A 3-Step Approach to Creating Smart Revolution Through Your Societal Entrepreneurial Models How to create models for society which are sustainable?
By Rahul R
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Entrepreneurship in 2018, and beyond, is undoubtedly about focusing on a range of actual issues and resulting in the improvement of the overall quality of life of Indian citizens. Now, the societal focus brings with it a range of challenges for entrepreneurs (especially the newbies) to solve.
Hence, in a bid to demystify societal entrepreneurship and also to present a wholesome guide to newbie entrepreneurs intending to take projects that could yield smarter results, Entrepreneur India interacted with a multitude of experts to analyze what smart social entrepreneurship holds in store and brings with it:
Analyzing challenges – the first step
"Today's world faces significant challenges. They include environmental challenges such as climate disruption caused by man-made greenhouse gas emission, and societal challenges which include rising income inequality and more," states Vivek Singh who is Director at Saraswati Sewa Foundation and CEO – Innovant International. Singh works with various top bodies in missions such as Upskilling, women empowerment, and a host of societal causes.
Now, as far as mitigating these challenges are concerned, Singh acknowledges that a community of organizations have today started to acknowledge these issues, and even customizing their operating models whilst using disruptive technology as aides.
He states that the critical sectors, at this juncture, for entrepreneurs to focus on would be education, transportation, and healthcare; all of which have a direct impact on the Indian vast majority.
"Technology is the backbone of widespread coverage at affordable costs in record low time, "he believes.
As the old saying goes, "Challenges arise to be mitigated" the silver lining is the advent of ideas which could guide young entrepreneurs in the right direction as far as offering smart solutions are concerned.
"With robust models created, aspects such as predictions of deviations in personal healthcare become possible. This would also lead to effective management of lifestyle disorders," informs Anoop Pollavaram who is Operating Partner at Bengaluru-based Aspada Investments which is an early-stage Venture Capital firm.
Hence, you could take the lead here, with respect to actually applying smart technology leveraging concepts in tandem with what the citizens of the country would like to see.
Actual societal impact – the second step
With challenges taken care of, the next step is to channelize the solutions towards society.
"Social impact ecosystem is buzzing with activities in general. This phenomenon is more visible in the metropolitan cities though. It is yet to seep in to the tier-2 cities and below," informs Singh.
The key takeaway here is for you to focus on the tier-2 and below markets; by staying in sync with the trends in metropolitan cities. On paper at least, the former represents a huge opportunity to take smart entrepreneurial models to the masses.
"With technology like AI and ML, there could be aspects wherein beds would be made smarter through internet to transmit vital data of patients. This is an example of taking technology to the masses," states Chetan Patil who is Co-Founder and CEO at Bengaluru-based Rakya Technologies which is a healthcare firm.
Patil believes in a step-by-step approach which is driven by the sheer amount of data; which are then crunched and represented to users through interactive filters.
Empowering the masses – the final step
Societal impact is not complete when the masses are not empowered to make vital decisions at critical times. Experts readily second the aspect of creating a "pure" revolution with smart solutions.
"We are witnessing huge adoption of our services as they are cutting-edge tech-based and ride on mobile phones which already has a remarkable penetration in small cities and villages," signs-off Singh.
Hence, the scenario is now positive when it comes to you being seen as a truly smart entrepreneur.