India Inc. is booming... Are you?

An effort undertaken, a step initiated or an idea implemented always involves a trade-off. Something economists call an opportunity cost always creeps in. The efforts and resources invested in pulling off an entrepreneurial venture in a country like India, where rates of fruition are still unsatisfactory, can always be used to earn interest and be put into a more profitable business. So why do some of the most brilliant minds in the country take to social entrepreneurship?

Well, the reason is the scope India provides as a canvas. With S&P downgrading India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.5%, the unemployment figure of 3.8% looms bigger. It is a pretty big number, considering the recent hits that companies took during the infamous recession, the aversion to hiring again and of course the lack of employable labour in the country.

So what is in it for an entrepreneur you might ask! Well, there is the gap between supply of labour and demand for it which needs to be plugged. India is a country which is in a sweet spot due to its burgeoning demographic dividend which can be leveraged. A sizable population of the country is in the employable/productive range of age i.e. 20-35 years. But there is nowhere to go. What a social entrepreneur can do is; therefore, open up sunshine sectors to investment. Hire more, produce more, and concentrate on a solid triple bottom line. Or if you cannot hire, why not try training labour which can be used to increase productivity across other verticals?

 As we heard from Mr. Rajesh Mane and Mr. Rajeev Kumar, who have been associated with Kalpavriksha earlier, social entrepreneurship does not entail charity. A successful venture is always a sustainable venture, and you need profits to sustain.

It has become imperative to think outside the box now. With conglomerates entering India at a rapid pace, the economy opening up, and newer business ideas being rolled up, social entrepreneurship for the greater good has to remain agile and intelligent to be able to tap the potential in the newer sectors that India Inc. brings out.