What inspires you?

As I was pondering what to write in what is likely my last blog post, I was looking for inspiration: inspiration to write something meaningful, worthwhile and educational for the wonderful people who have been following this blog.

Should I write about the monsoon season and how Delhiites look forward to the rains because it means relief from the 100+ degree Fahrenheit weather? Should I write about the power outage that affected 600 million people (twice the population of the entire United States!) in northern India? Should I write more about life in India and how while there is a divide between the rich and poor, they are able to reside in the same neighborhoods? Or, should I write about finishing my internship deliverables, which included operational process maps, organizational structures, compensation structures, defined job roles and HR overviews?

Inspiration can be different for many people. It could be spiritual, emotional, or practical. For my client, she prefers the principals and teachers to be inspired enough to want to send their students on heritage walks and incorporate heritage education into the schools’ curriculums. She doesn’t try to push them just to increase her numbers. She wants them to feel that there’s a need for heritage education. She wants her “customers” to try it out and see for themselves.

As I am now in my last week in India and at Start Up!, just like there is much to see and do in India but not enough weekends to explore every place, there is much to share but hard to describe it all on paper/blog. There is so much happening in India in the social impact space. Many of us have posted pictures to provide a glimpse into the social sector and life in India, and as the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." However, sometimes, you just got to come and see for yourself to be inspired.

India: You’ve been good to me these past 13 weeks. I will miss the curiosity, breadth of ideas, convenience of auto rickshaws, home delivery for pretty much everything, house help, reclining seats at the movie theaters, and of course the many Indian and non-Indian cuisines (especially the Chinese food). Thanks for hosting me and look forward to future visits to see the power of inspiration at work!

Glimpse through Amber Fort in Jaipur

Glimpse through the Taj Mahal

Human Capital Management...say what?

What is human capital? Human Capital management is not what most people think (i.e. recruitment or paying people). Human capital encompasses the competencies, knowledge and experience of talented people that make an organization what it is. Human Capital management is all about having the right people and internal programs in place to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization in the best way through its greatest asset of all: people.

When most people begin a social venture, they think about product design, market demand, promotion, pricing, financing, and growth. Within growth, there is a big piece of the pie called human capital management that needs to be addressed. According to the latest Intellecap report, human capital management is a major challenge for social enterprises in India. It is difficult to find the right talent, specifically for the more senior management roles. Furthermore, it is becoming more difficult for social enterprises to retain talent due to various reasons. For many social enterprises, they are unable to keep up with the competitive compensation packages that bigger corporations or organizations are offering. Another reason is that there are no performance management processes or professional development programs in place for talent to grow within these social enterprises. Therefore, having HR processes and programs in place is essential for these social ventures to grow. Like children, employees need to be nurtured, developed and incentivized. If employees are not nurtured, developed and incentivized, then they will go to other places where they will receive nurturing, development and incentives.

For many social ventures, nonprofits and for-profits, human capital management tends to be towards the bottom of the priority list. My client has done a great job in establishing its product, fundraising, and acquiring a customer base over the past 8 years. However, they haven’t thought about the organizational structure until now. I’ve been happy to help them in establishing an organizational structure, evaluating what roles they need to fill, and examining what other HR processes need to be in place in order for this organization to grow.

I hope that many more social ventures will not forget the importance of human capital management. It’s not just about recruitment or paying people. Without talented and committed people and the right programs in place, an organization will have a hard time growing and scaling.

One fort here, another fort there, here a fort, there a fort, everywhere a fort fort

There are many many forts in India. Most of these forts are castles that existed for each raja or chieftain in major capital cities in India. The British called these castles “forts” because it was the more commonly used term in Britain.

Red Fort - New Delhi

Agra Fort - Agra

Over the past two months, I’ve been able to visit several forts in Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, including the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Red Fort in New Delhi and Agra Fort in Agra. 

What are World Heritage Sites? These are properties all over the world that exhibit cultural and/or natural heritage and are of outstanding universal value. For more info on the criteria, go here: http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/ 

Heritage education is becoming integrated into the curriculum in some schools here in New Delhi. Schools will send their students on heritage walks, either through organizations like my client or conduct their own, to encourage students to become more aware of and in tune with the local heritage that surrounds them. The places range from the heritage sites, like the Red Fort, to other cultural venues, like Humayun’s Tomb or parts of Old Delhi. Much of what students get out of these walks is hands-on awareness of places that they probably didn’t know much about (history and culture) or ever consider visiting. Another benefit of these heritage walks is that it provides teachers another way to teach their students in a more interactive way.

India has over 1.2 billion people and a cultural history that spans over 4,000 years. Various languages are spoken, various religions are practiced and various cuisines are eaten all over India. There is a breadth of culture in this country and 3 months is only enough to get a glimpse of it. I’ve had my share of visiting forts in the past 2 months (probably enough for now) and there is still so much more to see!

Amber Fort (Light and Sound Show) - Jaipur

Amber Fort - Jaipur

First month!

Namaste! Time sure does fly. It's surprising that one month has passed already.

Here’s a quick rundown on what’s happened since my last post 

Life in India:

• Being in a new place can be intimidating at first, but once you become familiar with your surroundings and know the how-to's, the "scary" place becomes home. I do admit that I'm thankful that most people understand and speak English here :) 
• It takes about a week or two to overcome the jetlag, situate yourself, be confident and know where you're going, and even start to do what the locals do
• Sunscreen is a MUST
• Delhi belly: 1 Jen: 0

Internship with Start Up!:

• Client project: According to the latest Intellecap Study of India's Social Enterprise Landscape, the education sector in India faces "a huge gap between the supply and demand of quality education for India’s youth, and the nation’s continued growth depends in large part upon filling this chasm."  I'm working with a Delhi-based not-for-profit organization that strives to enhance the quality of educational curriculum through heritage walks. The organization conducts study tours and walks through monuments and other hubs of Delhi’s culture and history in order for children to experience live heritage education. The walks are meant to be interactive, using storytelling and other materials, to inform children about their city in a creative and interactive manner. They've walked several hundreds of children from more than 45 schools in Delhi and is today a sustainable organization. In the remaining two months, I’ll be conducting a market assessment (interviewing key stakeholders and competitors) and working closely with the entrepreneur to develop an operational plan, business plan and financial model in order to scale the organization over the next three years, and hopefully lessen that gap between supply and demand of quality education.   
• Two new interns from other graduate schools in the US have joined me here. We will also be joining forces to work on an internal project together.
• Note: For those of you who read my previous post, I had talked about advising an organization focused on women empowerment. That project didn't pan out, however when working in the social sector, flexibility is KEY.

Excursions: India is a country rich with culture and history. Every part of this nation is unique in some way be it food, entertainment, dress, infrastructure, language, and historical sights.

• Delhi: Red Fort, India Gate, National Museum



View of Udaipur from City Palace



Samosa

• Udaipur: Udaipur, known as the City of Lakes, is a 10 - 12 hour bus/train ride away from Delhi. Another Start Up! intern and I decided to make this trip in a day. We left work early on Friday afternoon to catch a bus that departed at 4:30 PM and arrived in Udaipur the following morning at 6:30 AM. Upon arrival, I was able to compare Delhi to Udaipur -  different colored auto rickshaws and the prevalence of stray dogs and cows in Udaipur. We took the auto rickshaw to the area surrounding the City Palace. Since the Palace wasn't open before 10 AM in India, we had some time to kill so we walked around the areas, started our “window shopping” and even had the courage to try some samosas from a street vendor. 

• Agra: Went to see the magnificent Taj Mahal this past weekend with other WDI Fellows in India. We wore our WDI shirts and posed for the camera in hopes that our photo will make it into a newsletter ;)   

First week!

Since the end of February, I very much looked forward to my summer internship working in India as a WDI fellow with Start Up!, an angel investor, incubator and consulting firm that strives to launch, strengthen, and scale social ventures in India, and now it has become reality.

It’s been close to a week since I landed in New Delhi, India, with no working phone and no sense of direction. While the first few days were rough in getting used to the different pace and infrastructure of life here in Delhi, I now have a working phone and become accustomed to the random honking, constant haggling for an auto rickshaw ride, and of course, the intense summer heat (109 degrees Fahrenheit today!). Thankfully, I’m now more in the know of the various neighborhoods, what each area has to offer, and how to haggle a decent price with the auto rickshaws. 

Furthermore, my stomach has been fairly content with the level of spicyness it gets to indulge in every day :) In addition to the spice, I even got to try some Himalayan food in Hauz Khas Village.  This is the Yeti special non-veg (clockwise starting with the tingmo (the white bun - tastes like a chinese mantou), lungs, tongue, sausage, and meat).

I've also made a few new friends along the way, especially since I'm one of the early birds here in Delhi. Knowing other people here has definitely helped make the transition less daunting. 

As for my internship, I started this past Monday, and I can already tell that it’s going to be a busy summer but in a good way.

Start Up! was founded in 2007 and since then has partnered with social ventures in the non-profit and for-profit continuum. These social ventures are ones that aim to maximize philanthropic capital in the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). The Start Up! office and team are small, vastly different from my past work experiences in corporate America. However, it’s great because this means many opportunities to take ownership in my projects and take the initiative to grow and learn more about the social enterprise space in India.

I have several internal and external projects to pass my time for the next 12-13 weeks, apply what I learned this past year at Ross, and further refine my business skills. Internally, I will be developing a refined business plan and financial model for Start Up!, creating a business plan for Start Up!’s business accelerator with two other interns who will be joining me soon, and reviewing the design of an incubation toolkit for internal use. My external project is expected to be evaluating the market feasibility of a social enterprise.  They provide young semi-urban Indian women with an online platform to share their thoughts on various issues through video blogs. I’m definitely looking forward to working with an organization whose mission is to empower women.

That’s all from me for now. I will take more pictures soon. I'm looking forward to hanging out with the WDI Fellows who will be joining me here in India very soon!