Harpreet Singh, Founder- Entrepreneur, MaDD

It is common knowledge that our planet is on the brink of ecological disaster and poverty still remains a big reality for millions and millions of people. Though we try to sweep the tell tale signs under the mat for fear of losing our lifestyle amenities, some of us have decided to make a change. Harpreet Singh, an IIT Delhi alumnus recognizes what is happening and in making a change he is also making his money. Yourstory met the Young Entrepreneur and found out more from him about how he is bringing awareness and making a living off of it. He says “MaDD – Making a Difference Differently is a youth driven social enterprise (a for-profit company; not an NGO!). The idea is

to make people realize that people like us, who fortunately have been decently educated, should stand up and own the problems around us like poverty, global warming, illiteracy, hunger, unemployment, sanitation, water, etc., rather than just cribbing about government’s inaction about them.”

“Secondly, if we put our minds together, as a lot of people in several organizations are doing, the solutions to the most challenging problems (like the ones mentioned above) can be made market driven, and hence sustainable (not charity driven)…which would also mean that you don’t really need to compromise hugely on your lifestyle, as is normally expected of such career paths.”

“We are trying in a small manner to contribute to such solutions by finding our niche as a high quality professional research & consulting firm in the development sector. We work with non-profits on high impact projects; with corporates on their CSR initiatives; and with international organizations on development focused research ,a team of young people from diverse backgrounds…engineers, planners, sociologists, etc and an advisory panel of highly experienced social entrepreneurs and academicians.”

Harpreet sees the world through the eyes of a true entrepreneur, but his heart is certainly in the right place. He identifies his company’s ideals saying “We act as what we call the impact enablers, indirectly impacting a lot of lives, by adding value to various developmental projects… both social and environmental, for example:

• We worked with a large non-profit to develop self sustaining business plans for their 8 state chapters. Our work indirectly impacts education of thousands of children in a positive manner and thus their families.
• We worked with an international organization to understand the market potential and consumer profile for low income housing in a specific geography. The research insights enabled a business house to come in and develop a large housing colony for the slum dwellers of that region and also provide various incremental services. The project is already benefiting numerous households. Now there is a plan to replicate the project in multiple other cities.
• We are also working with a big non-profit and an international computer manufacturer to develop a financially self-sustaining product takeback model for safe recycling of the e-waste generated out of their product...”

“India lacks a household level e-waste collection system; through vendors, all the current waste goes for unsafe metal recovery in landfills - huge health hazards for the workers involved and serious environmental implications ...if the proposed model works out, it can actually impact hundreds of people involved in the informal recycling sector directly and at the bigger level, our own earth in a hugely positive manner.”

“There are very few professional research & consulting firms completely focused on such issues. The big consulting firms have non-profit practices but either they are pro-bono, which lacks the organizational focus in the longer run (or in economic crisis times like today’s) or just too expensive for such projects to afford. Since our team is made up of young people that means fresher ideas, energy and ability to travel.”

By now you might be wondering how they plan to make any lucre. However, Harpreet says “While we work with a lot of non-profit organizations to maximize their impact and to be connected to what is happening on the grassroots; our business model is driven through working with corporates on their CSR plans. While big companies like TATAs, Wipro and Infosys have been working on such issues for a long time now, a lot of new-age medium and large companies are also realizing their responsibility towards their employees & employees’ families, the communities around their work areas, and the environment at large. Getting them started with strategic CSR plans and execution, rather than random philanthropy is a big driver of our business plans.”

“Unlike a lot of other organizations, we actually like working on the ground and be a part of the plan execution rather than just handing out an academic report. We have made a pool of resource persons specializing in different domains. By keeping the core team size small and involving specialists on a project to project basis, we have achieved break-even in the first few months of operations.”

Harpreet is going to be expanding and soon he explains “Since a set-up like ours does not require high capital expenditure, we plan to build the brand within this sector for 1-2 years, make reference point clients, and then mushroom out by setting up offices in different zones of the country and then in other developing countries with similar issues.”

He delved upon his personal journey as an entrepreneur and explained why she shunned the joys of a 9 to 5 for the pressures of his present life saying “I somehow could not relate to a 9-to-5 job. You can take n number of initiatives in a job, which I also used to do, but you still don’t drive the engine. I really felt that if I drive the engine, I will be much more happier than I am by sitting comfortably in the back seat.”

“Secondly, I was working with a non-profit organization before, and because of the image that people have of NGOs, I could not get a lot of my friends to start working on the issues that they would love to debate endlessly on. I somehow felt that I must take the lead and try to change this impression, by setting up a for-profit company, and still work on issues that you really care for. This success is distant but I am hopeful.”

“Not every day is as rosy as you like when you are an entrepreneur you have some good ones, you have some bad ones. The bad ones really shook up the confidence at times. With time, one starts taking them into one’s stride. It has been the same with me as well.”

Harpreet is still down to earth despite obvious reasons for posturing and before going into the details of what MaDD has achieved he humbly states “I am still pretty much an amateur entrepreneur. Mistakes are a part of life I guess, if I knew the perfect script beforehand, I won’t be human.”

“For a young organization like ours, getting the first set of projects is a big challenge because of various reasons like lack of experience, brand, network, etc. We have been pretty lucky by working on various high impact projects in the first few months’ time span itself and that too with big brands in this sector.

To the green entrepreneur within all of us, Harpreet counsels “Nothing starts as a big Idea, it all starts small, only thing different is the speed at which it grows. Therefore, keep walking the long road!!”

Yourstory wishes Harpreet and MaDD luck and strength in their attempt to make a difference (differently!) and thanks them for their time and effort in making the world a better place.