Social Entrepreneurship: Social Entrepreneurs in India

As soon as we hear “Women Entrepreneur”,  we realise that we, as a society, have achieved social equality on the basis of gender, to some extent. Woman entrepreneurs refer to that section of women who manage and organise a business. These women do not always belong from privileged backgrounds (established societies and higher-income groups), but from all parts of the country. They set up examples for an ideal women- powerful, diligent and ambitious. Lakshyam was established as an NGO in the year 2012 by a group of people who shared the common vision of working for economic, political and socially marginalized communities for their holistic advancement and implementing specific, customized, cost effective, scalable and replicable models for community development.  The main objectives of this organization are simple, but require patience, diligence and perseverance to achieve. One of the aims is to enable children from underprivileged backgrounds to develop not just academically...

‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children’- - - - - Nelson Mandela 40% of India's population is below 18 years of age, which means that at 400 million our country has the world’s largest child population. However, it is heartbreaking that less than half of India’s children between the ages of 6 to 14 do not go to school especially in rural areas. The concept of organized child welfare in India began after independence itself, as certain formal commitments were made and strategies were legalized to provide children with basic rights. These exist in the form of clauses in the Indian constitution, national policies and legislations. In spite of these constitutional safeguards, children of our society, especially the poor and underprivileged are being denied their basic rights and dignity as human beings. We all have a duty towards our society and our children. ‘Lakshyam’ an NGO based in Delhi, comes as a ray of hope to...

Constructing the definition of social entrepreneurs, these are the individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are persistent and ambitious, tackle major social issues and offer new ideas for a wide- scale change. These social enterprises act as fertility ground for developing relations of trust between business, government and the civil society. In today’s era, social entrepreneurship revolves around creating and implementing effective, innovative and sustainable solutions to battle social and environmental challenges that are bound to bring about a productive change in the society. As the Swiss Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum put it out in an interview with the Hindustan times: “India has some of the most advanced and innovative social entrepreneurs. We believe and already see that many of the models developed in India” With more than 57% enterprises being 5 years old or younger, 24% having female leadership a...