Feeling extremely sluggish I stumbled into the hotel pool for an early morning swim before the delights of breakfast. Its amazing how quickly eating curry for breakfast not only seems normal – but just what you fancy. On the way in I picked up the hotel ‘Message of the Day’ which was reflecting on the ‘path to happiness’. Without copying out the whole A4 text there were some elements that sprung out about the role that the act of giving imparts. This idea stayed with me for the day as different aspects brought me back to the value base of social enterprise and the question of what defines a really effective social enterprise from less effective or possibly damaging structures and processes.
Vana led a short session at breakfast that built on the night before and gave more context to the situation here in Tamil Nadu. From a modest and quiet start Vana’s knowledge, involvement and passion started to become more apparent and it was good to start to see what a lot we had to learn from others in the group and how initiatives were developing in such an environment
Then off to visit Sri Arunodayam and to meet the young founder, Iyyappan. A project which he set up because of his own personal experiences, for children with mental disabilities found abandoned on the streets. For us this was our first real journey into urban Chennai and our first chance to engage in a small way with a group of people facing life and death gaps in basic care provision. Also the first real chance to see optimism, mutual support and simple pleasures of being and sharing together expressed.
Of all the visits this one proved to have probably the most profound effect on much of the group - at least up until the 2nd Reflection period. We had discussions long afterwards about aspects of the morning based around our emotional responses, our inabilities to do much more really than observe the work and activities for a few hours - just playing, holding and praising the children. There was an enormity about the challenges that the staff were facing, how this was just the tip of a largely unseen iceberg that left us feeling pretty insignificant - also a realisation for me that I had slipped from my comfort zone of being the expert with most of the solutions.
Vana led a short session at breakfast that built on the night before and gave more context to the situation here in Tamil Nadu. From a modest and quiet start Vana’s knowledge, involvement and passion started to become more apparent and it was good to start to see what a lot we had to learn from others in the group and how initiatives were developing in such an environment
Then off to visit Sri Arunodayam and to meet the young founder, Iyyappan. A project which he set up because of his own personal experiences, for children with mental disabilities found abandoned on the streets. For us this was our first real journey into urban Chennai and our first chance to engage in a small way with a group of people facing life and death gaps in basic care provision. Also the first real chance to see optimism, mutual support and simple pleasures of being and sharing together expressed.
Of all the visits this one proved to have probably the most profound effect on much of the group - at least up until the 2nd Reflection period. We had discussions long afterwards about aspects of the morning based around our emotional responses, our inabilities to do much more really than observe the work and activities for a few hours - just playing, holding and praising the children. There was an enormity about the challenges that the staff were facing, how this was just the tip of a largely unseen iceberg that left us feeling pretty insignificant - also a realisation for me that I had slipped from my comfort zone of being the expert with most of the solutions.
We were provided with a fantastic lunch where the art of eating with our right hand suddenly became an essential skill. One which I have to say we did get more efficient at as the week progressed.
Then onto the Rural Innovations Network. This was a real contrast to the morning, within the setting of a University institution - board room, power point etc. After introductions the two representatives from the Network present gave a run down of 2 quite different projects that they were leading on, one that was dealing with manufacturing work outsourced to villages and the other, ROPE which linked rural artisans with designers so that an improved quality product could be produced that could be marketed through international companies such a IKEA.
Paul, the founder of RIN, then summarised the overall work of RIN which provides seed funding, mentoring, scaling up of projects, developing partnerships and giving marketing help to new products. In the time available it was impossible to get more than a flavour of the initiatives. As always a few comments struck me personally. He suggested that in his work he felt that few investors understood the ‘markets for the poor’. He went on to talk about how the poor use their wealth – and suggested that a role of rural innovators should be to see how this could be better used for their benefit – but in a sustainable economic model for the social entrepreneur. The image on the screen was of a rural shop providing what farmers and village people needed – not what a traditional ‘for profit’ retailer might select to supply. And I have to say that the social entrepreneur in me loved that shop! I remembered in the early years when my business was a project, that we had played around with some of those ideas and piloted some approaches on our own estate- but these were wound down because at the time we hadn’t developed our own asset base or core business that now provides us with some stability. Definitely time to revisit some of these ideas on my return. However Paul also pointed out that only about 20% of innovators are also entrepreneurs … perhaps a personal message for me there as well?
The evening out again to dinner at a fabulous old palace meeting with a number of invited guests. Conversations ranging from climate change research to the problems looming for India with the credit crunch to a micro finance operation linking retailers with investment monies with emerging small social enterprises. Head now seriously starting to explode and the comfort of the hotel room a welcome retreat at the end of the day.
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