.

b). Managing interference from local people/labor issues

6. Formal, regular and quality Incubation and Accelerator Programmes should act as networking platforms, trying to bring other enterprises as customer and vendors, thus helping each other grow. Investors should focus on connecting startups with each other.

7. Angel investment is becoming common, which is a good indicator. Strength of senior entrepreneurs turning angels is encouraging.

8. There is apprehension around founders of an organization taking a salary. To attract more talent in to the ecosystem, we have to allow entrepreneurs to earn while they set up.

9. Connect Entrepreneurship and Innovation with Academic Institutions: Many interviewees indicated that connection between entrepreneurship and academics institutions is nascent in India compared to countries like U.S.A. Academic Institutions through its infrastructure and intellectual capital can offer a good platform for research and innovation, as it is a costly affair for an entrepreneur to bear individually.



conclusion:Impact (Social) Enterprises and the surrounding ecosystem is gearing up in India, and so are the Impact Investment players. However, the typical nature of an IE, in which it solves a critical social problems through a market linked approach, make it a unique case. An IE has to balance its financial goals and social Impact goals, and what helps it in ensuring the same is the clarity on the impact parameters from the beginning and how to go about measuring the same by linking it with operational metrics. While the methodologies may be chosen as per the business model, keeping it simple and performance driven is a good way to start. However, it is also suggested to measure quality of Impact once the organisation has steady resources flowing. Having a good impact metrics helps IE to stay focussed and enables them to take tough decisions in their life-cycle.

While Impact is what an IE aspires to achieve, the two key resources that helps to reach that goal are Funds and Human resources. In order to push the growth of the enterprise, it is essential to have a good business model in place, keeping the customer as the central focus. Having a strong revenue model with clear value proposition and differentiation helps the business not just to raise funds but also keep their revenues ticking. Understanding the market and customer becomes a key focus area.

On the other hand, the best of the best business models need strong teams to execute them. Thus hiring right people at all levels forms a significant function for a promoter. It is also a critical factor that is assessed by a potential investor. Entrepreneurs and Investors emphasizes the need of building a good work culture and having right HR practices as an enabling factor for the success of an enterprise.

Communication is a power tool for stakeholder engagement. It helps build efficiency and build a transparent work culture within an organisation as well as among key stakeholder. On the other hand it helps build awareness on the social issue while creating positive impression about the IE. Thus it has to treated as strategic tool that just a medium of dissemination. The new age media has enabled the access easier and cost effective, which needs to be tapped in by IE’s too. However, care should be taken not to over spend and oversell the same.

Comparing an IE to a vehicle, Social Impact metrics provide direction, while a good business model is the fuel and the engine. People in the organisation drive the organisation to its destination, while communication coordinate the system and let know the IE’s presence in the ecosystem.



dREAMSfulfIllEd:bRIEf SToRIES



During the process of this study, I met many inspirational people and heard their stories of struggle and success. It would be unfair if I don’t share those stories, albeit in brief. This is an acknowledgement of the entrepreneurial spirit of these people and their organizations. I hope that these briefs about the organizations under study would inspire more budding entrepreneurs.

SaraPLaSt(3SinDia)heaD OffiCe: punefOunDer: Rajeev KHeRSanitatiOn DireCtOr: ulKa saDalKaR

the better inDiaheaD OffiCe: bengaluRufOunDerS: anuRaDHa KeDia anD DHiMant paReKH

Founded in 1999, SaraPlast(3sindia) is a one-of-a-kind Indian enterprise with vision of offering “total sanitation for every man, woman and child in urban and semi-urban India with a high sense of hygiene, to generate employment, reduce environmental impact and offer a comfortable location for addressing the most basic of needs”. Many agree that sanitation is an issue that needs to be addressed; what sets SaraPlast(3sindia) apart is that they do something about it.

Rajeev Kher built the organisation around the concept of portable loos. In addition to providing these portable toilet cabins on rent, SaraPlast(3sindia) designs, manufactures, and deploys portable toilets and waste disposal system across urban settlements that have no water supply or sewage system. SaraPlast(3sindia) follows a comprehensive approach, involving both maintenance and awareness campaigns discussing open defection and its effects. SaraPlast(3sindia) also designates micro entrepreneurs in slum areas,

who manage portable loos for their communities. As of 2014, more than 32,80,000 people have used SaraPlast(3sindia)’s services, including 13,12,000 women. SaraPlast(3sindia) has disposed and treated 161 million litres of sewage and saved 59 million litres of water. In the course of this journey, Rajeev and his team had not just fought the taboos of working with a non-glamorous and unsought sector, but have challenged through the journey from choosing the right technology amidst work with no policy support. With no other impact organisation offering a similar solution in this space, SaraPlast(3sindia) is continuously innovating its products and value propositions, while attempting to create a positive policy environment and ecosystem support for this initiative. With infectious energy and ambitious goals to achieve, Rajeev and his team is already set on a mission, which many of us hesitate to even attempt.

This husband-wife duo is on a mission to build an organisation that will be named as synonymous to positive news in India. The Better India was born out the latent need to identify and disseminate positive news in the country. This came out of the realisation that if there is only negative things happening around, the world would have been chaotic. Founders Kedia and Parekh believed a lack of chaos indicated positive stories that were being left untold.

The founders began the job of story telling as a part-time activity and were amazed when people loved what they shared. What started as a blog created one

weekend grew to its current form of a website read by two million people around the world every month, and growing. Today The Better India has more than 500 writers. This large writer base democratizes the way they source news, and brings a wide variety of reportage on positive news, unsung heroes and inspirational stories from India. Awed by the impact their reports have created, The Better India has developed a mechanism to measure impact of each story they publish. The founders are slowly and diligently building up the fabric of the organisation so that the basic culture and purpose doesn’t get diluted as they grow.



aquaSafi PurifiCatiOn PriVate LimiteDheaD OffiCe: HuBlifOunDer: Kevin cluFFexeCutiVe DireCtOr: pavin panKajan

SuStain teCh inDia PriVate LimiteDheaD OffiCe: BengaluRufOunDer: svati BHogle COO: nacHiKet KulKaRni

graSSrOuteS JOurneyS PriVate LimiteDheaD OffiCe: MuMBaifOunDer: iniR pinHeiRo

With a daunting 154 million Indians in need of clean drinking water, Aquasafi is on a mission to provide universal accessible and affordable purified drinking water. Established in 2011 by Kevin Cluff, Aquasafi has developed a proprietary water purification systems using reverse Osmosis and Ultra violet purification technologies, which allow the firm to purify and resell water at a competitive market rate. Their technology is unique in that they needs no operational manpower, and thus can be operated remotely. Aquasafi’s technology

is currently used in 130 water purification units in Karnataka state villages, where approximately 130,000 people use the units for safe drinking water everyday. The units can generate up to 1,300 litres per hour. Pavin, Cluff and the rest of Aquasafi’s management team come from a technology background and has many years of experience working with community water systems. As a organisation planning to initiate a growth stage, Aquasafi is currently exploring the investment partners to help fuel their growth.

Sustaintech was set up in the year 2009 with the mission to promote the rapid adoption of sustainable energy technology and products. It was conceived from the experience of Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE), a 20-year-old non profit organisation in the field of clean energy space. Leveraging the years of customer insight and technology know-how and training support from its non-profit entity, Sustain Tech uses a market-linked approach to maximise its product reach among target customers and servicing them well. Sustain Tech caters to a unique segment of micro businesses that use cook stoves in their hotels, Dhabas or messes. Traditionally this segment has been catered to by un-organised players who hardly paid attention to

energy efficiency, health hazards or the environment impact of design. Sustain Tech ventured in catering to this segment with a range of products that last longer, burn fuel more efficiently, produce less smoke and heat and are convenient to use.

With no precedent to look up to, Sustaintech has shouldered the additional responsibility of creating an entire value chain that involved cook stove manufacturers who are micro entrepreneurs. They arrange cook stove financing through Peer to Peer (P2P) lending platforms. The organisation has sold more than 3,500 stoves to date, with aggressive plans to expand in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharastra.

With the aspiration of creating 1 million livelihood opportunities in rural India, this enterprise is the outcome of young founder’s journey connecting urban India to its beautiful rural counterpart through rural tourism. With nothing to look up to as precedent, Grassroutes has evolved as a strong and unique impact enterprise in the area of rural tourism in the country.

They currently operate in 3 states, spanning 10 villages and influencing more than 500 families. The journey has not been an easy one, but it has indeed been rich for Inir and his colleagues. Together, over 8 years, they have transformed rural and tribal families into hospitality partners, supplying families with 20-25% additional income annually and creating 6,000-8,000 days of



hiPPOCamPuS Learning CentreSheaD OffiCe: BengaluRufOunDer: uMesH MalHotRa

inDuStree CraftS LimiteD (mOther earth) heaD OffiCe: BengaluRufOunDer: neelaM cHiBBeR

If you are working in the software industry and wondering whether you can do anything about improving education in India, then you might do well to read more about Umesh Malhotra and his journey with Hippocampus. This former Infosys employee left his career to pursue his belief that education can change lives and should be accessible to everyone. Beginning with one reading centre in Bengaluru, Malhotra pioneered an innovative reading programme through the Hippocampus Learning Foundation that was recognised and has since been replicated across India through Hippocampus’ strategic partners. Soon into his journey in education, Malhotra realized that giving children direction and support during their early stages of life would ensure upwards social mobilization,

but that children in rural areas lacked those facilities. So was born Hippocampus Learning Centres. These low-cost schools offer a pre-school education to children from low and middle income families in rural areas. In addition to a proprietary curriculum, they have focused programmes on English fluency and Mathematics. The organisation works in over 104 villages today. They also train and recruit women in these villagers as teachers, offering them a livelihood.

Striving through the unchartered paths and roadblocks, Umesh and his team are on a mission to make quality preschool education affordable and available to children from low income communities in rural areas.

“Perseverance and patience are required when you are starting out on the journey of sustainable development,” says Neelam Chibber, founder of Industree Crafts Limited, an organization that works towards enhancing, creating and securing artisanal livelihoods through socially, economically and environmentally sustainable production. Chibber doesn’t just preach these words, but practices them as well with the Industree team, which is in its 21st year of operation and still feels that it has to do much more to improve livelihoods of rural artisans. Industree was born out of Chibber’s urge to connect contemporary designs to rural artisanship by selling articles designed by her and made by rural artisans. The journey saw the business models evolving from single branded store to shop-in-shops and and now a brand promoted by Future Group, while transitioning

from a craft company to a lifestyle-food-apparel consumer business. Industree has changed and the ways through which market linkages can be penetrated, down to the last link in the production value chain. To quote an example, Industree has set up unique craft producer companies that are owned and managed by artisans under Industree mentorship.

In addition to its commendable financial success, recognition and social impact, perhaps the most inspiring features of Industree are the team’s continuous and untiring efforts to build a sustainable ecosystem for artisans in India. With the passion, determination and sense of purpose the dynamic leadership and team of Industree has already demonstrated, it will doubtlessly soon be impacting 1 million artisans.

employment every year. They have also been able to reduce migration to cities from the villages they operate while conserving the environment and traditional arts and crafts practices. Grassroutes provides unmatched experiences to their customers by offering experiential rural holidays where customers participate in anything from rice farming to rural sports ; from milking a goat

to just sitting back and soaking in nature. Customer engagement on social media and traveller reviews validate the success of the organization. As Grassroutes takes firm steps to grow, they make sure to keep the culture and flavour of their organisation intact. Scaling is a goal, but they will never forget their roots.



maya OrganiCheaD OffiCe: cHannapatnafOunDer: soloMon jayapRaKasHOPeratiOnS heaD: sHaHiDa

POLLinate energy inDiaheaD OffiCe: BengaluRufOunDerS: KateRina KiMMoRley, alexie selleR, jaMie cHiveRs, Ben MeRven, Monique alFRis, eMMa colenBRanDeRDireCtOr Of OPeratiOnS: aRjun BolangDy

The wooden toys and lacquerware of the tiny town of Channapatna are world famous. Maya Organics has played a significant role in keeping this age-old artisanship alive by training artisans to design wooden toys and handicrafts as per changing consumer preferences. But what makes MO different from many Channapatna toy manufactures and sellers is its social mission. MO came in to existence after almost 15 years of community work by its sister nonprofit entity MAYA , against child labour and towards poverty eradication. Through this work, the need for sustainable livelihoods became apparent and Maya Organics was set up as a livelihood development initiative involved in developing a network of artisans, workers and micro-entrepreneurs capable of producing world-class lacquerware wooden products. Fifty percent of the employees are women, a path breaking trend in

a traditionally male-dominated craft. These products are child friendly, eco-friendly, hand-crafted pieces, and confirm with fair trade standards. The evolution of these masterpieces in the hands of those artisans, from bare wood to polished toy, is worth watching. In addition to manufacturing activities at its own factory, MO also promotes micro-entrepreneurs in the local community by offering training, design support and marketing contacts. Maya organic is the only of the two non -profit company that has been included in this study. What makes this organization notable is the fact that its founder has delegated the day-to-day management of the organisation to the management team. The founder of Maya Organics, Mr. Solomon Jayaprakash, is a serial impact entrepreneur.

Poor families with limited means often migrate to a nearby city hoping to earn more and expecting a better life. To their despair, they often find themselves settled in a slum, lacking even basic amenities such as clean water, energy, clean cooking fuels or proper housing. “Energy poverty” —a lack of modern energy services—is the issue that Pollinate Energy’s founders identified on a visit to India. They decided to take a market approach to tackle it. What started as a pilot project to provide accessible, sustainable and affordable products in slums has today become an established social business enterprise.

Pollinate energy identifies enthusiastic patrons called pollinators, who are micro-entrepreneurs and franchisees. The pollinators sell clean cook stoves,

solar lamps, water purifiers and other products directly to consumers. Wherever possible, financing is made available. Within three years of operation, Pollinate Energy has reached over 50,000 people in 1,530 communities and saved 2.46 million kilograms of Co2 emissions, while also saving their customers an estimated 53 million rupees. The company aspires to reach 53 cities of India within the next five years, thus impacting one million people. Though a young organisation, Pollinate Energy has done a remarkable job in tracking the qualitative impact of their work in a cost-effective and objective manner with the help of volunteers. A visit to their website, www.pollinateenergy.org, is highly recommended. With 25% of India living with no access to electricity, Pollinate energy is a beacon of hope.



references:1. The Challenges of Measuring Social Impact, April 12, 2012, By Colleen Poynton.

2. Discussion about “What is Impact” between Tom Adams of Acumen Fund, Allison Basile of Grassroots Business Fund, and Rhett Morris of Endeavor.

3. India Social Enterprise Landscape Report by Asian Development Bank, 2012

4. On Path to Sustainability and Scale- A Study of India’s Social Enterprise Landscape, Intellecap, 2012

5. Understanding Human Resource Challenge in India’s Social Enterprises Sector- Intellecap, 2012

6. http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2013/07/15/when-measuring-social-impact-we-need-to-move-beyond-counting/

7. http://reports.weforum.org/impact-investment/5-recommendations/5-2-role-of-impact-enterprises/

8. http://www.unltddelhi.org/challenges-early-stage-social-entrepreneurs

ByManju MenonIDEX Fellow, July 2015 Cohort

Phone: +91-7755908540email: [email protected]

impact enterprises in india : challenges and best practices

Small Business & Entrepreneurship