Catalyzing Social Investment in India
Alejandro Litovsky
November 20, 2009
I’ve just come back from Delhi, India, where we brought together 120 leaders to catalyze investment for entrepreneurial solutions. The meeting is a key milestone in the work we are doing with the Tallberg Foundation, in the run up to the Rework the World Summit in Sweden in 2010.
A broad spectrum of partners gave the meeting a real flavour of cross-sector action: the Confederation of Indian Industries, the Ministry of Rural Development of India, YES Bank Ltd., New Ventures India, the Dishtree Foundation and Rianta Capital.
The highlight: The frank dialogue between investors, real government decision-makers, and social and environmental entrepreneurs. The insight: That catalyzing social investment to scale up some of today’s solutions is not only about ‘deal flow’, but also about enabling a strategic conversation on how to blend public and private investment and finance, and how to distribute roles within an ecosystem approach to investment, key elements in our work to advance cross-sector collaboration to scale the impact of entrepreneurial solutions.
Participating banks, venture capital funds, angel investor networks and foundations, had the chance to engage in creative conversations and problem-solving with entrepreneurs.
Among the participants:
- Bunker Roy, Founder, founder of the Barefoot College
- Arvind Mayaram, Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of Rural Development of India
- Arun Kumar, President of Development Alternatives
- Caroline Howe, Board Member, Indian Youth Climate Change Network, and Director of Climate Solutions
- Uma Swaminathan, Director of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA),
- Meera Shenoy, ED, Employment Generation Mission, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad
An ‘investor game’ provided some adrenaline for the afternoon. Here real investors competed (with fake money) to deliver cutting-edge investment strategies, responding to the proposals developed collaboratively by participants during the meeting.
The Investors included:
- Sanjoy Sanyal, Country Director of New Ventures India, a partner of Rework the World, who acted as convener of a broad investor network
- Paul Basil, Founder and CEO, Villgro
- Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network
- Karan Gupta, Promoter, Breathe Ventures
- Rita Soni, Country Head- Responsible Banking, YES Bank Ltd.
- Vinod Kala, Director, Emergent Ventures India
- Sohini Bhattacharya, Director, South Asia Partnerships, Ashoka
