Technology is all about helping people...

I think technology is all about helping people. Every segment of the social sector is a technology consumer. From planning the logistics of feeding thousands of refugees, to delivering vaccines, to providing education, to creating job opportunities or to advocating for human rights, technology tools are used to improve the outcomes and often directly deliver the social benefit. So many motivated people like you are reading this issue of Sattva and getting connected to the social sector…All thanks to technology.

We should be bold enough to confess that technology has generated tremendous wealth and lots of opportunities for many of us. People are earning unheard salaries in IT and the related offshoots of technology. For those of us who have achieved financial success, there is frequently a need to give back. As a group, technology entrepreneurs are just beginning to explore their interests in the larger society. In the last decade, a formerly apolitical community has been exercising its increasing muscle. The great example that Indian IT companies Wipro Technologies, TCS, Satyam, Infosys etc. set with their philanthropic commitments sets the stage for increased involvement by the high technology entrepreneurs in society's larger issues.

However I feel technology development is not driven to maximize all of society's goals. Applications that make money get built, while applications that don't make money don't get built. Bridging the gap between the possible and the profitable in socially beneficial applications of technology is critical, and it's an important effort that requires the attention of the technology community. The first is the decision to go after only consumers at the top of the economic pyramid. Intellectual property-based technology companies calculate their economic returns on the basis of pricing decisions, essentially on what prices they deem the market will bear.

I believe that the model of social enterprise helps address the above said market failures. Social enterprises are hybrid organisations with two bottom lines: social and financial. By having a social bottom line, these businesses choose to serve the underserved, even when these communities may not offer a significant financial return. I believe that increased investment in technology that directly supports the social sector will offer strong results for society. The social sector lags the for-profit sector in adopting technology tools that could significantly enhance the effectiveness of the sector. With an incremental investment equal to one or two percent of the current funding flowing to the philanthropic sector, it seems clear that the sector could become five to ten percent more effective with the same amount of resources.

I am really impressed with one of the amazing initiative of social entrepreneurship using technology in the field of Micro Finance. Mohd. Yonus gave the world the great mantra of micro finance in the form of Grameen Bank but Rangde.org used the concept of micro finance, mixed it with technology to connect the India that is economically progressing rapidly and the India that has been ignored. Rang De is an initiative to make low cost microcredit a reality. By enabling individuals to become online Social Investors, Rang De hopes to bring microcredit and online lending to the forefront. RangDe is trying to create a sustainable alternative to charity by promoting online lending as a way of life. We are at a critical intersection in the evolution of technology and social enterprise. Working together, the technology, nonprofit, philanthropic and prospective user communities can ensure far-reaching success in the long-term effort to fulfill the social potential of technology.

Now is the time to together move confidently toward that future.