REMOVE POVERTY-THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP-SERIES 1

We all think that India is poor country. But I have something surprising to disclose that developed economies are also the member of the poor country club. Recession has created more depletion of financial assets and has degraded the living culture of these economies.  On the other hand it has been found that entrepreneurs are being highly focused towards resolving the social in-equalities in various segments and hence their cost of service is very low. But the problems which are being faced by them are access to capital to start the business. Well Corporate Social Responsibility can be used judiciously to alleviate these poverty problems through the entrepreneurs. Further CSR would reduce the government burden and Entrepreneurs would replace the negligence of the capitalist towards the poverty line of people.

Before that lets figure the poverty level of the world’s two Biggest Developed economies:

In US its being found

• In 2013, the official poverty rate was 14.5 percent, down from 15.0 percent in 2012. This was the first decrease in the poverty rate since 2006.
• In 2013, there were 45.3 million people in poverty. For the third consecutive year, the number of people in poverty at the national level was not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate.

In Europe its being found

• 17.0 % of the population in the EU-28 at risk of income poverty.
• The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates were observed in Greece and Romania (23.1 % and 22.6 % respectively), Spain (22.2 %) and Bulgaria (21.2 %), and the lowest in the Czech Republic (9.6 %), the Netherlands (10.1 %), Denmark (13.1 %), Finland and Slovakia (both 13.2 %).

What we find from here is opportunities for the entrepreneurs to start their business and uplift and bridge the gap of living style in-equality. We find that entrepreneurs who are in the category of zero profits or marginal profits and more on the NGO format are the best people to develop the business model for these poverty based markets.CSR and entrepreneurs can come together to create value and change the culture of living for these poverty based people.

Corporate social responsibility plays a pivotal role on the development of the social structure. Now if we develop the CSR spending for designing products with zero compromise on quality but on design and other areas we can create sufficient satisfaction to these poverty based customers.

For example those who are in poverty brackets unable to have a sustainable house for them construction cost and other cost such as sewage, water cooking etc can be divided up to define each and every cost component. When it’s being divided we can design the cost where cost will be shared and will be much lower as compared to the individual construction. A common Bathroom, a common water supply, a common cooking area, restricted electricity supply and only one room per family. Providing such facilities also helps to create demand for other goods and services as civilized process of living comes into picture. CSR can help the entrepreneurs to develop and connect the problems and design the process of delivery which leads to development of the society.

Providing health baby food to the infants is another way of developing and resolving the malnutritionproblems. Those families who cannot afford to have baby food –for them changing the container of packing and reducing the cost of transportation can significantly reduce the cost part and further as CSR is a part of the same cost will be negligible.

Entrepreneurs are the ideal candidate for these projects since they look for long term and their business model is always focused towards mass and linked with social causes. Entrepreneurs simply cut down on the cost part since they keep their margins and keep the volume numbers to scale the business. CSR alone will not be possible since for these type of poverty alleviation programme they have to recruit a separate team and salary based people would be less keen to join this bandwagon. Providing drinking facility and access to water at cheap price is only possible through entrepreneurs who set up a plant and they easily resolve the cost factor of safe drinking water. Further in these types of activities and projects rural employment also takes an identity and this also reduces the government social benefits.  CSR linked with entrepreneurs can create wonders.

So how do the entrepreneurs come together with CSR. We need entrepreneurship to grow in semi urban colleges where the young generation is completing their management level degrees. Idea is no ones monopoly hence you need to understand that connecting with this semi urban- students you get quick access to the problems and also resolve them based on real time experience of the problems. This activity expedites the poverty alleviation process and also entrepreneurs are encouraged to solve these type of problems as they are well acknowledged with the real problems. The world needs more entrepreneurs so that the growing in-equalities of the societies can be bridged.