[Infographic] Social entrepreneurship landscape in India, Q1 2014

Being socially conscious has always been in the DNA of Indian entrepreneurs. Over the years, social enterprises in India are coming of age - they now show increased process maturity, a streamlined fund raising and fund management structure and talented teams. In fact, there are numerous ecosystem enablers that have played a major role in this ongoing evolution:

• There are now VC funds dedicated to funding social enterprises
• Crowdfunding platforms that can help social ventures get their start
• Conferences dedicated to be at the intersection of commerce and social good like the Sankalp Unconvention
• Entrepreneur-in-residence programs where they are mentored to take an idea to the product / service stage for social good

However, there are various hurdles yet to be overcome for social entrepreneurship to truly become part of the mainstream. What sectors are most social enterprises focusing on? Who is funding them? Are they receiving enough grants or is it a constant struggle to pay the bills? Read on to know more based on our interactions with social entrepreneurs.

Overview:

• 37.5% of the surveyed social entrepreneurs function in Education sector, followed by Healthcare at ~19%
• Not surprisingly, ~50% worked primarily with schools and 37.5% worked with NGOs for their operational work
• Hearteningly, ~69% were bootstrapped by the entrepreneurs
• ~56% have not received any Grants till date

Social Entrepreneurship Funding

• ~56% entrepreneurs have not received any grants
• 50% working with NGOs as their stakeholders, have received funding
• 20% working with corporates as their stakeholders, have received funding

Challenges

• 60% working with corporates did not receive any grants
• 33% working with corporates face problems in Market Awareness for their work
• 31% face problems in Recruitment and Talent Development for their operations

Expectations

• ~67% working with NGOs wish for a positive change in Corporate Support via CSR and Social Awareness
• 31% social enterprises hope that there is a better inflow of quality talent into the sector to deal with daily challenges of running a social venture

YourStory conducted a storytelling workshop for social enterprises on March 27, 2014, where Shradha Sharma worked with the participants on building an impactful story. Ultimately, although all social enterprises are working to make an impact, the ones with a compelling story are the ones which get noticed and fulfill their vision.

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