So what have we learned from this social initiative?
We've learned that there are four different
phases, at least, in developing a solution.
First of all, it's to identify a need that is not being served well.
Secondly, it's to design a solution.
In our case, it was a need for marketplace literacy and we designed education.
Thirdly, there needs to be a technology that can
be deployed to maximize reach or to scale our approach.
In our case, it has been a video based approach.
And finally, there needs to be an enterprise model.
In other words, we need to figure out why anybody would do
what we think they should do, or what we believe they should do.
What is the incentive for them to participate in the education in our case?
We've learned a number of intangibles from this social initiative.
For example, the most important thing is to find the right people.
To try to implement
the program.
This is perhaps, more important than having financial resources.
Having the best people, and a place to work in, is perhaps
more important and the resources will find a way to get there.
Implementation is everything.
Ideas are great but it's really about implementation.
It's really about making things work at the ground level.
That's why you need the people. It's very important to start small, and
fail small. And fail quickly if possible.
If you learn how to get to 20 people, you can then learn how to get
to 100 people, and then learn how to get to thousands of people, and then beyond.
And finally, it's very important to keep your promises.
If you're working in a village, the promise you
make is like making a promise in a fishbowl.
You have to make sure and, and promise what you can deliver.
Otherwise the word will get out, and very soon
you will lose trust as well.
So these are just some of the intangibles in running a social initiative.
Once again, it's relevant for you as you
think about your project in terms of the problem.
The opportunity, the solution, the
enterprise plan and the sustainable outcomes.
In our case,the problem was the lack of marketplace literacy
and our opportunity and our geography has been in southern India.
Our solution was the educational program which we augmented in a number of ways.
We also created an ecosystem by farming or re-activating self help groups of women.