Rashmi Bansal, a graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A), batch of 1993, is out with her new book ‘I Have A Dream’ which brings forth stories of 20 idealists who think and act like entrepreneurs. Being a product of the Indian b-school system, PaGaLGuY interviewed Rashmi Bansal about her new book, management education in India and a few other questions. Some excerpts follow:
Why did you choose to focus on social entrepreneurship as a subject for the book?
In Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, I featured two social entrepreneurs – Venkat Krishnan of Give India and Vijay Mahajan of Basix. These stories got a fantastic response, even though they were not in the traditional mould of building a large organization motivated by revenue, bottomline and shareholder return. Those two stories made me realise that entrepreneurship is not only about commerce that it can be a tool to create social impact. The problem for any initiative, whether commercial or social is to sustain itself and scale up. Take education – while providing education to 10 people is fine and relatively easy, to scale it to help a million, some creative solution is required. Those are the kind of solutions I have talked about in ‘I Have a Dream’
What, according to you, is social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is something which is not easy to define. One model I have looked at in the ‘Rainmakers’ section of the book is a socially-inclined but self-sustaining organization ie one which generates profits like a company but where profit maximization is not the main objective. One example which comes to mind is Fabindia – all products are sourced from rural artisans who receive fair wages. The story of Rangsutra, a supplier to Fabindia, is featured in the book. However all social enterprises cannot generate profit. For example, education. Poor children cannot pay fees, it has to be funded by the government or donors. But can these funds be utilized in the most efficient manner possible? An organization like Pratham is now touching the lives of more than a million children. But the real impact of such work is visible only after 15-20 years!
Is getting into a b-school really required if one wants to become an entrepreneur?
No, I don’t think so. People do feel that without a b-school, their lives are incomplete. People have lost the ability to think for themselves. They need a stamp of approval from some outside authority to tell them that they are capable of doing something. It might be a better model if people start something on their own and then get into a b-school. Right now people do work for a couple of years before entering a b-school, but mostly because they couldnt crack CAT in their first attempt.
What would you suggest to people who want to be social entrepreneurs but have not got into a b-school?
As I said, getting into a b-school is not an important criterion to become a social entrepreneur. The place to start would be to join an existing organizations and learn about this space. You need not start an organization right at the outset. Starting on your own requires a lot of your time, effort and, creativity. When you want to start something badly, you will definitely find a way. Once you do it, you will need to motivate a group of people who share your dream and can do it. The main challenge is to build a team of people, motivate them, make them feel for the same cause or mission. Obviously it is not just money which motivates all the people. Also, the success of your organisation depends largely on how good the founder is.
At your time, there were fewer IIMs. Now, with newer IIMs coming up in bunches, what do you feel about the brand IIM?
Yes there are plenty of IIMs that have come up and are in the process of being started, but the thinking behind it is strange. Just putting a board in front of a building doesnt make it an IIM. There has to be a vision and a mission and an academic culture which one can associate with the institute. I believe that there should not be five IIMs starting in a single academic year. There can however be one IIM started every five years, to ensure that the brand IIM retains its sanctity. Even though IIM A started in 1961, the first three years were for groundwork and classes started after that. The founders were selfless and their goal was to build an institute which has the brightest minds, both in terms of faculty and students. There is no concrete reason today of starting an IIM in every state today. I think it is more of a political gimmick. Every new IIM should know the impact it will be making, and what it would be known for. I think they do not have either of these goals in mind, nowadays. Some of the new IIMS have no full time faculty and just a director.
What do you feel about short term dreamers and long term achievers?
Life is not a destination, its a journey; you have to enjoy every moment of it. You need to feel that you have learnt something today. If you feel that way, you will achieve many things and will, subsequently fulfill your dreams. You cannot check everyday if you have achieved the desired result as it doesnt work that way. In my case, I loved to write I used to write for magazines, work as a freelancer, became an editor, used to write for online media and was a consulting editor. I didnt do it for money who pays you to write a blog?
I would like to quote neurologist Daniel Levitin from Malcolm Gladwells book Outliers when he says that, scientific studies show that 10,000 hours are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything followed by the examples of the Beatles and Bill Gates. These people worked for what they loved and developed something different and unique which became a big success. If you dont do what you love, you will need to love what you do. After getting into a dream organization, you shouldnt get disillusioned after a couple of months. You will need to go through the grind. You should always focus on the positives and learn new things. Positive thinking delivers positive result