Executive Summary - GlobalGiving · Web viewExecutive Summary. Drishtee is an India-based...

of 29

Connecting India village by village

Business Plan August 2004

……… Our Vision

1 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 3 2 Business Overview ......................................................................................................... 5

2.1 The Indian context................................................................................................................. 52.2 Drishtee Company Overview.................................................................................................52.3 Business Model..................................................................................................................... 62.4 Value Proposition.................................................................................................................. 72.5 Awards Received.................................................................................................................. 82.6 Company Vision.................................................................................................................... 82.7 Strategic Plan and The Future...............................................................................................8

3 Market Opportunity ......................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Market Opportunity................................................................................................................93.2 Competitive Analysis...........................................................................................................103.3 A Solid Foundation for Growth............................................................................................10

4 Market Solution ............................................................................................................. 11 4.1 Services Provided...............................................................................................................12

5 Marketing Plan ............................................................................................................... 12 5.1 Market Perspective..............................................................................................................125.2 Target Market......................................................................................................................135.3 Market Characteristics and Future Trends..........................................................................145.4 Product Positioning.............................................................................................................145.5 Product Strategy..................................................................................................................155.6 Distribution Strategy (Place)................................................................................................155.7 Price.................................................................................................................................... 155.8 Promotion Plan....................................................................................................................165.9 Sales Plan........................................................................................................................... 16

6 Operations ..................................................................................................................... 17 7 Technology .................................................................................................................... 18

Hardware.......................................................................................................................................... 18Software........................................................................................................................................... 18Connectivity...................................................................................................................................... 18

8 Management Team and Advisory Board .................................................................... 19 9 Financial Analysis ......................................................................................................... 20

9.1 Revenues............................................................................................................................ 209.2 Expenses............................................................................................................................. 219.3 Other Assumptions..............................................................................................................219.4 The Projected Plan..............................................................................................................239.5 Summary of Projected Results............................................................................................24

10 Social Impact Analysis and Social Return on Investment (SROI) ............................ 24 10.1 Social Impact....................................................................................................................... 24

11 Appendix A: Aligned Programs .................................................................................. 27 12 Appendix B: SROI Methodology and Analysis .......................................................... 28 13 Appendix C: Contacts ................................................................................................... 29

of 29

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

Drishtee is an India-based organizational platform for rural networking that provides IT-enabled services to rural and semi-urban populations. Through a tiered franchise and partnership model, Drishtee facilitates the creation of a rural networking infrastructure. With nodes at the village, district, state and national level, Drishtee enables access to worldwide information as well as local services using its proprietary state-of-the-art software.

Through a network of village kiosks, Drishtee and the local entrepreneurs deliver ICT based services to the rural population, providing users enhanced access to e-Governance, Education, Health, Insurance and local services. As the ICT center (Kiosk) is owned and operated by a local villager, the model supports wealth creation by developing entrepreneurs within the village community.

Drishtee aims to be the ‘window to the world’ for Indian villagers. Drishtee services not only provide financial benefits in terms of reduced costs and increased incomes, but also other social benefits like access to education and health information. Drishtee kiosks provide viable employment opportunities for unemployed rural youths and help stem rural-urban migration.

Drishtee’s software platform enables e-governance and provides information about and access to education and health services, market-related information, and private information exchanges and transactions. Drishtee offers its network platform to any service provider who wishes to market its range of services to rural India by plugging their application in with Drishtee’s s/w offered directly at the village level. Thus, the Drishtee offering is wide in scope and highly scalable. Drishtee provides solid

of 29

financial returns and significant social returns by providing access to information and services at a fraction of the original cost and time.Drishtee’s business model is driven by a village entrepreneur, who acts as the gateway to valuable information and services for villagers. Drishtee enables this entrepreneur to operate a self-sustaining, profitable kiosk that provides various services at nominal costs. Drishtee has successfully demonstrated this concept in over 300 kiosks across 6 states in India.

Drishtee’s target customers live in rural India, a market of 700 million people, with aggregate discretionary purchasing power of US$2 billion. An average villager spends about 80% on sustenance, with a large portion of the rest spent on accessing products/services available in cities. Drishtee enables access to these services at a fraction of the original cost and time.

A few frontal outfits of big corporations have been reasonably successful with this concept in localized regions, focusing primarily on backward or forward integration, without exposure to broader viability issues for the rural market. The recent upswing in overall IT awareness however could lead these players to enter this broader market. In view of this, Drishtee’s management has forged key alliances for value-addition and effective delivery with strategic channel partners – something that should lend them competitive advantage moving forward. An advisory board, with diversified experience in strategic areas, is supporting this team. Drishtee has recently signed an agreement with Microsoft who will be supporting Drishtee with a multiyear partnership. Drishtee is also in discussion with Intel regarding a similar support partnership.

Drishtee is projected to have net revenues of US$134,363, US$762,970 and US$2,179,325 in the next three years with a net deficit income of US$532,391 and US$315,843 in the next 2 years and a net income of US$725,382 by the 3 rd year. Drishtee requires a total of US$847,000 in order to reach break-even. After all funding is received from Microsoft Corporation, Drishtee will require US$600,000 to reach break-even.

A Drishtee kiosk equipment set-up

of 29

2 Business Overview

2.1 The Indian context

Drishtee is focused on rural India as its main market and field of operations. This is a group of 700 million Indians who live in villages and are involved in agricultural and related activities for their daily sustenance.

Villagers in India are highly reliant on a host of government programs and services that provide them access to basic necessities of life. For example, there are many government loan programs that provide credit on easy terms. There are also education, health services, and employment schemes introduced by the government for the benefit of the villagers. Since government offices are located in the cities, villagers incur major monetary and time costs to access those services. Moreover, government employees take advantage of the powerlessness and the ignorance of villagers through bribes and various corrupt practices.

The lack of information and access to services available in the cities also impacts villagers in non-government related areas. They are forced to use middlemen for all their economic transactions (including sale of their produce and purchase of capital equipment) which further reduce their income and increase their costs.

Traditional efforts at improving the situation of villagers in India have focused on providing these teeming millions with their basic requirements like food, clothing and shelter. As resources are scarce and requirements are ever increasing, this becomes an unsustainable concept. It is seldom remembered that “giving a fish” is not a solution in itself. What is needed is a fishing rod. Unfortunately employment, often seen as the “fishing rod,” leads villagers to migrate from their homeland. And the only employment in a village is tilling on someone else’s land for conjuring 2 square meals a day.

Therefore, there is a dual need for providing access to information and services at the village level while generating viable employment opportunities. This is where Drishtee seeks to make an impact.

2.2 Drishtee Company Overview

Drishtee is a unique socio-technological effort towards creating an information backbone in rural India. This information backbone will assist in integrating the rural and semi-urban into the economic mainstream. Drishtee is developing both the hardware and the software part of this information backbone.

Using a tiered franchise model, Drishtee is facilitating access to information and services at the village level through a Drishtee kiosk. This kiosk is managed by a local village entrepreneur who runs it as a self-sustained, profit-making unit. The kiosk accesses Drishtee’s services through the Drishtee web portal.

Drishtee is facilitating access to various services through its state-of-the-art software platform. The villagers are able

of 29

to access a wide range of online services on Drishtee’s portal. E-governance services allow villagers to access government services (especially government loans, applications for various licenses, making complaints etc.) without making costly and time-consuming trips to the city where government offices are located. Other non-government related services are being added to the portal continually. Some of the non-governmental services include market related information (that allows villagers to find markets with best prices to sell their produce), auction sites (to promote interpersonal transactions) and matrimonial services. Drishtee is also providing localized content for educational and health services.

The Drishtee software platform is highly scalable. Other service providers can use the existing network and plug their services into the Drishtee software and start providing services to villagers with minimal cost and effort.

In the realm of e-governance services, Drishtee has demonstrated a new model for more prompt, transparent, accessible and effective governance, which not only benefits the citizen but also the government by effectively making the citizen a partner in the process of governance. Moreover, the system is designed to be very cost-effective. In the Drishtee model, each of the kiosks caters to the needs of the surrounding villages.

2.3 Business Model

The person operating the kiosk is a local matriculate operator. A kiosk-owner is not an employee but an entrepreneur. They only need basic maintenance and numeric data entry skills and do not need advanced typing skills as most of the Drishtee portal is menu-driven. The Kiosk owner/operator bears the cost of stationery, maintenance and electric and telephone bills and pays a flat fee of US$11.11 each month to Drishtee for providing ongoing technical and marketing support and also maintenance and upkeep of the portal. Additionally, Drishtee earns commission fees for selected services offered through the kiosks. At kiosk launch, the Operator pays Drishtee a license fee of US$111 and a nominal fee to cover the costs of training. These revenue elements make up the income side of the Drishtee business model.

Though Drishtee has pioneered this concept of Rural Information Services, it still has not realized more than 0.1% of the $2 billion market.

Each kiosk-owner is projected to earn a gross income of at least US$157 per month by conservative projections after only nine months of operation.

The kiosk-owners are trained for handling Drishtee services while catering to the customers. The partnership with Drishtee thus leads to a new breed of IT literate generation in the country that can repay their loans with their earnings and become a role model for their younger generation.

of 29

2.4 Value Proposition

Financial:

Drishtee will have a positive financial impact through:

1 Having financially sustainable (in short term) and profitable (in longer term) kiosk operations for village entrepreneurs

2 Being profitable at all levels (HUB, district, state, region and head office) of the Drishtee hierarchy

3 Creating wealth for the stakeholders and ensuring a healthy IRR for the investors

Social:

Current Drishtee operations have exhibited the following positive social impacts:

Strengthening the rural economy by creating employment opportunities, reversing the tide of rural migration, and improving access to information and knowledge

Use of IT as a tool for basic education. Creation of a new generation of IT literate people

with reasonable to high earnings who become role models for the younger generation Removal of functional barriers between government and citizen: Prompt, transparent,

accessible and effective governance, which not only benefits the citizen but also the government by effectively making the citizen a partner in the process of governance.

Empowerment of the poor through their mobilization and better knowledge of their rights

Providing the necessary infrastructure for provision of a range of (non-government) social services and commercial opportunities either directly by Drishtee or through partnerships with third party service providers.

of 29

Current model based on limited offering of government services

Planned model would leverage network created for government services for flow of information goods, etc

Village kiosks

Aggregated requests and information

Request information and

services

CommunicationResponsesDocumentsLicenses, etc.

Services

Government

Villagers

Information, services,

goods, money

Government

BusinessInformation providerCustomer

information, money, inputs

Information, labor, money,

requests

ContentHealthEducationAgricultureLocal, etc

Aggregation of local content

Farmers were getting Rs. 300 per quintal from local traders for potato crop within local market, but KO services revealed the current rate in Indore Mandi to be Rs 400. This service motivated them to shift their potato produce to Indore Mandi at better prices.

The Social Return on Investment Analysis shows that for every US$1 of social cost incurred, US$20 of social benefit is generated (refer to section 10 of this business plan: ).

2.5 Awards Received

World Bank has honoured Drishtee with ‘Development Marketplace Award’ in the year 2003 on the theme ‘Making Services Work for Poor’. Drishtee has also received the ‘Most Promising Social Enterprise Award 2002’ awarded by Digital Partners in collaboration with the Indo-US Knowledge Trade Initiative of the US-India Business Council for utilizing information technology (IT) and the digital economy to benefit the world's poor. Drishtee’s first project in Dhar district under the name Gyandoot has also received the ‘ Stockholm Challenge Award 2000’. In the words of the organizers, Stockholm City Economic Development Agency in partnership with the European Commission: "The Stockholm Challenge Award is a challenge between pioneering IT projects world wide ... The Stockholm Challenge award focuses on the benefit that information technology can bring people and society. The technology itself is not the issue. ... The single most important criterion is the benefit the project can bring to individuals, society and the environment by using inspirational approaches within the local context. "Gyandoot” was declared winner in "Public Service and Democracy" category out of 109 IT projects from all over the world. Drishtee has also received the ‘Best ICT Story’ Award by IICD and InfoDev (World Bank).

A successful Drishtee Kiosk Operator in Sirsa District .

2.6 Company Vision

Drishtee has a vision of connecting every single village in India to the other villages and the outside world.

2.7 Mission

To create and implement a sustainable and scalable platform of entrepreneurship for improving the rural economy and society with the help of information, communication and technologies.

2.8 Strategic Plan and The Future

Drishtee would be expanding its network to a size of 1000 kiosks in the next 12 months. These Kiosks would be setup in 20 districts and spread across 6 states. This expansion plan has to necessarily be focused on the broad parameters of viability. The first test would be the viability of every individual kiosk based on the service performance metrics. Secondly, the profitability of hub would be ensured for at least 15 out of the 20 districts before the completion of this first 12 month period.

of 29

To triple the size of the network, the ‘Team Drishtee’ needs to double itself. The challenge of recruiting at a rapid pace for the rural market can only be matched by the process training requirements and the deployment monitoring. The HR team has decided to focus on the rural and the small town market for aggressive hiring. This would ensure a rural focus and a low employee turnover. The training challenge would still remain for which we have decided to proactively hire trainers in advance.

Today the Drishtee model is recognized for its focus on Kiosk revenues and service development. We are targeting an additional Rs. 3000 per month kiosk earnings (US$66.66) worth of services in the next 12 month time frame. Out of this we are focusing on Rs. 1500 (US$33.33) worth of income services (services which lead to income generation for the village), Rs. 1000 (US$22.20) worth of saving services (services resulting in net saving on opportunity cost) and Rs. 500 (US$11.11) out of buying services (services leading to a higher quality of life). A special team is already focused on the service development and deployment plan. A procedure of incentivising kiosk operators for submitting fresh ideas has been put in place. This would ensure higher relevance and easier deployment.

To manage the 1000 kiosks in 20 districts, 3 additional Regional offices would be setup. We are totally counting on procedures developed over the last 12 months to ensure smooth flow of services and information. The Drishtee Information system is being upgraded on the hardware and the software front to meet the challenge. A COO has been hired to focus on the operational aspects and for coordinating the end to end process.

The finance team has been strengthened and the internal accounting has been outsourced to a Delhi based Chartered accounting firm. This would lead to a bandwidth allocation for strategic reporting and financial coordination. Drishtee portal’s translation into 5 additional regional languages would ensure the generation of localized content and wider replication.

In the state of Tami Nadu, Drishtee will build on the partnership with Grameen Foundation USA and ASA to launch 85 additional kiosks to bring the total to 100 over the next 12 months. Grameen Foundation USA has actively participated in Drishtee’s expansion into Tamil Nadu and through this innovative partnership explored partnerships with microfinance organizations as an effective channel to market – providing the entrepreneurs and the infrastructure for financing, operations and support. Drishtee is very excited about the future of this and the expansion in Tamil Nadu.

3 Market Opportunity

3.1 Market Opportunity

The inaccessibility of information affects the rural poor more than other sections of the community. The rural poor, being resource deficient, lack easy access to the information necessary to allow them to efficiently run their businesses and become informed and participative citizens. In this context, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can play a significant role in making information available at a reasonable cost. Currently, there are no other organizations working to provide comprehensive solutions to the information deficit of the rural poor.

of 29

Hiralal sent an e-mail from a Drishtee Kiosk to the local government. He stated that an epidemic had broken out amongst the cattle of the village of Kot Bhidota. An agricultural ‘rescue team’ was dispatched on the same day by the local government leader of the veterinary department. The disease of hemorrhage septicemia was detected. The team promptly started treatment and proactively vaccinated the rest of the animals against the disease. They also took measures in the neighboring villages for detection of any disease symptoms and did preventive vaccination. There was no deaths of cattle or people due to the epidemic.

More than 600,000 villages of India house two-thirds of its people, and earn one-third of the national income. A report by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in India shows that rural consumers represent more than 50 percent of consuming classes and are the prime target market for consumer goods and essential services such as education, healthcare and employment. Despite such an open market, around 68% of the rural economy still lies untapped due to lack of perceived opportunities by the investors. While urban economy is rising at a 30% annual rate, the rural sector lags at a mere 1-2% per annum. To aggravate the problem further, local inhabitants move to nearby townships, thereby fueling the problem of rural migration at an alarming pace year after year.

Villagers in India are highly reliant on a host of government programs and services that provide them access to basic necessities of life. For example, there are many government loan programs that provide credit on easy terms. The government also provides education, health services, and employment programs. Since government offices are located in the cities, villagers incur high costs in terms of transportation and lost wages to access these services. Moreover, government employees often take advantage of the villagers through bribes and various other corrupt practices. The lack of services in rural areas is not limited to governmental offerings. Corporations providing a variety of goods and services largely ignore

rural areas. Most villagers must use middlemen for all their economic transactions (including selling their produce and purchase of capital equipment), which further reduces their income and increases their costs.

The Drishtee product is not a panacea, but it does provide a suite of tools which go a long way to creating prosperous and self sufficient village communities by enabling the most efficient and effective utilization of their limited resources.

3.2 Competitive Analysis

Though Drishtee has pioneered this concept of Rural Information Services, it still has not realized more than 0.1% of the US$2 billion market and serving the 700 million poor rural Indians. Therefore it is natural for future ‘competitors’ to wait and watch the growth of Drishtee till a critical mass is achieved, which can sufficiently motivate competitors to enter. Some of the frontal outfits of the big corporations like e-Chaupal of ITC, I-Kisan of Nagarjuna, and EID Parry of Muruguppas have been reasonably successful in localized regions. Some of these initiatives are discussed in Appendix A: Aligned Programs.

With the very large market and the few significant players, the market remains underserved. On the macro sense, competition is not an issue in terms of growth of these organizations, or indeed, Drishtee. In local environments, competition may occur, and Drishtee welcomes this as the beneficiaries are the rural poor of India.

3.3 A Solid Foundation for Growth

Drishtee is the pioneer in the field of Rural Information Services. This has given Drishtee a number of first move advantages and an opportunity to refine a local business and operational model that will serve as effective beachheads for expansion and building upon solid foundations that will allow growth to critical mass, sustainability and profitability.

of 29

By being the first to establish a network of technology-based kiosks around the country, Drishtee has created a disincentive for other organizations to launch in these districts – each striving to create sustainable operations by reaching an economy of scale. In the short term this localized monopoly serves Drishtee and the sector well by establishing foundations and platforms for refinement and growth. Sharing of best practice and later, competition serves to drive Drishtee and the sector to develop solutions that better serve the rural poor communities of India.

Drishtee actually welcomes alternate service providers since all the needs of the villagers cannot be met by Drishtee alone. Thus, Drishtee has a deliberate strategy of maintaining an open software platform that any other service provider can plug their services into to access the rural population at a fraction of the cost that it would take them to set up the entire network themselves.

Other first mover advantages include the localized content that Drishtee has already developed. India has 17 official languages. There are different languages in each Indian state so localized content generation is a costly affair and the fact that Drishtee already has content developed for at least 6 states would deter anyone from duplicating those efforts and competitors would find it cost-effective to just license Drishtee services. This reuse of provides an overall saving to the sector as a whole.

Drishtee has also proven the success of its model in 6 Indian states. This has developed respect and recognition for the Drishtee brand name. In fact, state and local government bodies regularly invite Drishtee to set up services in their respective areas. The brand recognition that Drishtee enjoys supports its efforts to expand and to develop a critical mass of kiosks in the field.

The management of Drishtee has forged strategic partnerships and key alliances for value- addition and effective delivery. They have received advice from the Boston Consulting Group in form of philanthropic consultancy. Also, they have recently formed an alliance with a billion dollar tractor giant to use their distributors as district channel partners. Moreover, since e-governance is one of Drishtee’s key focus areas, Drishtee has developed relations with many state and local government bodies. Drishtee has also recently signed an agreement with Microsoft who will be supporting Drishtee with a multiyear partnership. Drishtee is also in discussion with Intel regarding a similar support partnership.

4 Market Solution

The Drishtee solution provides poor individuals in rural areas access to the kind of information necessary to make them effective entrepreneurs and citizens. Drishtee is positioning itself not only as a rural service provider but also as a platform for integrating and delivering a wide range of services to the Indian Villager.

Drishtee offers its network platform to any service provider who wishes to market its range of services to rural India. Their application can be plugged in with the Drishtee software and offered directly at the kiosks with the revenue tracking mechanism generating weekly client specific account statements. Drishtee’s competitive advantage lies in the entrepreneurial focus of its franchise model and low start-up costs that make the solution accessible to potential franchisees.

of 29

4.1 Services Provided

Drishtee has so far partnered with district administration under various states, as well as large and small names in the corporate sector. Major partnerships have been with brands like

- Hewlett Packard for digital photography- ICICI for insurance- Escorts for health services- Pustak Mahal for e-shopping.

Plans are underway to add providers for building up the product strength. Drishtee’s product mix gives kiosk owners the extra mileage required at launch stage without losing its future revenue potential. Services are broadly divided into three categories:

E-government servicesFramed in partnership with the district administration, the aim here is to provide rural citizens doorstep access to several services for which they initially used to spend a lot of time and money to travel and get the job done. Examples are : driving license, land records, online grievances, etc. A set of e-gov services may vary across different regions according to inputs given by the local administration.

Private servicesThese services are conceived by Drishtee itself, with no partner involvement. Several localized offerings such as: online marketplace (Gram Haat), email service (Gram Daak), agricultural forum, (Krishi Prashan), etc… are to name a few.

Commercial servicesThese are implemented in partnership with corporate institutions. Drishtee has so far ventured into Rural employment, Computer education, Insurance, Digital photography, Agri-inputs, E-commerce amongst several others.

In addition to Drishtee’ services, kiosk owner may decide to offer any number of these services plus his own services (ex. Typing) to tailor his kiosk’s provisions to the unique community needs. New services are constantly being developed by Drishtee and new partnerships explored to facilitate a comprehensive, value-added offering to the communities.

5 Marketing Plan

5.1 Market Perspective

Drishtee has strategically entered a market, which has not been defined either by competitors or by marketing textbooks. As a pioneer in the rural service delivery market, Drishtee burdens the onus of defining the market perspective. The total annual GDP of an average village in India has been calculated to be approximately US$200,000. Out of which

of 29

an average of US$160,000 is spent on sustenance, the rest is (mis)utilized for availing different services. This spending could be for:

1- Availing government services which are otherwise free but incur a huge opportunity cost

2- To the middle men who eat up maximum margins from the farmer 3- For the basic essential services critical for the livelihood of an Indian Villager, for

example- health, education and entertainment.

Drishtee plans to target a mere 5% out of a US$40,000 per village service market in the country, initially.

5.2 Target Market

When Drishtee started, its service offerings initially targeted landed farmers. Presently, its model benefits many other segments of the population as well such as women, children, the elderly, the landless, etc. In addition to these ‘secondary’ services such as marriage licenses and complaint forms, Drishtee has expanded into the fields of health, education, entertainment and employment.

Drishtee’s model provides services for practically every individual in the rural areas. Some services provide immediate returns to the customers in terms of cost and time savings and quick responses on government services. Others have future potential payoff to society by providing loans and education to the youth that would help them get employment later on in life. Detailed product targeting analysis is available.

of 29

Figure 1. Drishtee services by household income

22.5 45 70 96Household income (Rs’ 000 p.a.)

% of population

Loan applications for Below Poverty Line population

Market prices

Land record copies

5.3 Market Characteristics and Future Trends

The service mix of Drishtee has been designed to cater simultaneously to different segments of the target market. Users save immensely on the opportunity cost of traveling and the time spent for getting these services otherwise. Presently, about 15% of an average village’s population takes advantage of the kiosk services where ever it has been set up. This percentage is likely to increase, but presently the remaining 85% also benefit in terms of wider reach, modern outlook and a definite change in social perception.

With its current service offering, Drishtee expects to grow rapidly. Kiosk ramp up is aggressive with an estimated 9,000 kiosks available by March, 2007. Revenue will grow not only to match the number of kiosks but also as more services are integrated into the portal.

5.4 Product Positioning

In order to successfully position the product to consumers, Drishtee implements a Needs Assessment Survey. This exercise includes collecting information about the target market - especially the poor and women - and their existing level of access to information. This requires a detailed survey of needs and constraints based on participatory methods such as user surveys, focus group discussions, etc.

The Needs Assessment Survey is done on a sample basis in 5% villages of the district identified. Proximity to district head quarters and socio-economic profile, governs the choice of sample villages. The survey also helps in establishing a baseline against which the impact of the project is monitored at the end. The survey covers:

Demographic and economic data to obtain information on income levels, literacy, etc Information needs of various sections of the community with specific focus on women

and poor Existing sources of information – where, whom and how of seeking information and also

time and money spent Willingness to pay for services to be offered

The need assessment survey specifically researches the information needs of vulnerable groups. In addition, discussions are also held with local NGOs to get a sensing of the

of 29

Figure 2. Drishtee services by age

Applications for Old Age Pension

Complaints for government services

Youth loan schemes

Computer education

<10 years

10-20 years

20-30 years

30-40 years

>40 years

information requirements for socio-economic development of the villages. The findings of the survey get directly fed into the content developed by Drishtee and the promotional campaign of the village entrepreneur.

5.5 Product Strategy

Drishtee is positioned not as solely as a rural service provider but as a platform for integrating and delivering a wide range of services to the Indian Villager. This positioning is tantamount to an infrastructure development activity or a toll bridge operator, which builds roads or express highways in order to facilitate for a smooth flow of passengers and commercial vehicles, on payment of certain fees. In the case of Drishtee, this fixed fee would be replaced by revenue sharing but the concept would remain the same. Drishtee would offer its network platform to any service provider who wishes to market its range of services to rural India. Their application can be plugged in with the Drishtee s/w and offered directly at the kiosks with the revenue tracking mechanism generating weekly client specific account statements. This model has already been implemented for insurance, computer education and HP Photoshop services.

5.6 Distribution Strategy (Place)

Kiosks have been established in village centers located in central locations near major roads or central meeting places. Each kiosk caters to approximately 1 Gram Panchayat with a surrounding population of 5,000 villagers.

A roadside sign advertising the Drishtee Kiosk and its services

5.7 Price

Pricing of the services has been determined after evaluating the opportunity cost to the consumer of services now provided by Drishtee. The prices using alternate source includes transportation costs and fees paid to middlemen and brokers. The new prices represent the elimination of these extra fees, and transportation, while still creating a win-win for all parties involved.

of 29

5.8 Promotion Plan

Although Drishtee will provide some basic marketing to create nationwide awareness, the individual structure of the kiosk system is best represented by localized efforts. Each village in India is unique and it would be presumptuous of Drishtee to assume they can provide one marketing strategy for the entire nation. Therefore, each kiosk owner is responsible for promoting his/her own kiosk. Extensive training is provided by Drishtee.

Drishtee’s district team works with each kiosk operator to conduct a monthly promotional event at each kiosk every month. These promotional events are generally held directly in front of a kiosk and each month a particular service is highlighted and promoted, often in conjunction with 1-day pricing discounts. The kiosk operator works to ensure that a large crowd comes for the event while the Drishtee team provides banners, signs and other promotional materials for distribution.

After the community is made aware of the unique benefits that Drishtee kiosks provides, the best type of promotion for the kiosk is word of mouth. Drishtee’s services represent a radical new way of performing daily tasks and villagers may be resistant to marketing tactics unless they have heard the “tried and true” stories. It is assumed that more tech savvy, younger generations will be the first to use the services, with the older generations following.

With the partnership of Grameen Foundation USA, Drishtee has also begun pioneering the approach of marketing the kiosk services through local microfinance and self-help-group networks. Through these partnerships Drishtee operators are given access to market their services throughout the microfinance membership. Kiosk operators attend MFI daily center meetings in their area to market their kiosk and services. Center meetings are the mandatory meetings where microfinance borrowers come together in groups of 30 to make their weekly loan repayment. Each kiosk has, on average, 50 weekly center meetings (1500 microfinance members) that occur within proximity to the kiosk. Marketing through this tremendous network has grown kiosk revenue and drawn additional customers to the kiosks. These microfinance members generated additional momentum as they begun spreading information about these kiosks by word of mouth to their friends and family and as their success testimonials began circulating throughout the village.

5.9 Sales Plan

Drishtee develops detailed service sales targets for each district based on previous performance and demand analysis. The local team takes these district level sales targets and generates specific service sales targets for each individual kiosk.

The kiosk owners are self sufficient. After they pay Drishtee a nominal start up fee, they are responsible for deciding which services to provide, marketing their efforts, and ensuring strong consumer relations. Kiosk owners will determine the best way of selling their services as it is in their best interest to do so.

of 29

6 Operations

Over the many years of experience, Drishtee has developed a comprehensive set of operational documentation. This includes operational procedures, forms, and process guidelines. These are a significant component of the Drishtee Intellectual Property and provide Drishtee with a significantly solid foundation from which to launch new business ventures and expansions.

The Common Action Plan (CAP) is a well planned implementation process, with a focused & systematic approach, contributing towards the achievement of Drishtee’s mission. This planned process is a result of strategic partnering leading to enhanced growth prospects.

Drishtee’s entry into new markets follows the CAP process and enables 40 new kiosks to be launched just 90 days after entering a new district. This is significant in terms best practice propagation and implementation – lessons learnt are quickly disseminated throughout the Drishtee network – at the kiosk and at all administrative levels.

Location of current Drishtee operations as of Q2, 2004:

of 29

7 Technology

Hardware

Software

Drishtee has developed software to run the portal and various services. It is very simple and menu-driven software, which requires minimum data entry at the client end. The software is in Hindi language, Tamil and Assamese and has been designed so that additional languages can be easily added.

Connectivity

Almost all Drishtee kiosks have dial-up connections. Drishtee has also experimented with other mediums of connections. In one district (Jaipur), OFC (optic fiber connection) has been used for connectivity. In this particular case, the high volume of transactions at kiosks made it economically viable to establish an OFC. Drishtee is also conducting feasibility studies for OFC in various other locations. In some cases, where the existing telephone connections are not existent or are of inferior quality, Drishtee is also investigating cellular connections for connectivity. In the short term, Drishtee negotiates with the service provider to provide improved telephone connections. The Telecom sector in India has been recently opened for privatization and Drishtee envisions that physical connections will cease to be a concern.

of 29

Network management company

District hubs

Village kiosks

Villagers

KioskKiosk connects to Drishtee’s web portal through dial-up to a local ISP. All portal services have been designed to minimize online time required to deliver the service. The hardware has been procured by the kiosk owner at a total cost of approximately US$1000. Basic equipment package includes a computer, modem, printer, and a 4 hour battery.

District OfficeStaff at the district office act as local content providers, entering data like market prices, local employment listings, etc. into Drishtee’s web portal.

Web ServerThe Web Server acts at the main administrator of the complete system. It coordinates communication between districts and administers the performance of districts and kiosks. It also acts as national level content provider.

- Dial up

8 Management Team and Advisory Board

Drishtee is driven by an idea and supported by a team of intellectuals who constantly strive to take this young entity towards its defined vision and set targets.

The concept has been driven and made operational by Satyan Mishra, CEO, Drishtee Dot Com Ltd. He holds an MBA from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics and has extensive experience with a software company. After finishing his MBA, Satyan became an entrepreneur and decided to turn his passion into a viable profession. Having spent his childhood in rural India Satyan was committed towards utilizing his managerial and technical expertise for making a difference in the life of an Indian villager. His dedication and belief in the concept has motivated like-minded people to come together and form an intellectual horsepower behind Drishtee. This team has also taken up limited equity in order to facilitate the growth of the organization.

Nitin Gachayat is the Strategic Consultant and Co-founder of Drishtee Dot Com Ltd. He is responisble for managing the Research and Technological frontals within Drishtee, and is armed with an MBA-International Business from FORE School of Management and a hardcore experience of 6 years in the domain of research and technology. His work experience includes stint with Yeti International as Manager Projects. He has also been invited by Punjab Administrative Academy as guest lecturer.

Rajat Dutta, post-graduate from IIM-Kolkata, is working as Chief Operating Officer within Drishtee. He has more than 19 years of multi-faceted experience in Sales & Marketing, HR, Training, Administration and even Finance. Having worked with names like HCL, NTPC, Godrej and PersonalTree, Rajat is an enthusiast with strong beliefs in technology and automation. His passion and commitment would soon see Drishtee reaching to a higher destination within a short span ot time.

Rishabh Sinha, GM Expansion, is one of the most experienced and loyal individuals within Drishtee’s workforce. Responsible for implementing Drishtee’s expansion targets on all India level, Rishabh has 10 years of hardcore marketing and administrative to his back before Drishtee where he handled assignments such as Business Development, MIS, achieving Sales figures, and managing workforce as incharge of entire region with organisations more than one. He has qualified with P.G. Diploma in Marketing Mangement.

Arnabjeet Banerji, Sr. Manager-Sales, is heading all India Sales operations within Drishtee. His last assignment was with Gati Limited as Business Development Manager. Prior to that he has experience with Elbee Services Ltd as Territory Sales Manager. He has PGDBM in Marketing to his qualification.

Jayant Mukherjee is working as Sales Manager, and presently in charge of Services team meant adding value rich services to Drishtee basket. He has worked with Walltracts India Pvt Ltd as Business Development Manager, responsible for business promotion in North and East India. He has also been entrusted with serveral sales and management responsiblities in his 4 year long career in past.

Tarun Arya is the key hand behind Drishtee’s service portal on internet. He has Masters in Computer Application. With experience of approx 3 years behind, he has worked with Raymond textiles in past. Working with Cyber Info Dev Limited for Drishtee, he got a chance to make the shift and is today heading the Technical division within organization.

of 29

Alok Sharma is heading the Training function, with prime responsibility of imparting skills and intellgence to Drishtee’s team as well as entrepreneurs for conducting their operations efficiently. Pursuing PGDBM in HR, he has got diploma in Electrical Engineering. Prior to Dristhee, he has worked for four years with Tele Atlas India Pvt. Ltd., last profile being the head of Quality and Training department.

Advisory Board :

Nirvikar Singh Professor Singh joined the faculty of University of Santa Cruz in 1982. He directs the Business Management Economics program and is co-director of the Santa Cruz Institute of International Economics. He has also taught at the Delhi School of Economics. Professor Singh's main current research is on federalism, governance, and economic reform in India. He is working with Dr. Govinda Rao on a book, The Political Economy of Indian Federalism. He has worked on decentralization and local government reform in India for the World Bank. His other research topics include electronic commerce, technology and innovation, the strategic behavior of governments toward multinational corporations, international technology transfer, international water disputes, and economic growth and development in South and East Asia.

Satish Jha, Chairman of Digital Partners' South Asia Initiative, is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of Headstrong, India. He has been actively engaged in using information technology for socially oriented projects for many years. Satish holds several degrees from universities in the United States, Europe, and India, served as an editor for the Times of India Group, and has taught at several Indian institutions.

Aman Grewal currently serves as a Project Manager for CHiPs in Raipur, India. Prior to that he worked with Digital Partners and iTEC. Aman holds a B.S. in electronics from the Campion School Bhopal.

Amit Choudhary served as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting group for three years after working as a software engineer for Candence Design Systems. He receives his graduate degree from IIM Calcutta.

Pawan Mehra brings over six years of venture capital to the table. He currently works for McKenna Capital, before that GVFL Ltd. Pawan has a MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Vibhor Mehra works as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in Delhi. Before that he was a software consultant for Hughes software. Vibhor has a MBA (Finance), IIM Bangalore

Board of DIrectors

Anantha Nageswaran is the Regional Head of Investment Consulting with Credit Suisse in Singapore. He has worked as Senior Analyst, Investment Research at Credit Suisse Private Banking in Zurich, and as a currency economist with Union Bank of Switzerland in Zurich. He writes a regular column on Global markets in 'Business Line'. Ananth holds a Masters in Business Administration from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He received his doctoral degree in Finance from the University of Masschusetts, Amherst, USA.

Satyan Mishra, CEO and Founder, is an MBA from Delhi School of Economics and has 5 years of experience in the relevant sector.

of 29

Deepak Amin is an ex-Microsoft, IIT (M) graduate and represents Digital Partners’ (US based NGO & shareholder) stake in Drishtee.

Shailesh K Thakur is a co-founder of Drishtee and a graduate from the Delhi School of Economics. With his rural background, he adds immense focus on the cost minimization within Drishtee.

9 Financial Analysis

9.1 Revenues

The plan presented is for a three year period starting April 2004 and ending March 2007.

The plan assumes revenues from:1- One time license fee of US$111 per kiosk2- One time training fee of US$44 per kiosk3- Monthly flat fee of US$11 per kiosk4- Transaction revenues on selected services. Transactional revenues are currently

collected on computer education, insurance, and HP Photoshop services. These are projected to increase from US$2.57 per kiosk to US$14.13 over the project period

Future expected revenue streams are also expected from:1- Additional transactional services integrated into the Drishtee portal2- Use of Drishtee organizational platform as distribution network for various consumer

goods3- Use of Drishtee organizational platform to collection of information about rural India –

government censuses and surveys etc.4- Use of Drishtee organizational platform for dissemination of information to rural India

by public and private concerns.

Growth Targets:

Total revenues of US$725,000 by year FY2006/07. 6 regional offices, 70 districts, and 8996 kiosks by March 2007. Average monthly kiosk earnings of US$157.00 by March 2007.

9.2 Expenses

Drishtee is planning to expand rapidly and will need to hire aggressively to cope with the expansion. Personnel and personnel development are expected to be the biggest expenditures for Drishtee’s operations and manpower budgetary expenses are expected to increase by over 40 % per year at the Head Office level for the next 3 years. Other expenses, including rent, communications, utilities, and other are based on actual historical experience in India.

Other assumptions related to expenses: A team of 1 Expansion Manager and 3 district level staff is required to setup a district. The average expenditure for the setup of a district hub is expected to be US$1,111. The average expenditure for the setup of a Regional office is expected to be

US$3,333.

of 29

9.3 Other Assumptions

1. Drishtee can establish at least 40 kiosks in 1 district with a planned implementation process within 90 days.

2. A team of 1 Expansion Manager and 3 district level staff is required to setup a district.3. District operations break-even at 40 kiosks4. All districts will start with a Need Assessment study to ascertain viability. All Kiosk

Panchayats would undergo Impact assessment study after a comprehensive benchmarking. The total survey cost per district is expected to be US$8,200. The survey activity would require commercial support from social stakeholders

5. A key ratio is the number of kiosks per district hub. This is expected to increase from a figure of 13 to 129 over the projection period.

6. There is a debenture of US$50,000 issued in the market which needs to be redeemed before March 31st 2005.

7. The entire plan is based on the presumption of a favorable ICT environment in the country

8. The Expansion plan is aggressive and has not been tested at the operational level

of 29

9.4 The Projected Plan

QUARTER ENDING---> 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4Regional Offices 1 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 6No. of Booked Kiosks 309 383 550 905 1448 1990 2720 3450 4555 5660 7328 8995No. Of Revenue Kiosk 90 184 371 746 1309 1871 2621 3371 4496 5621 7309 8996No.of District 7 10 15 20 20 33 33 45 45 58 58 70Kiosk/District 13 18 25 37 65 58 81 75 100 98 127 129

INCOMETransaction Revenue 1,234$ 2,702$ 5,864$ 12,372$ 22,933$ 35,083$ 52,652$ 72,981$ 100,984$ 131,300$ 177,280$ 227,076$ Monthly Fixed Revenue 500$ 3,064$ 6,189$ 12,439$ 32,721$ 46,783$ 65,533$ 84,283$ 134,890$ 168,640$ 219,265$ 269,890$ Kiosk License Revenue 2,083$ 10,417$ 20,833$ 41,667$ 62,500$ 62,500$ 83,333$ 83,333$ 125,000$ 125,000$ 187,500$ 187,500$ Training Revenue 417$ 2,083$ 4,167$ 8,333$ 12,500$ 12,500$ 16,667$ 16,667$ 25,000$ 25,000$ 37,500$ 37,500$ Drishtee's rev per Kiosk 14$ 15$ 16$ 17$ 18$ 19$ 20$ 22$ 22$ 23$ 24$ 25$

TOTAL REVENUE 4,234$ 18,266$ 37,053$ 74,811$ 130,654$ 156,866$ 218,185$ 257,265$ 385,874$ 449,940$ 621,545$ 721,966$

EXPENSESManpower (HO) 29,575$ 32,384$ 35,461$ 38,830$ 42,519$ 46,558$ 50,981$ 55,824$ 61,127$ 66,934$ 73,293$ 80,256$ Manpower (RO) 11,679$ 23,358$ 35,037$ 46,716$ 46,716$ 58,395$ 58,395$ 70,074$ 70,074$ 70,074$ 70,074$ 70,074$ Manpower (DO) 16,629$ 23,756$ 35,634$ 47,513$ 47,513$ 77,208$ 77,208$ 106,903$ 106,903$ 136,598$ 136,598$ 166,294$ Survey -$ 12,300$ 20,500$ 20,500$ -$ 102,500$ -$ 102,500$ -$ 102,500$ -$ 102,500$ Travel 2,957$ 3,238$ 3,546$ 3,883$ 4,252$ 4,656$ 5,098$ 5,582$ 6,113$ 6,693$ 7,329$ 8,026$ Communication 1,479$ 1,619$ 1,773$ 1,941$ 2,126$ 2,328$ 2,549$ 2,791$ 3,056$ 3,347$ 3,665$ 4,013$ Statutory 1,614$ 1,647$ 1,680$ 1,713$ 1,747$ 1,782$ 1,818$ 1,854$ 1,891$ 1,929$ 1,968$ 2,007$ Rent/Elect 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ 5,342$ Misc 2,166$ 2,372$ 2,597$ 2,844$ 3,114$ 3,410$ 3,734$ 4,089$ 4,477$ 4,903$ 5,369$ 5,879$ District CapEx 2,222$ 3,333$ 5,556$ 5,556$ -$ 13,889$ -$ 13,889$ -$ 13,889$ -$ 13,889$ Regional Capex 3,333$ 3,333$ 3,333$ 3,333$ -$ 3,333$ -$ 3,333$ -$ -$ -$ -$ HO Invremental CapEx 2,778$ 4,444$ 5,556$ 2,778$ 6,944$ 6,944$ 6,944$ 6,944$ 6,944$ 6,944$ 6,944$ -$ HO Capex 22,222$ 11,111$ 33,333$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ Interest Repayment 1,833$ 1,833$ 1,833$ 1,833$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ Loan Repayment 6,667$ 2,222$ -$ 50,000$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$

TOTAL EXPENSES 110,497$ 132,294$ 191,181$ 232,782$ 160,273$ 326,345$ 212,069$ 379,126$ 265,928$ 419,154$ 310,582$ 458,278$

CASH FLOW (106,264)$ (114,028)$ (154,128)$ (157,971)$ (29,618)$ (169,479)$ 6,116$ (121,862)$ 119,946$ 30,786$ 310,963$ 263,687$ ACCUMULATED PROFIT/LOSS (106,264)$ (220,292)$ (374,420)$ (532,391)$ (562,009)$ (731,488)$ (725,372)$ (847,234)$ (727,288)$ (696,502)$ (385,539)$ (121,852)$

2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007

9.5 Summary of Projected Results

Based on these assumptions, Drishtee is projected to break even by FY 2006 - 2007 with profits of US$725,000. To meet the projections, Drishtee requires funding of US$847,000. Drishtee has secured US$247,000 from Microsoft Corporation and is seeking funding of US$600,000.

10 Social Impact Analysis and Social Return on Investment (SROI)

10.1 Social Impact

Drishtee seeks to bridge the digital divide by bringing the advantages of technology to rural Indian communities. Through Drishtee services, villagers can save time and money which allows them to spend their resources on other things. Every dollar that the villager saves raises the disposable income of the society. This extra income is either consumed on other goods or invested. Drishtee automatically injects tens of thousands of dollars per year into society by creating a new source of revenue for kiosk owners. The better alternatives provided via the online model saves the villagers millions of dollars per year, creating many positive externalities in their society. Improvements to the community’s lives can be seen in all areas of basic need and community developments as a result of having a higher standing of living.

The detail of the SROI analysis can be found in Appendix B: SROI Methodology andAnalysis.

The social return can be assessed as US$20 of social benefit for every US$1 of social cost incurred.

10.1.1 Qualitative Analysis

Social benefits accounted for in the qualitative analysis of SROI a multitude of effects from improving one’s life situation through availing of the benefits being promoted by Drishtee’s model, such as:

Human Capital Development: Drishtee’s impact on human capital development results from the positive externalities generated from the kiosk-based IT-infrastructure system such as

1) Improved education standards for users who are able to access educative material in remote areas that would otherwise be cut off from the latest developments elsewhere.

2) Drishtee training imparts business skills to kiosk owners, which they can apply to other business ventures.

3) Empowerment of the poor through their mobilization and better knowledge of their rights. Without Drishtee, the villagers are usually not informed of their rights and the various government schemes for which they are eligible as corrupt middlemen restrict their access to such information.

4) As Drishtee is adding new services and content like health services, such positive impacts on human capital development are expected to grow manifold.

Community Economic Development: The existence of Drishtee kiosks provides benefits not only to the immediate users but to the community as a whole:

1) Employment opportunities at village level reverse the tide of rural migration2) Creation of a new breed of IT literate generation with reasonable to high earnings

who become a role model for the younger generation3) Time saved from quick access to Drishtee and government increase time available to

work and this leads to higher annual family wages4) Access to knowledge about best available market prices helps all villagers sell their

produce at good prices.5) Auction services for interpersonal trade of goods and services facilitates easier and

quicker transactions and expands the market as villagers have access to information about auctions at nearby villages.

Governance: Drishtee offers a balanced, inclusive governance structure that extends to every user of its infrastructure at each of its distinct levels. The facility users are villagers who now share with local governments’ part of administrative responsibility that relates to the benefits that they can avail of. Since e-governance services form a major part of the current Drishtee service offering, Drishtee’s impact on quantity and quality of such services should not be overlooked. Drishtee enables:

1) Removal of functional barriers between government and citizen: Prompt, accessible and effective governance, which not only benefits the citizen but also the government by effectively making the citizen a partner in the process of governance.

2) Though the District administration has no financial returns/investment in this network, they gain substantially in terms of higher efficiency and lower overheads.

3) The lower government functionaries have become computer-savvy. This is apparent from increased number of applications for computer loans from Employees Provident Fund and increased number of officials who have joined computer-training classes.

4) The transaction and processing time for ongoing activities is substantially reduced.5) Unlike most methods of receiving certificates and documents, the Drishtee model

does not allow for bribes and thus can effectively reduce government corruption.

Community Development: In addition to improving individual user’s economic situation, Drishtee’s model also fuels community development, which in essence is the aggregated effect of the individual benefits. The usage of the IT-infrastructure improves the societal and economic lifestyle of average villager, thus stabilizing economies at the community level. For example Drishtee provides access to market prices and this allows villagers to sell their produce without losing revenue to middlemen. At the same time, Drishtee kiosks serve as a common meeting place for people from different villages and encourages inter-village interaction. This interaction can take many forms, including being involved with public health projects, providing help to needy community members in times of crisis, and skills transfer to other fellow villagers. These activities and interactions build healthy, sustainable communities. Self Help Groups in the rural areas are getting more organized and empowered due to transparency brought about in the government services and rural economy e.g. Farmers’ Association in village Kod are creating a new kiosk in the village. Drishtee also promotes economic and social interaction through services like auctions and matrimonials.

Creating a commercial market that benefits rural people: There are about 700 million Indians who live in villages and who are still deprived of the basic right for information. This limits the primarily agrarian society in truly reaching out to profitable markets with their produces. As a result, middle-men have blossomed to form a prosperous community, at the expense of the rural population. By fostering the creation of an IT-enabled information infrastructure, Drishtee basically proposes to take the concept of middle-men out of the system, thereby providing villagers

with direct access to potential buyers of their products and sponsors/guarantors of loans, etc. This answers to the creation of a commercial market amid the rural community in India, with readily quantifiable benefits. As with any industry sector, once an example of a successful model is provided, others will enter the field. Centralized IT-enabled infrastructure catering to the needs of rural population can become a viable commercial market, serving, not only the 700 million people in India, but also billions across the world.

11 Appendix A: Aligned Programs

e-Chaupal: This has been established by the Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) primarily to facilitate trading of agricultural products. There is establishment of kiosks in areas where cash crops are predominantly grown. These kiosks do not follow the entrepreneurial model that Drishtee does and are primarily set up by the organization themselves. Farmers are able to access international market prices for their products and negotiate with buyers and participate in auctions. However, e-Chaupal does not offer a comprehensive bouquet of services that Drishtee does. Moreover, since the kiosks are supported by the company, rapid spread will be difficult till they can find a way to make these kiosks self-sustainable.

EID Parry’s corDECT: This has been established by India’s prominent business group, Muruguppas. CorDECT establishes kiosks in villages, primarily farmer’s residences to allow them access to market information about sale and purchase of inputs and outputs. Their model tries to follow a kiosk-sustainable model. However, like e-Chaupal, their services are primarily focused towards farmers. Also, they are geographically still limited on a single state and have not been able to prove their model a success in different regions of the country like Drishtee has.

TARAhaat is another model for bringing services via IT to the un-served rural market of India. TARAhaat combines a mother portal, TARAhaat.com, supported by franchised networks of village cybercafes and delivery systems to provide a full range of services its clients. TARAhaat differs from Drishtee in that it provides internet access via the world wide web, and not its own customized portal services. Although TARAhaat does provide matrimonials, TARAhaat also includes many features different than Drishtee including TARAvan, which delivers tangible goods to consumers and TARAcard, a system enabling villagers to buy on credit. TARAhaat’s mission to provide so many types of product offerings to villagers also gives it many obstacles to overcome that Drishtee’s specialized model does not face. For example TARAvans will have to overcome the problem of physical delivery of goods and services to remote areas across bad roads. TARAcard credit offerings face payment uncertainty.

12 Appendix B: SROI Methodology and Analysis

While some of Drishtee’s Social Impact Areas are easily quantifiable, such as the amount of dollars saved, others are more intangible and best evaluated in terms of qualitative impact analysis. The quantitative analysis focuses on transaction, travel and time savings whereas government revenue lost with decrease in use of transportation services is factored as a social cost. Many social benefits may not directly tie into villager’s income, but they still benefit society and give a higher reason for running the business than the bottom line. Such benefits as Human Capital Development, increased employment opportunities and improved quality of life have been discussed in the qualitative section.

12.1.1 Quantitative Analysis

SROI Analysis: In developing its quantitative methodology, Drishtee has drawn from models developed by Roberts Endowed Development Fund (REDF), one of the leaders in social enterprise. The use of a social benefit/cost ratio, adjusted for present value, gives a clear sign as to whether the social benefits outweigh the social costs and by what degree. Using traditional cost/benefit analysis benchmarks, if the ratio is greater than or equal to one, the project should be pursued.

SROI Ratio = Present Value of Social Benefits/Present Value of Social Costs

Social Benefits: Social benefits accounted for in the quantitative analysis of SROI are conservatively estimated, only accounting for dollars that the average villager saves by using Drishtee. The cost without Drishtee include transportation, fees, and lost wages due to travel time. Other benefits were considered too intangible for this analysis. However, when evaluating this project one must still account for them as positive results, albeit not quantifiable. Social benefits have been calculated by multiplying the estimated net savings through use of Drishtee services at each kiosk by the number of kiosks projected for each year. In order to factor in increases in usage level and population growth, net savings have been calculated to double for kiosks that are in the second year of operation and beyond.

Social Costs: In order to avail of the benefits of this new way of communicating and transacting, the society will have to relinquish certain advantages that they previously had. One example would be the loss in public transportation revenues as more villagers can take care of their tasks (certificates, licenses) at their local kiosk. Another example would be the loss in middlemen revenues. The majority of lost middlemen revenues, however, are considered to be lost in red tape and bribes and so this impact is small. A generous estimate of social costs applying to bus revenues been taken to arrive at our calculations.

Detailed analysis and calculation has resulrted in a benefit/cost ratio of 20 which means that for dollar of social cost, twenty dollars of social benefit are derived.

13 Appendix C: Contacts

DRISHTEE A-11, Ground Floor,Sector -2, [Opp: PDIL Building]NOIDA- 201301, U.P.IndiaPhone: 91- (120) - 2546380, 2546381Fax: 91 (120) - 2546386Email: [email protected]

Mr. Satyan Mishra, CEO [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Executive Summary - GlobalGiving · Web viewExecutive Summary. Drishtee is an India-based...

Documents

Transcript of Executive Summary - GlobalGiving · Web viewExecutive Summary. Drishtee is an India-based...