TC-I had previously featured an interview with the founder of Equitas and they were recently featured as a leader in implementing information systems in microfinance, by Greg Chen of CGAP. Some examples of technology being used by Equitas are,

E-Docs. Membership and loan applications are completed manually by branches but are couriered to a central processing center. The documents are then scanned and from there on out, remain paperless. Forms use a series of check boxes which can be read by scanners and coded automatically.  Remaining manual entries (e.g. names) are entered by a dedicated back office processing unit.

Real Time Meeting Monitoring. Within 15 minutes of the end of a group meeting, loan officers send a text message (SMS) by cell phone with three pieces of information: meeting attendance, loan collections, and when the meeting ended.  This information is picked up by Equitas’s system which then compares it with what is expected, and creates a branch-by-branch report.

Equitas also uses SMS to gather real time information on cash management and Optical Readers for back-office operations.  The Equitas model shows the need for MFIs to focus not just on innovation in the lending model, but also on driving efficiency through various stages of the loan process. MIS has played an important role in the growth of traditional financial institutions over the past few decades and there is no reason it should not do the same for MFIs.

The complete article by Greg Chen can be found here.

More information follows below:

The 15th Annual Harvard International Development Conference
April 3 – 4, 2009   |   Harvard Kennedy School

Register Now!  www.HARVARD-IDC.com

We would like to introduce you to the 15th Annual Harvard International Development Conference (IDC) at the Harvard Kennedy School.  In light of an increasingly challenging global context, this year’s theme, “IMPACT: Turning Global Challenges into Opportunities,” delves into the need for the reconceptualization of existing development paradigms, as well as the importance of cross-sector, entrepreneurial partnerships.

We are especially pleased to present our keynote speakers for this year’s conference:

Mr. John Wood, Founder, Room to Read; Author, ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World’
Dr. Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
Dr. Howard Zucker, Former Assistant Director General, World Health Organization

The core programmatic elements of the IDC are our 13 Panels and 4 Workshops under 4 Topics, each consisting of four to five leading development experts from a multitude of sectors: government, private sector, academia and international organizations.  This year’s topics include:

A.    International Trade & Finance
B.    Science & Technology for Development
C.    Human Rights & Human Security
D.    Private Sector & Entrepreneurial Solutions for Development

In particular, he posed four critical questions for those thinking of starting a new venture:

1) Is it (the idea or the organization) sustainable?

2) Is it cost-effective?

3) Is it scalable?

4) Is it measurable?

I thought these were particularly salient points, especially given the impulse to form organizations on the basis of what he called “emotional needs” rather than “market needs.”  He placed particular emphasis on the second question, stressing the point that “cost-effective” does not necessarily translate into “cheap,” but rather, implies that the organization is “investment” oriented, whether in the form of human capital, organizational capacity, physical infrastructure, etc.  He also emphasized the fourth point, stating that if the outcomes aren’t clearly defined, they cannot be measured, which poses the organization at the risk of “mission creep.”

The final point he made can be encapsulated in the following statement, “I say no to everything that’s not relevant.”  He emphasized the importance of not “following the money trail,” and investing time, resources, and effort only in those efforts that are relevant to the organizational mission and vision.  He cited examples of having turned down potential partnerships and funding opportunities in favour of maintaining organizational focus, and leveraging the organization’s strengths.  On this point, he asked a critical question, “Can we see a future where we can be better than anybody at this?”  Obviously, that requires that the organization remain on course, and learn how to say “no.”

Thank you to Professor Marla Felcher for challenging us to think critically about what it means to be effective leaders and marketeers!

Empowerment occurs when someone is given the means, either through new responsibilities, economic independence or other ways, to take a greater ownership in the actions of their everyday lives. Empowerment of individuals who were previously marginalized is one of the fundamental tenets of the social entrepreneurship movement.

Do you all agree or disagree? Please post comments below.

NGOs: Dig into your strengths and opportunities AND win great prizes!

Ethos Advisors and NGO Post have created a short survey to assess the needs to the NGO community and identify concrete solutions to improve motivated, high-impact NGOs across India. And we’ve got three great reasons to complete the survey:

1. A free assessment tool for your NGO. The survey is based on questions that leading NGO’s around the world have asked themselves and, by finding the answers, have found new ways to succeed and scale. Take a moment and complete this survey to better understand your stregnths and opportunities.

2. Tell us and tell the world: what are the new tools, websites and training that you need? This is your chance to help funders, service providers and corporate CSR departments design and customize new services for the NGO sector based on the information you share.

3. Submit to Win Excellent Prizes!!! Including:
-A new fuly-customized website for your organization based on cutting-edge technology that is simple and easy-to-use.
-Be selected as Grassroutes.in featured NGO that includes a custom Media Package that tells your organization’s story and an independently managed marketing     campaign for any purpose you choose
-Be featured in the CitiZen Section of the Deccan Chronicle

Hope you all take the survey.

The Environment Planning Group Limited (EPGL) is a socially minded for-profit company incorporated in Ahmadabad, India. EPGL’s vision is to manufacture, install and operate 3,000 Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purification systems in rural and urban India over the next five years to provide pure, low salt, soft, micro-organism-free, safe drinking water to over five million people at an average consumer price of US $0.004 per liter or US $0.25 per person per month.

The position focuses on financial reporting and analysis.  Applications are due by April 15, 2009, so be sure to review the details here and apply directly from the MBAs Without Borders website.

A little background on the TED conference:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). Attendees have called it “the ultimate brain spa” and “a four-day journey into the future.” The diverse audience — CEOs, scientists, creatives, and philanthropists — is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Nandan Nilekani, Jane Goodall, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono.

The India conference will answer questions like:

• Which local innovations are destined for global impact?
• Who are the young thinkers and doers capable of shaping the future?
• Can there be economic advancement without environmental destruction?
• Can a pluralistic democracy survive in the face of rising fundamentalism?
• Can we make money and be good? Really?
• What should we learn – or fear? — from China’s investment in Africa?
• Do we have enough water for everyone?
• How do we keep our youth challenged and our aged healthy?
• How can anti-poverty solutions be brought to scale?
• Is there wisdom to be found in traditional medicine?
• Which other ancient traditions can illuminate modern life?

This will be an event that any social innovator in India will want to attend – register to apply here.

The social reformer, who triggered the revolution against ‘sanitation crisis’, has been the main force behind changing social attitudes towards traditional unsanitary latrine practices in slums, rural villages and dense urban districts, and developed cost-effective toilet systems that have improved daily life and health for millions of people.

Dr Pathak will receive the award in Stockholm during World Water Week in August.

A core goal of the program is to link teams of Yale students with mission-driven social entrepreneurs in India over a four-month long course designed to bring the students and social entrepreneurs together to develop a business plan which addresses a specific management challenge the social enterprise is facing.  Key attributes for the course commencing in the Fall of 2009 are:

-         Five teams of 4 to 6 students each will be dedicated to working with a different social enterprise on a project vital to its continued organizational development;

-         The selected social entrepreneurs will visit the Yale campus for an intensive week of faculty and student interaction specific to their challenge;

-         Student team members will visit India to get a more practical view of the challenge and to meet with (or present recommendations to) each social enterprise’s management, staff and trustees;

-         A two-day conference will be held in India at which students, faculty, Yale alumni, each social enterprise’s representatives, and invited guests will hear and discuss the plans and explore issues of broader import to social entrepreneurs.

They are actively seeking, and accepting applications from, social enterprises in India interested in collaborating with them in next Fall’s course.  A one-page description of the program and an application form (due no later than April 10, 2009) are here and here.

His creation is Atlas Corps, which lures highly-skilled non-profit decision-makers from India and Colombia to the United States for a year, running Sept. 1 to Aug. 30.

He concentrates on India and Colombia because he speaks the languages and because they have highly-developed non-profit sectors. They also have a high opinion of the United States, Beale said.

To join this program, go here before April 1st, which is when the applications are due.

The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) Fellowship Selection Committee is delighted to announce that, after receiving and carefully reviewing the close to 500 internship applications it received for its 2009 edition, it has made offers to 24 outstanding candidates for 14 roles at 10 partner social enterprises that focus on development by means of sustainable for-profit entrepreneurship.

You can read further here.

More information can be found here and general information on Ennovent can be found here.

The training cost including accommodation is free for participants belonging to countries listed  in Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC). But participants from countries not listed can attend the training programme for the cost of $1500. Strangely, though the training programme is offered in India in partnership with the Indian’s government, India is not enlisted in ITEC. As a consequence, the fee applies to participants from India too!

Interested people can get more information on applying and information brochure here at EDII’s website.