Dasra's Village Capital

Mumbai. I spent my Saturday at Dasra’s Village Capital. The day was dedicated to the Village Capital Presentations where each person gave a 20 minute presentation and had 15 minutes of questioning regarding their business plans.

The presentations were similar to what we saw at ISB’s Global Social Venture Competition. (http://www.isb.edu/GSVC2009/) I found it interesting how these relate and differ from the business plans that I saw at ISB. The major difference is that there was actually a Private School Correspondent part of Dasra’s competition. They find the importance and social impact that education has. Most of the judges on ISB’s panel were not seeing the long-term impact that the education plans would have on the general population.

Here is a short preview of the companies that are taking part in Dasra's Village Capital pilot:

Jabeen Jambughodawala for Dharohar Craft (Sahaj Trust): Goal is to have a pro-woman brand by empowering the women to create handicrafts and have an outlet to take their handicrafts to and directly sell to market- there will be franchisee option for the future. The program also includes training and assistance in creating a marketing plan for their products. They hope to have 2500 women involved in the program by 2015.

Naveen Krishna of Rickshaw Bank: Rickshaw Bank (http://www.crdev.org/rb.asp). The basics of the plan are to provide financing to the drivers (costs something like Rs 12,350 to own a rickshaw) and in two years of the project, the driver should have ownership of her very own rickshaw. Rickshaw Bank has a lot to offer on social impact aspect of this business. They connect drivers to banks and set up savings, train them on driving and running a business, send their kids to school etc. Rickshaw Bank is currently in 12 cities in India and in 2010 they hope to be in 10 cities with 500 drivers.

Praveen Kumar of Ushodaya High School: I have had the opportunity to visit Ushodaya on a few occasions being that it located in Hyderabad. It is an English medium school but teaches multiple languages, has college prep and placement for former students, all teachers are certified, and there are extra study hours after school, which eliminates the need for tuitions. The plan calls for funding that would support the expansion or building of new property, tech and innovation included in the curriculum, and building on services offered. The social impact has a large effect by educating the students and their parents, providing job placement and building up their community.

Uday Kagul of Milati: Similar idea to Dharohar Craft but offers a different variety of handicrafts and is open to men and women from several geographic locations. The store would also include a restaurant or coffee shop of some kind. The social impact is buying directly from the producers themselves. Works with many NGO's - wants to reach rural economics through a non-profit enterprise

Rajesh Shah of Sabras Processing and Marketing: Has 26 Salt Producers, that search for and produce salt currently in a region called Gujarat. This region produces 70% of India's salt and most of these salt producers only get 1-8% of the final realized price. Rajesh is also a risk taker; if people are not able bring capital to the table, Rajesh would allow the producer to bring salt and he would match with funds. In the future he hopes to help producers by investing in products like the roller for compaction, salt cultivator and solar panels.

Also, met Juli Huang of Artemisia who is based in Mumbai. (http://www.artemisia-international.org/contact.php). They work to support and leverage socially aware business entrepreneurs. She has done work with GMC, ISFC and even one the competitors, Rickshaw Bank. The idea of social business came up in our conversation- it seems to be the direction that most businesses should or are heading. This is especially important for India because lending funds will only go so far if the entrepreneurs are only concerned with making money or have no understanding of finances. I am excited to learn more about Artemisia and the work they are doing.