Start ups, angel investors and venture capitalists comprise the buzzing entrepreneurial scenario, one which has thrown up many a success story. Market-driven innovative ideas with a clear scope of profit find solid and quick backing.
Bougainvillea Social Entrepreneurship Foundation, a group of angel investors, from Thrissur, believe in championing innovation and entrepreneurship that has as its core value social responsibility. That the business should be driven not by market but by societal needs, is the founding principle.
Satish Kumar, one of the founders, explains the concept: “We cannot consider all businesses alike. There are some products like non-biodegradable materials, adulterated oils and such that are produced by companies, which are not good for society. We believe that we would like to be an incubator for socially responsible companies that are pursuing issues related to the environment and human rights, besides others, that will be socially beneficial and not pure profit.”
Comprising 20 professionals, the alumni of of the Government Engineering College of Thrissur, has created a ₹1 crore corpus to fund such pursuits.
“There are many businesses that want to do something specific for a certain problem, but they do not get funding easily. Invariably, the company has to listen to those who are funding them and often compromise on their values,” says Sherry Johny, a member and who runs al Hajiry Info Technology in Muscat.
The model they offer of association with the business are in three areas. First, with a seed fund in the nascent stage when the idea is intangible and has nothing to showcase. An amount up to ₹10 lakh can be availed of at this stage. The second area of assistance is mentoring and sharing their wealth of experience with the start up. “We would help them connect with the market. Also the fact that we are completely focussed on the aspect of social responsibility, we will be monitoring it at all steps.”
And finally when the company begins to grow and needs funds to scale up, Bougainvillea will assist with a growth fund, for which it plans to put a crowd sourcing model in place.
Satish, the only one in India from the group whose members are spread across the world, says that the idea of forming an incubator with a difference arose when they all looked back at the issues they faced while setting up their own businesses. “There was no one to help us then,” he says.
Members with domain knowledge in the field will vet the proposals and ideas pitched to them for funding.
Anil Kumar, member, points out that they by no means want to fund an entrepreneur who will manufacture another soft drink or chocolate. “The social responsibility aspect is at the heart of our venture. It has to be of service to society.”
Satish concludes by reiterating that if social responsibility is to be made a part of the branding itself, then the way of doing business will be different. “Can we have an alternative way of doing business? Can we club social responsibility and business? We believe that it should be in the branding itself,” says Satish adding that ideas relating to women’s safety, pollution control, waste management, jobs to homemakers and such are what they champion.
And of the name he explains, “The anatomy of a flower begins with a seed and Bougainvillea then burst into clusters of flowers. We feel we will sow a seed, a business model, and over time the idea will be picked up by others. The journey of an entrepreneur is tough, but if social responsibility is embedded in its core, then his contribution to society will be more and for posterity.”
Bougainvillea website bvstartup.org