There are nearly 2 million social enterprises in India focused around overcoming poverty, bettering social outcomes, and improving employment rates. A good example of this is found in dairy worker unions, like AMUL, that pushed out the middlemen of the 1940's and allowed farmers to take control of their industry. Organizations like this empowering not only the poor, but also other marginalized groups like the landless and women. Nowadays, social enterprise groups directly employ the disadvantaged, with over half also providing skills training.
A few examples of such social enterprises include SELCO Solar Pvt., Basix Krishi Samruddhi, and Rangsutra. SELCO provides solar lighting to underprivileged business owners, allowing them to operate without dependence on fuel-based lights. Basix provides supplies and advice to farmers to help them succeed. Rangsutra employs artists from all over the country with the goal of improving relations between artists and the community.
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Ganesh Natarajan is the Founder and Chairman of 5FWorld, a new platform for funding and developing start-ups, social enterprises and the skills eco-system in India. In the past two decades, he has built two of India’s high-growth software services companies – Aptech and Zensar – almost from scratch to global success.