SVP which was first initiated in Seattle USA by a small group of Microsoft folks, has grown to be a movement of significance since it brings in corporate venturing philosophies to the social sector
Three years ago, I was at an identity cross roads. The company I was running, Zensar, was doing really well. I had completed an exciting stint at NASSCOM as Chairman of the association and my national role in CII, heading Knowledge Management and Business Transformation had settled into a routine. The social movement we had commenced in Zensar Foundation was being recognised as a substantial contributor, not just to the city of Pune but also Hyderabad and Johannesburg, our other pools of manpower concentration. What is the next horizon, my mind was asking?
A chance call from two friends, Ravi Venkatesan former Chairman of Cummins and Microsoft and Aarti Lakshman, CEO of Social Venture Partners (SVP) gave the new direction to focus my social energies. SVP India had been founded by Ravi and the initial experiment of getting together accomplished folks from the corporate sector to collaborate for social good had taken off in Bengaluru. It took us just a few months to replicate and innovate on the model in Pune and get the best of corporate partners – Baba Kalyani, Rahul Bajaj, Meher Pudumjee, Arti Kirloskar, Rati Forbes, Kumar Gera and others to become the initial engines to boost this venture.
SVP which was first initiated in Seattle USA by a small group of Microsoft folks has grown to be a movement of significance since it brings in corporate venturing philosophies to the social sector. Take the example of Pune which today has over thirty engaged partners contributing money time and mentorship to small NGOs – Jagruti which trains nursing assistants for the healthcare industry, home chefs which enables livelihoods in the catering sector and Helplife, which sets up units to manufacture lower cost sanitary napkins for the underprivileged. SVP Pune is also the seed funding agency that has enabled the ambitious Pune City Lighthouses Employability skills initiative to come life, an initiative that is now attracting national at today has over thirty engaged partners contributing money time and mentorship to small NGOs – Jagruti which trains nursing assistants for the healthcare industry, home chefs which enables livelihoods in the catering sector and Helplife, which sets up units to manufacture lower cost sanitary napkins for the underprivileged. SVP Pune is also the seed funding agency that has enabled the ambitious Pune City Lighthouses Employability skills initiative to come life, an initiative that is now attracting national attention and funding interest from some of the country and the world’s leading corporates.
The uniqueness of the model lies in the collaboration between partners and with the funded agency and the probing done by the SVP Grants Committee which ensures that the funding pathway is well examined and metrics of success are established and monitored. In a country where many well-meaning NGOs and social enterprises fall by the wayside after a promising start because of the inability to plan their growth and sometimes because they simply spread themselves too thin, an organisation like SVP becomes the wind beneath their wings and also the steady hand at the tiller to steer the social ship through stormy waters to the promised shore. The experience of partners, not just the industry recognised names but also young and capable entrepreneurs like Aasiya and Samana Tejani and Narendra and Bharati Goidani helps to build truly successful partnerships.
SVP India itself has embarked on an exciting mission to encourage a 1,000 partners and enable a million livelihoods. Initiatives like the Lighthouses and the success of chapters in Bengaluru Pune and Mumbai and soon in Delhi and Hyderabad gives us the confidence that we have embarked on a truly meaningful journey that will give meaning not only to the many lives we will touch but to our own existence as members of a growing fraternity of philanthropists for an inclusive nation. And at a global level, SVP Seattle where it all started has grown to over 500 partners. Other SVP chapters all over the world are proving time and again that a connected and engaged world is possible if enough concerned citizens are willing to get on the road to philanthropy and make a difference to the world.
In a city like Pune, the opportunities to engage are tremendous. The Pune Smart City program is a good start point encompassing fourteen uplifting projects and each project has adequate touch points where citizen cluster can engage and throw their weight behind the efforts of the official machinery. The availability of the four key verticals in which Pune City Connect is operating jointly with the Municipal Corporation – Digital Literacy for all, Municipal Schools transformation, Swachh and the Pune Lighthouse initiative are low hanging fruit for individual as well as corporate social responsibility funds and volunteering to make a difference. PCC will soon be announcing its volunteering circles which will enable volunteers to contribute individually or collaboratively to any or all of these areas.
At a personal level, my involvement with SVP at the global, national and local level has enabled me to see social change happening in front of my eyes. Inspiration comes from Dr Mashelkar who for many years has led the Innovation Council of our family foundation NES, from Jaya Kale who selflessly runs and grows the Jagruti Nursing Assistant program, from Sonali Ojha whose Dream Catcher training brings out the agency in every young person who starts a Lighthouse program and from every child or young adult whose tears we are able to wake away and provide a skill or livelihood that enables them to hold their head higher in society. But then, in the immortal words of Robert Frost we have “promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep.”
By Dr. Ganesh Natarajan
