Social Business: A Simmering New Sector

A significant rise in young talent entering the sector as well as a growing funding pipeline are clear signs of it maturing into an industry.

- Gayathri Vasudevan

2018 has been a watershed year for social enterprises. Three trends are apparent: 1) A number of young people from good educational institutions and/ or with great corporate backgrounds are starting social enterprises in a range of fields from energy, health, education, water, waste and so on; 2) India is seen as one of the most happening places for social business and the quantum of investments in this sector has increased significantly; 3) The number of incubators and accelerators focused on social enterprises has grown considerably. In this article, let us understand the implication for each one of us who is a social entrepreneur.

First, an increase in the number of young people starting or joining a social enterprise is a clear sign of the maturity of social business as an industry. In the past, an enterprise focused on the triple bottom line, which was pretty much seen as chasing a dream. A plethora of successful examples have meant that many see this as a viable career option — where decent and comfortable income can be earned while pursuing a driving need to solve a social problem. Let me name a few and give a background of the trendsetters who have inspired others to follow in their path:

1.Sattva led by three people from BITs Pilani who have come into their own in 2018 as problem solvers and catalysers.

2.Anthill led by two IIT graduates who applied their technical and architectural skills to create playgrounds from waste.

3.Samhita operates as a social sector consulting company that enables people and organisations to design and implement their corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. The company develops CSR strategies, plans and implements CSR projects, conceptualises and facilitates employee engagement, and drives cause-related marketing campaigns.