Almost all of them have graduated from India’s premier management institutes. Some of them topped their class. A few were on the corporate fast track. But, at some point in time, they took a tangential turn, to tread a path less taken, that led them to the hinterland. They gave up their huge salaries (either existing or potential), jetsetting lifestyles, hype and celebrity status, and practically vanished from the face of this earth. Outlook sought them out to find out why they did what they did.
While their numbers are not too large, these bold social entrepreneurs are making a big difference. Agrees E. Abraham, director, Xavier Institute of Management (Bhubaneshwar), "Yes, there is a definite trend of MBAs looking at social sectors rather than the corporate one." Vijay Mahajan passed out of IIT, Delhi, in 1975 and then went on to do his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. A gold medallist at the latter, he was set to climb up the corporate ladder; in fact he had what people would call a cushy job at Philips. Then he chose to walk away.
"I had pretty much made up my mind during my stint at IIM. I was influenced by Anil Sadgopal and Kishore Bharti, who gave up lucrative jobs to promote science education in Hoshangabad. We went there as volunteers and were struck by the wide rural-urban divide. We felt that if our premium education had any use, it was here," he says. In 1982, he launched an NGO, Pradan, which today has over 250 professionals (some of them management graduates from IIMs).
Years later, in 1996, he set up India’s first micro-finance firm, Basix, which has already given loans of Rs 400 crore to over 1,50,000 villagers. Taking lessons from Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and his own experiences while doing projects for the World Bank, he realised the need to provide financing alternatives for the rural sector. "I felt professionals had to stay in the villages and work there on a long-term basis to understand their specific problems," he says.
The push factor at their alma mater also partially propels the likes of Mahajan and others like him into uncharted territories. At IIM(A), several faculty members had a clear social orientation. While leaders like the late Ravi Mathai had talked about a concept of a rural university, others have constantly impressed upon their students to choose rural India as their work environment. Even today, IIM(A) has a centre for management in agriculture and a public systems group that looks at social management issues. "It provides the culture and space for social entrepreneurship and instils the right kind of values among students," says an IIM(A) alumnus.
Other institutes like IIM(C) have introduced courses on social entrepreneurship and look at the social sector through their curriculum. In 1988, XIMB set up a centre for development research and training to develop the social sector in Orissa. The institute claims there has been an overwhelming response from students, and some of its projects—on food security, sustainable livelihood options for the rural poor and panchayati raj—have helped the poor. AdmitsXIMB’s Abraham: "Social entrepreneurship is gradually coming within the curriculum of established schools."
It’s also becoming the most-favoured option for IIM graduates. Take the case of Girish Sohani, who joined the social sector immediately after passing out of IIM(A). "The corporate sector may be the preferred choice, but the sense of achievement in terms of bettering someone’s life was a far greater attraction," he says. Instrumental in setting up the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation—later the BIAF Development Research Foundation—he used a family-oriented approach to create livelihoods for the poor and used theories and strategies he had picked up at the Ahmedabad campus.
Today, Sohani’s foundation operates in 30,000 villages in 10 states and helps mostly farmers. It works in areas like natural resource management and conducts research to improve the agriculture resource base in the country. "IIT (he is a Bombay alumnus) developed logical and analytical thinking, whileIIM broadbased my ability to handle real-life situations," he says.
There are others too. V. Vivekanandan, who joined the social sector after his stint at IRMA, or the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, has been one of the moving forces behind the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFSs), a grassroots organisation that has done remarkable work towards improving the livelihood of fisher communities in southern India.
A democratically managed society of fish workers, SIFFS has a 150-strong executive team comprising MBAs, engineers and technicians. SIFFS’ main objective is to ensure a sustainable livelihood in fishing and liberate fishermen from the clutches of middlemen, merchants and moneylenders, and establish producer control over fish marketing. SIFFS, which was registered as the apex body of a three-tier cooperative structure in 1980, currently has over 100 primary societies at the village level and works under a carefully calibrated system. The primary societies are involved in fish marketing, organising credit for fishermen as well as in promoting savings and providing insurance cover for members. At the district level, federations maintain liaison with funding agencies and providing marketing support to the societies. SIFFS also uses technology to enhance the earnings of fish farmers and is involved in technology development for their benefit. One of its important activities is in boat building and repair services.
Another one who was always destined to work for the poor—but who does not want to be named or talked about—was this graduate from IIM(C) who, when his friends were eagerly awaiting their campus interviews, was searching for destitute and orphaned children in the streets of Calcutta. His passion culminated in an NGO, where he roped in a few of his teachers who shared his vision and were willing to do their bit for the society. His organisation rehabilitates homeless children—including orphans, prostitutes’ kids, abandoned ones, and others who are in vulnerable situations.
Many IIM passouts join the corporate sector like others from their batch. But, at some stage, they get the urge to answer the rural call. Ashok Alexander, for instance, had everything going for him. An impressive educational background, acclaim as a chess player, successful stints in Hong Kong and New York with consulting firms before he set up McKinsey’s India office in 1992. He didn’t have to look anywhere but at the top end of the corporate pyramid—that rarefied and exalted space reserved for the best of the best.After working for 17 years at McKinsey, his life changed. He got an offer from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—funded by the richest man on earth—to handle its India project, Avahan, which addresses the AIDS epidemic problem in India. "It was an amazing feeling. We are trying to stop an epidemic and save lives. Nothing in the corporate world can have this kind of an impact or give you this kind of a satisfaction," he says.
But do those who step into the social sector right after college feel they have lost out? And is it difficult to give up lucrative jobs? The answer to both is a big no. For Alexander, leaving McKinsey was not too tough. The canvas was very different in some ways but in some others it was much similar to the corporate world. In his new avatar, Alexander was applying all the principles of business and management to the health sector. "The India I served at McKinsey was one where everything was available and proper. Here, I was confronted with the real India where people didn’t get two square meals a day," he says. And, since the two Indias were not really disconnected, he felt his managerial skills could be used more effectively in the latter one.
Even Mahajan has done better than most of his corporate counterparts. In 2002, he became one of Schwab Foundation’s 60 outstanding social entrepreneurs of the world, and was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in 2003 and 2004. He’s also a Fellow at the Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public International Affairs. But he does miss a few things. An NGO doesn’t enjoy the kind of legitimacy and access to funds a government agency does. He also misses the regular interactions with professionals one can have in a corporate setup.
Mahajan, Alexander and Sohani are just a few members of a growing breed of social entrepreneurs. They have dared to enter new areas. They have changed lives. And they have enjoyed themselves and felt satisfied. But even they admit that moreMBAs—and even others—have to venture into sectors that provide real challenges. The country needs solutions they can provide. As Mahajan sums it up, "If the best management brains in the country only sell shampoos and soaps, there’s no way India can progress."
