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CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility
Last Updated (Wednesday, 24 June 2009 05:42) Written by ram Wednesday, 24 June 2009 05:37
It's about 8 weeks since that memorable meet with Dr.Harish Hande(NH, 1990). About 25 of us who got to share some rare insights from Dr. Harish and of course had great time meeting each other. The past 8 weeks, I am sure were eventful both at work and home. Now is the time to catch up, with old buddies, the new ones from old days and spare a thought to the cause of Social Responsibility through one of our alumni Manaswini(SN,2001).We are meeting on 27th of June at Koramangala Club, Bangalore at 5Pm. The agenda for the evening is as follows:
Date: 27th June 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 5:00 Pm
Venue: Koramangala Club, Bangalore
Agenda:
- Presentation on “Service – A social responsibility or the business I seek? & proposed projects. - 30 min.
- Open platform to share experiences or opinions related to CSR – 30 mins
- Wrap up and moving forward plan – 15 mins
- Snacks / cool drinks & networking (Beer on chargeable basis)
To give you a brief on the Speaker, Manaswini(SN,2001) is a very active member of the Bangalore TAA chapter. She is also very actively involved in various community activities both as a representative of her employer and on a personal level. She is one glaring example of managing the corporate life and the social life in a balanced manner. She will present to us on how we as a corporate or individuals can integrate business operations with socio-economic development of various stake holders and the communities.
The following is what Manaswini has to say about CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an initiative by corporate world to integrate business operations with socio-economic development of various stake holders and the communities.
A broad term “Service” is the appropriate domain that represents my topic of interest for this session. It enables a collaborative support platform intended in reducing the supply demand gaps to achieve sustainable community development & step towards good governance. It typically ranges from providing infrastructural aid to support growth of marginalized section of the society; & conversely generating Innovative business models & new business avenues.
Hence, the paradigm of “Service” or CSR merges different dynamics; such as humane & ethical approach, with corporate governance & best business models. There is an inherent responsibility of every capable human being to contribute his/her worth to make their life blissful; who are deprived of bare essentials.
The quote aptly describes this inherent responsibility:-
“Do not believe that you can by means of service- reform or reshape the world. You may or may not; that does not matter. The real value of service, its most visible result, is that it reforms you, reshapes you. Do service as a spiritual discipline; then you will be humble and happy. “
So, what are you waiting for, block your calendars on 27th June, 5:00Pm.
Be there else you are missing a lot!
There is a nominal fee of 75Rs for Annual and Life Members and 100Rs for non Members. More details about membership can be found at the event.
For all those who want to come but are put off by Bangalore Traffic, we have car pooling offered by some of our alumni. Please feel free to contact Ravi (9901840840), Dev (9845005686), Kimi (9845433372). If any other alumni are interesting in car pooling please contact me (Ramjee, 09342509088) or Ravi (9901840840)
The above event on 27th June is sponsored by our alumni Raghunandan & Seshamani Varadu of ERG India.
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Harish Hande: The Man who lighted the street
Last Updated (Tuesday, 21 April 2009 02:34) Written by rAm Sunday, 19 April 2009 00:00
The Man who Lighted the Street
Selco may not strike a chord to most of us, but to lakhs of households and business who brave the realities of life with a simple on the face, across Karnataka and Gujarat, , Selco is literally the light giver.It gives me immense pride to mention that the man behind this wonderful organization is an IIT KGP alumnus. Let me introduce you to Harish Hande(Energy,NH,1990), an entrepreneur, a leader, and a beautiful human being. He was recently awarded the Boldness in Business in award by the Financial Times Group.
Harish started off with his story after IIT, on how the concept of Selco emerged out of his Ph.D, on rural electrification.(Your's truly was late to the meet and missed out the initial few minutes, so will continue from there).
By the time I reached the meet, Harish was talking about his experience with the street vendors and how Selco solved their problems. A typical street vendor needs 3-4 hrs of lighting in the evening. He spends about 15 INR/day for renting out a kerosene lamp. A solar charged light with which would last about 6hrs can be made available to him at about 10 INR/day. Surely that is a winner.
But the challenge has not yet started. How does Selco make an expensive solar equipment affordable for the street vendor, who has no fixed income, who does not fit on the loan radar of all the banks, who is deemed a high risk? The answer to these questions is the story of Harish, story of Selco.
Early on they realized that great technology which is not affordable is not useful. They had to understand the cash flows of the poor man. Harish provided a little insight into this. The poor don't have the cash / financing abilities to make an upfront payment or guarantee a high monthly payments. But that does not mean they cannot pay, in fact they pay more for energy than we do. In the above example of the street vendor, he pays 450 INR/month!!.
How do you solve such problems? Understand the customer.
They sit with the customer, understand their problems both technical, social, financial, observe the conditions and come up with a solution. One outcome of this was the creation of entrepreneurs who provided solar technology at an affordable price and in the process profitable. In the street vendor case, one person provided the vendors with solar charged lights on a rental basis, and he was financed by micro finance institutions.
There were numerous other examples of midwives in Gujarat, the salt farmers in Gujarat, the flower plucker's in Madurai, the street vendors of Bangalore, the farmers in Karantaka. Each of them a different challenge and each a different solution.
Harish says, that one of their philosophies at Selco has been “Not to take, No as an answer”. They strive to come up with practical solutions, than backing away saying technology does not fit in.
Another interesting aspect that Harish addressed is the people in his company. How he insists that all those who join Selco understand the finances of the poor. Narrated an incident where the CFO rejected a hike in salary as the company did not reach the goal.
Harish has a built a great team with him at Selco, most of his technical staff though low on qualifications are among the best when it comes to what they do. Harish makes it a point that everyone in the company grows. This includes the office peon, who is trained in technology and now is an expert technician, the driver who does sales and so on. This itself speaks of the company culture. Though they can earn much higher salaries, the employees are still with Selco because of their passion to what they do.
If I were to write on what Harish shared and my interpretations of it, I can write a book. Here, I will summarize his speech:
Think in terms of a solution, not just a product.
Technology is not useful, if it is not affordable.
Have respect for individual and what they do.
Innovation is finance is a key for creating sustainability.
Develop practical solutions.
Understand the user and develop products for them.
Think long term.
Long term takes lot of hard work, no quick solutions.
The following phrase which Harish mentions sums up Selco, “ Solar is expensive for the rich, affordable for the poor”.
TAA Bangalore chapter organized “Interface with Harish Hande” on 18th April 2009. We started of at 4:30 and by 5:00 There was a motley crowd of about two dozen people. We ended the evening with the senior most alumni present V Seshmani(1969) presented a memento to Harish on behalf of TAA Bangalore.It was snacks and catching up with the junta. It was 3hrs worth the time spent. We congratulate Harish for all the great stuff and wish him good luck in the all his future efforts. You can find the photos from the event on flickr.
The following are a must read to know more about Harish and Selco.
Interview with Sramana Mitra .
Interview on Live Mint.
SELComment, Selco Blog
Ramjee Ganti (NH, 2003)
Photos: Kimi ( RP,1992)
Interface with Harish Hande 18th April 2009
Last Updated (Monday, 13 April 2009 11:37) Written by Ravi Friday, 10 April 2009 10:09
Technology Alumni Association (Bangalore Chapter) Presents
Interface With Harish Hande
TAA Bangalore Chapter is pleased to announce a felicitation and interface event with award winning KGPian Harish Hande, Founder and MD of Selco India HQ in Bangalore on 18th April evening. Harish has won several awards for his outstanding achievements in the social entrepreneurship domain and in sustainable energy deployment for weaker section. He has pioneered a business model that is both innovative and of global relevance. He was awareded the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and more recently the FT ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business (corporate responsibility) Award announced in March 2009. He serves on the boards of several organizations and is founding member of several international organisation councils.
Please mark your calendars to hear him speak live on many interesting topics and to have the opportunity to interact with him.
Program details
Timings: 4:30 PM - 7:15 PM
Agenda: Registration followed by Harish's Intro and felicitation, Speech by Harish, Q&A session, Snacks & networking and Wrap-up.
Venue: Hong Kong Restaurant in Church street (was called Saigon before) - above Ruby Tuesday/below Oye Amritsar, Bangalore - 560001
