TWINE : Making Inanimate Objects Interactive like Never Before

You want it, you need it, you have asked for it and now: you have it. A truly legendary device created by two MIT Media Lab Grads: David Carr and John Kestner can remove a lot of anxiety from your life. Now you can monitor your devices and environment of your house while on the go without even a slightest nerd degree. It’s the simplest way to get the objects in your life tweeting or emailing.

About The Magic Box:

Twine is a 2.5” marvel square with temperature and vibration sensors embedded in it along with a magnetic switch. Twine is powered by the on board micro USB or two AAA batteries. It also sports an extra slot for connecting it with other sensors and is wifi-enabled which connects it to the web.

How It Works:

Twine is a wireless module with wifi and integrated with a cloud based service. The Spool web app enables you to monitor and control your twines regardless of the fact in which part of the world you are in. You just need to set some rules for its working mind you, no coding skills required and that’s it. One might, for example, compose the rule, “WHEN moisture sensor gets wet then tweet, ‘The basement is flooding!’”

There’s nothing to install — just point Twine to your WiFi network. Sensors are immediately recognized by the web app when you plug them in and it reflects what the sensors see in real time, which makes understanding and testing your rules easy.

Sensors :Sense Organs Of Your Inanimate World

• Thermometer: Measures the temperature. Is your fridge breaking down?
• Accelerometer: Detects vibration,impact,motion and orientation. Has your mail arrived? Is someone knocking at the door?
• Magnetic Switch: Senses the movement of a magnet when it is moved towards or away from it. Is your mother awake? Is someone trying to break in?
• Moisture Sensor: Detects the presence of water. Is your basement flooding?

Besides these sensors there can be many other like weight or heat sensor which you can plug into your twine and its use can be as vivid and varied as your imagination can think of.

Output:

Once the information goes online, you can configure spool to respond and give output through various channels like twitter, email, text message and configurable http request.

After going through above mentioned dumbfounding features, your mind must be engaged in thinking of various techniques and places where twine can be put into use.

One of the most out of box usage mailed to Twine’s creators is  from a gentleman who operates ice machines around a particular city. He plans to put weight sensors under the machines and then have Twine text him where there are only ten bags of ice left in the machine. That way he doesn’t have to drive around all of the time to keep track of which machines need to be refilled.

One can not always listen to his/her heart especially when your pocket is pinching.Fortunately this is not the case with Twine, it is reasonably priced at under $100, which makes it a good buy.

Contributed by Aditya Jalan.

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Of Business Models and Business Plans

What’s a business model? How does it relate to a business plan? Are they different or the same? Well, they are not the same but they are not two completely different things either. They dwell together or in other words they synchronize. A business model is like a destination; a business plan is how you’re going to get there. A business plan details the business opportunity you are seeking to exploit. A Business model defines the manner by which the business enterprise delivers value to customers, entices customers to pay for value, and converts those payments to profit. To sum up, the Business plan is static and the Business model is dynamic.

Here’s a brief analysis:

Business Plan:

A Business Plan is a formal statement of goals which are centred at a business to look ahead and which allocates resources, focuses on key points and prepares for problems and opportunities.
Unfortunately, many people think of business plans only for starting a new business or applying for business loans. But, even an existing business which is going to undergo a major change or going to start a new venture needs a business plan. So, essentially a business plan can be externally or internally focused. Externally focused plans target goals that are important to external stakeholders, particularly financial stakeholders who include investors, customers, donors and clients of non-profit’s services. Internally focused business plans target intermediate goals required to reach the external goals.

The content and format of the business plan is not fixed and it is determined by the goals and audience. A typical business plan contains:

1. Executive Summary
2. Business Description
3. Business Environment Analysis
4. Industry Background
5. Competitor Analysis
6. Market Analysis
7. Marketing Plan
8. Operations Plan
9. Management Summary
10. Financial Plan
11. Attachments and Milestones

As far as the presentation of a Business Plan is concerned, it can be presented in any of the following formats for the same business plan:

1. A detailed written presentation aimed at convincing stakeholders.
2. An internal operational plan meant to be used by the management.
3. An elevator pitch: a three-minute summary often used as a teaser to buy your way into an appointment with an investor.
4. An oral presentation which can be a slide show aimed at evoking interest from the investors or analysts.

A Business plan is not necessarily confidential as nowadays there are open business plans who have unlimited audience.

Business Model:

The term ‘business model’ is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies. You can innovate as much as you want while creating business models but the most important thing to be kept in mind while formulating them is that they should be realistic. A business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value.

Let’s understand everything with the help of a simple example. Suppose, you are going to start a company and you created some slides on the basis of collection of facts about sales, marketing, pricing, solution, competitors, etc. But once you have made this, you are not going to reconsider this collection of facts. In fact having made this, you will try to create some preliminary user and customer data based on the feedback of the critical hypothesis you previously made. You finally try to summarize all this in a PowerPoint presentation. This will be called a business model and the initial collection of facts which you made is called a business plan.

It should be mentioned here that while a business plan is static and doesn’t change, a business model is designed for rapid change to reflect upon what you find outside the building in talking to customers. So, it’s dynamic as we discussed in the beginning. The reality is that no plan really survives, one needs to talk to the customers and thus come up with a Business model.

Let us discuss some of the components of a business model. The first and foremost thing is how to reach potential customers.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Among the other components, the second most important is differentiating your product from others previously existing in the market. Also, one needs to appropriately analyse the total costs along with the competitive landscape before deciding the pricing. Other components of a Business model include selling, distribution, supporting customers and most importantly achieving customer satisfaction.

Thus, we’d like to sum up everything by this quote-

“Unless you have tested the assumptions in your business model first, outside the building, your business plan is just creative writing.”

Contributed by Shashank Garg

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Understanding the Capillaries of Customers

An entrepreneur and a tech enthusiast with a never-say-die attitude, Aneesh Reddy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies. Aneesh believes in putting cutting edge technology to its best use to deliver measurable business value for his clients.

Quick-Facts About the Man:

•         The Co-Founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies.
•         Also the founder of KRAIG, the Students Robotics Society of IIT Kharagpur.
•         Worked as an assistant manager at ITC Limited.
•         Graduated with Bachelors in Manufacturing Science and Technology in 2006.

Capillary Technologies

They provide mobile phone based customer relationship services and solutions. 
Capillary is the winner of NASSCOM Emerge 50 – League of Ten 2011, Techcircle Fastrack 2012, TiE Entrepreneurial Excellence Award 2011 and TechSparks 2011. Capillary was the India Winner of the QPrize 2009, a global business plan contest conducted by Qualcomm Inc.

The Beginning

Reddy and its co-founders, Krishna Mehra and Ajay Modani, were batch mates at IIT-Kharagpur’s batch of 2006. They had worked together, while still in college, to setup the institution’s Entrepreneurship Cell. Reddy was also the co founder of the students’ ROBOTIX society of IIT Kharagpur.  After graduating in 2006, he worked for 2 years at ITC Limited. He turned down a master’s course at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On Krishna’s birthday in December 2008, they thought it was time for them to start something on their own. They wanted to combine mobile and retail domains and went back to E-Cell IIT Kharagpur. After securing a Rs. 15 lack loan from TIETS (Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurial Training Society), they started their dream run with Capillary Technologies.

The Business Idea-Understanding the Needs of the Retailers

One message that they got across the retail segment was that instead of helping the retailers get new customers, there was a need to find out who their old customers were and retain them.  He dug deeper and realized that retailer’ loyalty card programmes were not working as expected.  It was because in order to obtain the cards people are to fill out forms which were cumbersome. He realized that most of the customers have a mobile phone, so why not move every single form to the mobile. Most of the retailers liked the idea but none were willing to pay for it. So he based his new idea on the cloud computing model and started charging on a per store per month basis.

It was the global slowdown which was their opportunity. Both big and small retailers saw their sales go down by 10 to 20%. Keeping a brands’ bunch of loyal customers was important in these testing times. It took Capillary almost six months to find their first client—Indus League Clothing, a Future Group company. Within three months, Future Group gave them 20 more stores to work with.

It setup its London and Dubai office in March 2011 and its Singapore office in September 2011. Capillary now reaches over 10 million consumers in over 5000 stores in 400 cities for more than 60 major brands worldwide and is India’s largest Brand Loyalty Provider. It now works with over eight brands in the Future Group Umbrella. It also manages One League, a unified rewards and customer engagement program, for all these eight brands.

Some of the Capillary’s Retail Solutions:

Social Connect: It helps in turning people who casually like a brand’s facebook page for instance into its loyal customers by rewarding them.

Intouch: InTouch instantly stores data such as items bought, bill number and bill amount at the time of purchase. It then carries out micro-segmented analytics. Post-analysis, it Comes up with offers an in-store customer might be interested in.

Analytics Tools:

CONQUEST (Customizable Business Intelligence): It is an easy to use Web Based UI which allows the client to obtain vital customer information.

IntelliFocus (Pattern Mining): Helps the client to ask the right questions and get the answers from the data.

SHARP  (Real Time Analytics): ‘SHopkeeper Assistance through Real-time Prediction’ : Run instant customized cross-selling campaigns when the customer is in the store.
 
We sincerely wish Aneesh and the Capillary team all the best for the future and hope that they continue to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs at their Alma Mater, IIT Kharagpur and beyond.

Contributed by- Samar Chandel

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SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII : A New Era in Mobile Computing ?

Not happy even with the 4.3” high resolution capacitive touch, Samsung SII? There is more for you in store. Recently launched Samsung SIII’s 4.8” massive  screen looks enormous in the hand but is just 16 percent bigger than its 20 million sold predecessor Samsung SII which answers your question that would it be practical to carry the monster. The Korean manufacturer claimed the phone was “Inspired by nature, developed for humans”.

Unveiled on the 3rd of may  at an international launch held at London’s Earls Court arena, it includes innovative new features such as eye tracking so that the screen stays and not even dims on while a user is looking at it.
In the same way if you have a contact open and you raise the phone up, it would call that person without touching even a single button.
                           
It’s got everything you can dream of. After thousands of rumors we finally know what Samsung has for us. Competitive to the Apple iphone, it has got all its features and even with better specifications like  Android 4.0.4 and Exynos 4 Quad (1.4GHz) processor.   

What Siri is to iphone, S-Voice is to samsung. Yes, another feature introduced in the Samsung SIII which lets you control your phone using voice commands. Well, it clearly shows this monster has set up a neck-to-neck fight with the till now invincible iphone 4S. Plus the lower cost gives it an upper hand.

Its got enough for the so called “Let’s-Click-A-Pic”  generation. The 8MP rear camera with 1.9 MP front camera with the burst shot and best photo mode says it all. It can take upto 20 burst shots and display them together so that you can select the best out of them. Not a new but a “should-be” feature in the phone.The HTC One X Camera can capture 99 photos in the same burst mode .

Further,  the phone adds useful features that can automatically share a photograph you take with people whose faces are recognised, called ‘Buddy Photo Share’, or display social media profiles directly on a photograph when those face are recognised.

Also the features like S-Beam which lets you transfer files via NFC and WiFi Direct, between two phones touched together, operating at up to 300Mbps and Dropbox (including a 50 Gb storage for two years ) and Flipboard are also some of the useful features .It also has the feature which all smartphone users dream of, a wireless charger but you cannot rely on it until you yourself use it.

Now, as we know nothing is perfect.Talking about the cons of this monster. It has got a big 2,100mAh Battery but as per the features the phone seems demanding and also regards to the screen that says when you look at it. Also it has got a 8MP camera but could be better. Also accuracy of the S-Voice is something which you cannot depend on.

It looks like it is going to be a better successor to Samsung SII but lets see how its amazing features threaten the sales of the iPhone 4S.

Contributed by – Vinayak Bajaj

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Ideation for Entrepreneurs: A New Approach

For any aspiring entrepreneur, the first step towards reaching his ultimate goal is the ideation of either his product or his service. Some experts say that this might well be the most important and tough step in the entrepreneurial journey! – for it is the idea which can be the game-changer or the deal-breaker in setting up a venture.

Every business idea has to start somewhere. Ideation helps you visualise a business opportunity by creatively identifying market demands and analysing competitors.

Ideation refers to the development and subsequent cultivation of ideas for a venture- the idea can be as diverse as an entrepreneur wants it to be. The idea could be a brand new one- which seeks to revolutionize its sector- or it could simply be an existing service/product-but the service/product differs from the market in a particular unique way.

Ideation covers the whole two miles-it stretches all the way from the pre-idea to the development of a business idea through to the identification of target markets, and finally to introductory issues surrounding the actual launch of a product, service or experience.

Also, with the new age markets, it can be seen that startups are classified into two very wide brackets:
a.      Idea-driven startups
b.      Market-driven startups

So how does one ideate in a group? Does everyone sit down and wait for ideas to flash up? Do we wait for participants to individually generate ideas- and then bring the ideas into the collaborative environment where it is discussed?

Well, the answer is No.

A study conducted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and INSEAD Business School revealed that traditional group brainstorming sessions yield ideas that are both lower in quality and quantity.
Entrepreneurs are now looking at the Dynamically Hybrid Group Brainstorming Method. This approach allows for the ideal time and setting needed for optimal individual thinking by allowing members to approach the challenge individually in their own environment under terms that stimulate creative thought and ideas.

The ideation starts with the brief which lists down the challenges and the objectives of the venture. The brief explicitly lists the sector in which the venture would be working and the client base it is targeting.

The brief is then distributed to the team. The rest of the team then comes up with ideas in the particular sector as mentioned by the brief.

These ideas are collected and combined into a single entity which contains all the ideas. Then this central database of ideas is cross circulated among the rest of the team so that everyone knows what the other person has come up with.

Such a dynamic thought process triggers new ideas and allows people to extrapolate other ideas and hence come up with refined and polished final ideas.Participants are encouraged to either build upon the ideas, or generate new ones.

The final polished ideas are then collected back and then the team meets together and finally selects a final idea as the idea of the venture.

And voila, the team finds a great idea in a particular sector!

With Ideation out of the way, the dream of becoming successful entrepreneurs is not far for the team!

Contributed by – Mohit Agarwal

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While the North American countries are still pondering over the pros and cons of shelling out about $199 for each Kindle Fire, Amazon.com’s ultra-cheap tablet, in a bid to equip school children with the cutting edge information, India launched the world’s cheapest computer, a tablet named Aakash (Hindi for ’sky’), at a cost as low as $35(Rs.1750 approx.) for school children and $60(Rs.3000 approx.) for commercial buyers. The marquee product, which for sure grabbed as many eyeballs as Steve Job’s demise, if not more, drew some scepticism as well from the so-called ‘experts’. But it was far too less for anyone concerned to be concerned, and the flaws, as is the very nature of them, were very correctable without much loss of credibility. The product is being marketed by UK-based electronics company Datawind, winner of the bid to develop the 7-inch tablet, intellectual development of which was funded by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Govt. of India.

Aakash tablet, which runs on Google’s somewhat archaic Android 2.2 operating system, has 2 USB ports, supports internet access, which gets faster with Datawind’s patented acceleration technology, and has Wi-Fi connectivity as well. It has a micro SD 2GB memory card slot which is expandable up to 32 GB. It boasts of multi-touch facilitated screen and also supports the insertion of SIM card to access unlimited internet at just $2 per month, which means it has an in-built modem. It has 256MB RAM and an internal storage flash memory of 2GB. Each Aakash tablet runs on an Arm11 366MHz processor.

The attention grabbing announcement of the product’s release was made on October 5, 2011 by the national HRD minister Kapil Sibal. The product is aimed at penetrating into the lives of masses in an attempt to brighten them through the time-trusted power of knowledge and education, which can be provided to them through the fast developing technological means of computers and internet. According to the CEO of Datawind, Mr Suneeth Singh Tuli, who would inaugurate Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), 2012 scheduled to be staged in IIT Kharagpur from Jan 13^th – 15^th, 2012, the product was an ‘attempt to bring affordable computing and internet to the masses’. The final goal, he says, is ‘to either provide the same features at a lower cost or provide better functionality and features at the same cost’. Mr Kapil Sibal added,” The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide.” The marquee product has also aroused enormous amounts of interests in foreign countries as well. While Panama and Malaysia have already approached the Indian Government requesting for help in producing the low cost tablets, Philadelphia, sixth largest American state in terms of GDP growth rate, has shown its interest in the product and the Indian Government officials are expecting a formal request from the state of Philadelphia soon, according to the information from credible sources. Though the Govt. hasn’t explicitly denied helping out those countries, it quite clearly stated that the internal needs are paramount.

Major concerns for the makers of Aakash tablet have been its low battery life, Aakash runs for just 2 hours on full charge, frequent system freeze due to a slow processor and its inability to support some software which are available free of cost online. Lower battery life would mean quintessential power sockets in schools in order to power students’ tablets, which is not a practical possibility in a country as densely populated as India. With these early inputs from the student community, Datawind came up with an upgraded version of Aakash, named Ubislate 7, which will be in the markets by late January 2012, runs on a much superior Cortex-8 processor of a speed of 700MHz, supports more applications, and also has a longer battery life. But a better device would surely demand a higher price, even though just a shade. But the makers are sure that the new, upgraded Aakash would dominate the previous version just as an Rs.1300 mobile handset dominated an Rs.800 one. After many failed attempts to provide internet access to the masses at a very affordable cost, Aakash finally seems to have brought down the curtains upon the long wait. This venture did go through a much sounder execution of plan, if not anything else, when compared to the previous attempts to fulfil the noble dream. Time will dole out a much clearer answer, but if the initial signs are anything to go by, this surely is an opulent success.

Entrepreneurship started when ‘Mary had a little (lighted) lamb’

The act of being an entrepreneur is called entrepreneurship. Well that is it. How else would you set off a write-up in this blog? But not when the blog writes itself, as this would irk you all stiff. To me it all started with the naissance of ‘Al’ and when the first phonograph whispered – ‘Mary had a little Lamb’.

Queer as it may seem, your animal brain has really perplexed you, but let me at slightest make a virtuoso onset of the preamble of this superlative man, a man only? Or humankind’s GREATEST ENTREPRENEUER – yes the words are ‘Thomas’- ‘Alva’- ‘Edison’. The man with the electric light! And 1,300 patented novelties or INNOVATIONS.

But to me countless folks invented many imperative “manias” too so what catalogues him as the most celebrated mogul?

That was when he confirmed his “knack to expand the profit prospective of his creations” and fostered new-fangled permutation of currently existing inputs. And then began  the saga, to which I verbalize, had he not been there to hand the bulb, Jobs and Gates would have been toiling surfacing a candle stand and you spinning like a cat in sinister dark. Neither Cronus would have turned that rich minting gold coins in the midst of a beam who was a head banger himself, nor Ford, the ‘Henry Ford’ who laboured in Edison, lighting up your lives company. Walt Disney would have been goofing up with vampires and Donald Trump wouldn’t have been so conceited of his DONALD. Enough seems the eulogize for you to sit in your restroom and wonder  BULB = ENTREPRENUER but to your dupe mind let me tell you  Edison didn’t “invent” the bulb , but rather he perked up upon a 50-year-old idea. The bloke alleged himself – “I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.”  And that is what it is all a propos. But that doesn’t mean you will twirl up uttering like - Ted Turner, the broadcasting entrepreneur -“My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job”. “Innovation is not a precondition for entrepreneurship. Thriving entrepreneurship is repeatedly more an affair of occasion and observation”
Edison was the first professional inventor who used the income from his creations to fund further research and development and not the actual inventor of bulb, yet an ENTREPRENUER most triumphant. Cliffort also says Entrepreneurship is the last refuge of the trouble making individual. But I am in the vein of this one “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.  And E- Cell, IIT Kharagpur beyond that. Thanks to the man with the electric hair. Silly you still didn’t discern like the “entire” write-up ? its –EINSTIEN  and I’ll have off pat not to incarnate myself yet again… ha-ha !

-Pragya Jha

Educator
Harper Collins

The topic says it all. Entrepreneurship has once again proved to be a
game-changing factor in the status quo of the world economy. As the
world, especially its economic focal point, the USA, grapples with the
problems of still unstable markets and the threat of another
recessionary phase, the yet-to-be-resolved issue of immigration has
catalyzed very capable entrepreneurs and professionals from India and
China into leaving the shores of the so-called ‘promised land’ and
heading to their native countries. The numbers are in excess of tens
of thousands a year. The recent phenomenon was so striking that it
became the subject of a detailed study, by the Kauffmann Foundation in
the USA, which was submitted as a BusinessWeek article.
The report, titled ‘The Grass is Indeed Greener in India and China
for Returnee Entrepreneurs, was compiled by a team under Vivek Wadhwa,
a distinguished scholar in the field. It conducted an extensive survey
of skilled immigrant entrepreneurs who had returned to their nations –
153 from India and 111 from China. The results and opinions they
obtained challenge the once infallible notion that America holds the
most lucrative opportunities for start-ups and businesses, large and
small. Touted as the ‘reverse brain drain’, this event has served to
hasten the already significant paradigm shift of the world’s economic
strongholds from the West to the East.
According to the responses received, the major reasons precipitating
this change are not confined to any one business-oriented sphere like
finance or logistics. Certainly, burgeoning economic opportunities and
rapidly growing local markets are key factors in this phenomenon. On
an average, 60 to 70% of the individuals surveyed mentioned those as
reasons for their move (the Chinese claiming much higher percentages
in this regard). In addition to that, however, personal factors like
family ties and national pride and patriotism have emerged as pivotal
ones as well, for up to 60% of the survey participants (Indians had
the higher numbers here).
What is particularly intriguing is that most of the entrepreneurs
considered their own countries more business-friendly and conducive to
economic growth than the United States of America, because, of lower
operating costs, employee wages, and an atmosphere of optimism. The
USA only seems to have an edge in the salaries offered in general.
However, for entrepreneurs in particular, who are in charge of their
own wages and their company’s direction, the big picture is far more
significant for taking long-term decisions with such a high element of
risk. This once again reaffirms the uniqueness of entrepreneurs and
the role they play in making the markets more dynamic and
evolutionary.
At this juncture in the world economy, entrepreneurs are leading the
way into altering what was one of the most talked about phenomena in
the field of education and business in the 1990s – the brain drain.
Droves of skilled individuals from India, China, and for that matter,
several other nations, pursued their higher education in the USA, for
the quite obvious advantages of it, and then remained there because of
far greater opportunities for research and business. The issue was a
very hotly contested one at the time, and opinions were found from
people in all fields from all over the world. Now it seems, India and
China, the two powerhouses of the Asian economy, Japan
notwithstanding, have pioneered the reversal of this trend. The very
same factors that made the USA so desirable for a career and an
investment, have now been harnessed by these two nations, and they,
led by their entrepreneurs, are charting new territory in the economic
history of mankind.
This change must be embraced with gusto by all of India, for it
evinces what entrepreneurship has strove to bring about since the
birth of the concept – a competitive yet co-operative economic
environment, where innovation is encouraged and appreciated, where
incentives and rewards are linked to ideas and vision rather than
mindless execution of instructions, and where the courage to take a
risk and surge forward on the path of economic freedom is treated as
the highest of ideals.

Back again this new academic section, after a long gap.

The solution for the eradication of poverty in India and utilizing its massive man-power

Entrepreneurs are considered as the most valuable citizens in a society. Apparently, the society is wound around entrepreneurs; they serve as the wheels on which the country progresses. Over the course of time, as start ups magnify to big multi-national companies they bring in a lot of foreign exchange and most valuably jobs, which eventually affects the top notch of the society. What many over look is their responsibility towards the bottom strands of the pyramid and its importance for the development of the enterprise and the country as a whole.

Let me now define the term philanthropy; it is the altruist concern for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donation of money, or to keep it simple, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). “India could soon be the second most philanthropic nation, after America”, these words came out from the world’s leading philanthropist, Bill Gates, who has already given $30 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. India has rich mix of cultures and traditions, where helping poor stands out as a basic religious commitment. As India takes up the modern approach towards development it should not leave behind the rich heritage culture that we proudly show off.

Philip Berber, founder of CyberCrop and chairman of the “Glimmer of hope foundation” donated $100 million. It focuses on one of the poorest nations of the world: Ethiopia.  The work they have done has had an immediate and needed impact on the lives of millions of people.  To date, the work of the Berber’s foundation has resulted in thousands of wells for water being dug, several hundred schools constructed, and much needed microloans granted.

Richard Branson and his foundation, Virgin Unite, had offered a $25 million bounty for any practical solution to cleansing the atmosphere. Seeking to produce results, Mr. Branson continually compensates organizations and individuals who develop solutions to fight global warming.

Warren Buffett has earned billions but he has never constrained from giving it back to the society. He was the world leading philanthropist of the year 2005 according to the Forbes.

In India Kiran Nadar, wife of HCL Technologies co-founder Shiv Nadar, and Rohini Nilekani, wife of IT major Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industry chairman Mukesh Ambani, supports many NGO activities. Mrs. Rohini has donated $40 million over the years to supporting causes such as education, microfinance, health care and environment. There are various noted IITians in Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems who have donated $4 million in the field of higher education. Kanwal Rekhi, founder TIE, and Gururaj Deshpande has been introspected for their generous contributions and donations for various social causes.

The growing disparity between the rich and the poor shows that the 126,700 millionaires that India has haven’t had an altruist bent. If there has been any initiative it has just been for the sake of gaining popularity. Entrepreneurs have it in them to solve tricky and challenging problem so, they should not leave it for the government to initiate but rather challenge the government to do better and show them the path. Philanthropic capital is not an alternative to a government funding rather, it acts as a catalyst for an initiative. Private investors also have more freedom in what they do with there capital whereas, government have a shorter and specific goals to be re-elected. Philanthropist can take on high risk projects, bring a long term change, challenge the conventional thinking and still dare to fail.

India is lucky enough to have a growing number of successful entrepreneurs and especially social entrepreneurs, who with their innovative ideas try to solve the toughest problem in the society. It becomes an even bigger responsibility for the ‘big boys’ to step in and help these social initiatives and help find solutions to India’s deepest problem.