Dr. Uday Salunkhe’s views on Social Entrepreneurship
Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, Welingkar is of the view that while it is wonderful to be in the era of globalization, it is also obvious that the liberal policies combined with the multi lateral trade agreements between countries have increased inequalities and brought devastating effects on weaker sections of the developing societies. India, with its booming economy; boasts about its leading Industrialists being in the list of the top richest in the world but poverty remains the biggest unsolved problem today, according to Dr. Uday Salunkhe. Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 is a Millennium Development Goal set by UN and supported by all its 193 member countries but looks like it’s going to remain a distant dream. The earlier model of receiving International philanthropy and volunteerism for social upliftment of the undeveloped countries is no longer found worthy as today’s International aid receiving nations are compelled to buy products that are often more expensive, originating only from donor countries thereby creating a different kind of conflict and negating the effect of any international aid which is a fact that has been realized by Dr. Uday Salunkhe. On the national level, not only Dr. Uday Salunkhe but others also are of the opinion that it is obvious that our Government is really not equipped to provide succor to such a huge population scattered over the sub continent. So at this point of time it won’t be sufficient to talk about past achievements like Green Revolution and eradication of small pox, some tough measures will have to be taken by the government as well as people; many of them jointly. This, according to Dr. Uday Salunkhe, is where the social entrepreneur steps in.
According to Dr. Uday Salunkhe, social entrepreneurs are individuals who don’t depend on International philanthropy nor do they wait for the government machinery to provide the policies and infrastructure that are traditionally considered to be the basic catalysts to bring in positive change in the lives of people; rather, they use their creativity to spur it themselves. Dr. Uday Salunkhe’s view is that rather than leaving societal needs to the government or CSR efforts of business sectors, social entrepreneurs find out what is not working and do their utmost to solve the problem. Dr. Uday Salunkhe believes that with innovation and creativity that they posses, social entrepreneurs change the system, spread the solution, and persuade entire societies to take a new direction
Dr. Uday Salnkhe shares the opinion of a lot of others when it comes to the fact that entrepreneurs change the face of business and social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, discovering new approaches, and creating solutions to change society for the better. While an entrepreneur might create entirely new business with intentions of creating all round eco-sustainability and donating a part of the profit to charity, a social entrepreneur comes up with new solutions to social problems and then implements them on a large scale for the benefit of the society. Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and encourage number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement it. He lets them have it as their idea, empowers them to tackle orthodox social belief systems, pushes them to tackle bureaucratic hurdles, supports them to understand new technologies and turns them into a tool of social change. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a role model that proves that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything.
Dr. Uday Salunkhe says that we find social entrepreneurs working on social issues like education, literacy development, rural healthcare, empowering women, disaster mitigation, malnourishment, food safety, affordable technologies for rural areas and so on and they work with passion, creativity, diligence and dedication. Dr. Uday Salunkhe is of the strong opinion that social entrepreneur wears many hats; he is an activist at heart and also plays the roles of an initiator, negotiator, speaker, advocate, mediator, educator, researcher and mentor depending on the nature of the task and approach to the methods to accomplish it.
Social entrepreneurship and sustainable microfinance have come together successfully so that the banks and NGOs can create profit and also have a significant positive development impact. Dr. Uday Salunkhe shares that sustainable microfinance institutions pursue business opportunities where financial performance and social impact complement each other. Despite the criticism it’s facing on international platforms lately, there is still a vital role for non-commercialized microfinance according to Dr. Uday Salunkhe. Poor people show so much courage and ability to take the little that life has given them and transform it into livelihoods for their families and their communities. According to Dr. Uday Salunkhe, city-bred students who are fortunate enough to avail of expensive management education should look at it not only as a career option but as a golden opportunity to repay the debt of the society by serving the underprivileged ,thereby creating a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. Dr. Uday Salukhe is of the strong opinion that social entrepreneurship is the way to slow global poverty. In fact, Dr. Uday Salunkhe goes one step further and says that social entrepreneurship will eradicate global poverty. |
