the indulge cover storyTHE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, CHENNAI

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2010faces

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entrepreneurs Talkingrevolution

“There is an urgent need for social entrepreneurs who can promote more inclusive ways of sharing the great ben-efit that comes from a market-based economy and economic rights. I believe that such people are the glue that will give legitimacy to government policy and renew people’s faith in the power of markets to greatly enhance standards of living for all Indians.”

— William Bissell, Managing Director, Fabindia “Social entrepreneurship is not about being charity driven. You need to posses the skill-sets of a commercial manager and have the heart of a social worker. It does not give you the wealth you might get working in a pure commercial organisation, but it gives you self-fulfill-ment along with wealth.

— Paul Basil, Founder, Villgro

“This is the only place where passion and professionalism can go hand-in-hand to help people and the planet, alongside enabling you to make profits.”

— Zubaida Bai, Founder, CEO, AYZH

Social entrepreneurship is here to stay. And yes, it can be fun, according to Vidyuth Sreenivasan,

Venkata Subramanian and wife Srivalli, Smita Ramakrishna and Sreejith NN. All of them run success-

ful businesses out of Chennai, turning innovative ideas into profitable ventures, producing world-class

products, creating social wealth and even promising to revolutionise India’s agricultural scenario.

How it all began: When Vidyuth Sreenivasan picked up a copy of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist in 2004, he wasn’t expecting it to change his life. It did. “I graduated in Economics from Vivekananda College and was working with a leading advertising agency when I read the book. By the time I finished reading it, I started looking at my own life wondering why I wasn’t spending it meaningful-ly,” he begins. Vidyuth quit his job immediately, and decided to venture into the handloom sector. “My moth-er has been associated with this sec-tor from 1984 and I felt obliged to do something for the industry that con-tributed to my upbringing,” he adds.

Starting up: Following a four-month course in Textile Printing and Dyeing at the Weavers’ Service Centre, Besant Nagar, Vidyuth start-ed experimenting with block print-ing on fabrics. Soon his brainchild Tasara was born — a social enter-

prise where fabric created using handloom is hand block printed and even stitched in Tharamangalam, a village near Salem. “I have set up a handloom centre in Salem, where villagers work and create products that I also buy back and then sell in Chennai.” Vidyuth offers the crafts-men a working capital and buys back the end product from them. “The long-term plan is to offer them a part of my profits too,” he explains.

Back to the future:Vidyuth retails his saris out of his home and is now planning on selling shirts too under the brand name Chaani, online. “Chaani, literally meaning dung, lights the fire in the kitchens of our villages, even today. So every time you invest in a Chaani shirt you light someone’s life,” he adds.

Details: vidyuth@mail.com

Be the change: Have you noticed well-dressed veg-etable vendors, selling organic produce out of their car boot by the beach? A common sight to morning walkers along Elliots, these new-age vegetable ‘hawkers’ are helmed by Srivalli and Venkata Subramanian of Efarm. They are being the change they want to see and Efarm is a farm-to-home supply chain platform that not only procures, but also deliv-ers farm-based produce.

How it all began: “After spending close to a decade in the IT industry, I decided to quit my job in the USA, return to India and do something on my own,” explains Venkata Subramanian, founder and COO, Matchbox Solutions, a firm that is floating Efarm. Two years ago, he decided to start Efarm, with wife Srivalli, who is now the CEO of the firm, mapping the supply and demand in the vegetable sector in Chennai and the villages surrounding the city.

Value addition: “We mapped the vegetable demands of large organisations that would traditionally go to Mandis in Chennai and then went to villages and created a database of farmers who produce different vegetables,” he adds. They tried to match this sup-ply-demand by placing orders for vegetables that are most in demand, asking farmers to harvest the same, and then sent their own truck to collect the produce. Deep impact: “Most often, farmers have to worry about bringing their produce to the city and it chang-es four to five hands before it reaches the end-user,” Venkat adds. By offering transport and a fair price, Efarm reduces the burden on the farmer. “We not only sell these vegetables to those in need of large supplies, such as vendors and restaurants like Hot Breads and now, even the Indian Army, but also sell them in localities that have a demand for vegetables. We sell these out of car boots and even a truck in neighbourhoods like Besant Nagar and Mylapore,” Srivalli chips in.

Details: www.matchboxsolutions.in

How it all began: In 2006, when Dr Mohammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank, for creating wealth at the grassroots level, it opened a world of opportunities for those in the microcredit sector. It inspired many to take up work on the field. City-based Smita Ramakrishna was among them. This 30-year-old co-founder of Rang De, a not-for-profit enterprise that allows indi-viduals to become a social investor by lending to rural entrepreneurs in India, is slowly helping take wealth from Chennai into rural India, where it is most needed, in a win-win proposition.

Be the change: “My husband Ramakrishna and I read a lot about the lending methods of micofinance firms in rural India and decided to do something that will help link

those looking to invest in something meaningful and in need of money,” Smita explains. Partnering with NGOs that have presence in many villages, Rang De identifies entre-preneurs who need funds and uploads a loan requisition form in the form of a story on its website. Individuals looking to invest can choose from funding education of those in rural India, or offer a busi-ness loan and even invest in the live-lihood of artisans in villages.

Life-changing: “Sitting here in urban comfort we do not realise what even a small loan of Rs 1,000 can do in rural India,” Smita adds. “We also help the investors interact with the borrowers, which some-times turns out to be life changing for both parties.”

Details: www.rangde.org

How it all began: Patrick Fischer, an engineer in the aero-space industry in the USA, moved to India in 2007 looking to start an organisation whose manufacturing would be based in India’s villages. In two weeks, he met Sreejith NN. Almost immediately they set up ROPE ( R u r a l O p p o r t u n i t i e s Production Enterprise), a com-pany that makes use of the great potential of the unorganised weaving sector in our villages.

Changing together: “We part-nered with IIT Madras’s RTBI

(Rural Technology Business Incubation Centre) and estab-lished production units in vil-lages where right now 500 weav-ers work on various handloom and handicraft projects,” explains Sreejith, co-founder and director, India Operations. Having started with 30 weavers, his firm now offers skill sets including handloom weaving, hand knotting, crochet and oth-er hand knitting skills using bamboo, banana fibre rope, banana silk fibre, cotton, jute, korai grass and more. “These include accessories such as

bags, furnishings and semi-pro-cessed fabric,” offers Patrick, Co-Founder and Director, International Operations.

Getting noticed: The success of this business model has made some biggies in the industry take note too! Like Ikea, for instance. ROPE has delivered furnishings to the Swedish home products giant and is poised to take on domestic and international clients.

Details: http://ropeinternation-al.com/

Meet a new breed of 30-something Chennaiites who are transforming rural India and linking them to the city, courtesy sustainable and responsible business models. By Lakshmi Krupa

Learning the ropes

Pay it forward

— krupa@expressbuzz.com

SREEJITH NN

SMITA RAMAKRISHNA

VIDYUTH SREENIVASAN

Hope in handloom

Green connect

SRIVALLIVENKATA SUBRAMANIAN

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