Globalisation and the concept of free market economy are here to stay. Already, the market forces that benefit from them and developing countries like India — where the enthusiastic embrace of the concepts have accelerated economic growth and contributed a great deal to wealth creation — are pursuing it more aggressively.

Yet, reality checks have revealed problems like a growing chasm between the rich and the poor as a result of globalisation. The poor are also made more vulnerable by the rapid disappearance of social welfare systems. While pessimists speak of a doomsday scenario for the world’s poor, optimists, especially those with an innovative bent of mind, see the solution in the problem itself; they point to the growing breed of social entrepreneurs who are solving livelihood problems of communities with their entrepreneurial zeal. As Deccan Herald’s L Subramani learnt from Parag Gupta of Switzerland-based Schwab Foundation For Social Entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs use incentives as the means to find answers for people’s problems.

Excerpts:
Tell us about the award.
The Schwab Foundation has been recognising social entrepreneurship since 2000. We have started giving the social entrepreneur of the year award since 2004. The idea behind the award is to raise the profile of the business leader inside the country to enable wider recognition and understanding of the concept. We currently offer the award in 20 countries across the world.

In India, we have been giving the awards for the past three years, and find the response very encouraging. The finalists selected from the list of nominees will have a chance to attend the India Economic Forum and the winner will be invited to a regional event at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland). They will also be given the global entrepreneur status, that would allow them to share their ideas with global decision makers.

What are the criteria you apply to select the successful candidate?
We primarily look at three things — the impact (the project) makes on the ground, how many people it touches and if it has truly been a life-changing venture. We also give a lot of importance to innovation. For example, we don’t want to keep on recognising Micro Financing projects; we would like to consider how far projects address other essential issues like livelihood, education, health, sanitation, etc.

Do you see social entrepreneurship as a replacement for welfare system — a sort of  globalisation’s answer for the socialist model?
Social entrepreneurship approaches problems from a different angle. It sees the beneficiary as a stake holder — either as a consumer or as a decision maker in development process, thus empowering them to take control of their lives. Take the example of micro finance, made famous by one of (Schwab Foundation’s) the board members and last year’s Nobel Prize recipient Mohammad Yunus. This model offered something the traditional welfare model didn’t: an opportunity for people to transform their lives. The subsidies people received from welfare schemes help them sustain themselves, but they see a way of increasing income, when a small loan amount is offered through micro finance scheme. It may mean they take a certain bearable risk, but it ensures their continuous growth.

Is it fair then to say that social entrepreneurship is inclusive —especially of the marginalised communities?
Certainly. The kinds of communities that are targeted through social entrepreneurship are diverse and largely consist of those previously categorised as marginal. As I said, this is about empowerment and transformation and this has greater relevance if we include those who were unable to find the means to address their problems directly.

With regards to what makes a social entrepreneur, it is important to note that the designation is agnostic of legal status. A social entrepreneur can run a ‘for profit’, NGO, or even a hybrid of the two. A ‘for profit’ social entrepreneur maximises purpose over profit. A not-for-profit social entrepreneur understands how to leverage resources and bring in government, corporate, or stakeholder funding along with grants.

How far do you see social entrepreneurship as a sort of people’s response to tackle the so-called contentious off-shoots of globalisation such as commercial farming, that seem to threaten the way farming is done in India and the country’s food security?
Social entrepreneurship in reality is all about using incentives to achieve development goals; incentives not only for those on the ground, but also for government and businesses. It is about people joining together and working productively even in situations where they have to move out people from crop failures which may have resulted from policy interventions. At the end of the day, they would have created a win-win situation for all.