Combining Impact and Investment to Transform India

I recently attended Impact Investment Forum in Bangalore organized by Dasra in partnership with Rockfeller Foundation and Omidyar Network that addressed various impact investing models, which work in India and had a realization.

Need of investing capital in sector-based approach to generate positive social impact to move millions out of poverty: Today, more investors and entrepreneurs than ever are proactively investing their capital in solutions designed to generate a positive social or environmental impact, while also having the potential for some financial return. In practice, such opportunities are emerging in most parts of the world, across nearly all asset classes, and at many different levels of risk and return.

Need of Paradigm shift in VC’s: One of the constant challenges discussed repeatedly at Investment Forum surrounds expectations on returns from impact investments. While some impact investors contend that equity investments in social enterprises should be no different from similar investments in traditional companies, i.e. 20%, many impact investors are content with below market rates of return. Rethinking the current VC paradigm will continue where investors tend to separate investing and an expectation of market returns from doing well.

A standard impact investment structure today will invest in enterprises that provide self-sustaining solutions to immediate social problems. Investing in these organizations provides a direct and significant impact for those in poverty and investor are expected to be lot more patient in many cases for financial return to become profitable. 

Impact investment forum concluded with the launch of the India Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF) to catalyze collective action and market development in India via grants to impact investing eco system builders in India.

In my personal opinion impact investing will continue to play a vital role in creating positive social change in India. The need for impact and rigor will become more, rather than less important. Underlying factors such as wealth creation, vast generational transfers of wealth, efficiency and advantage will remain. Impact investors are continuing to build the field by doing a better and innovative job of generating positive social change as well as devising ways to leverage more of their assets toward these efforts. I also hope IEIF will inspire and have some inspirational stories to seek out opportunities for social entrepreneurs to apply impact investing and bring more capital to bear on addressing the pressing social and environmental challenges of our society.

What Does It Take To Become Successful Person?

Why have we all been so successful in reaching some of our goals, but not all others, which we have dreamt of? If we are not sure, we are far from alone in our own confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. As we, all know achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of our progress; if not by others, then by ourselves. If we do not know how well we are doing, we cannot adjust our behaviour or our strategies accordingly. 

The term “successful” can have a number of meanings and associations for different people. For some, a successful person is a person who earns a lot of money in their job, for others success might be best found in a person working in an honorary post.

Success lies in the eye of the beholder. What we ourselves consider as successful might be very different from what other people think about success. A parent might see his son or daughter getting a good grade and think he was successful in his exam, while the student might just think he was lucky. A young girl might see an actress on the television and think that this person must be successful in life, while the actress might consider herself troubled and unhappy because her private life suffers from her popularity as a public figure.

The more areas of life a person strives to be successful in, the more difficult it becomes to achieve his or her goals. Becoming successful could be relatively easy, but staying successful is a different story entirely. Success is usually something we associate with short-term achievement in a certain field. Long-term success, on the other hand, means that you have to keep up the good work and stay at the same level over a longer period. If a person achieves long-term success, he or she can truly be called “successful”.

Success can take many shapes. Consequently, there are various types of successful people in the world. There are successful politicians who hold a lot of power over individuals as well as over entire countries. There are successful sportsmen, who win gold medals in world championships and compete in the Olympics. There are successful actors who play a part in big Hollywood productions, and musicians who sell platinum albums and tour the world. Yet there are also Greenpeace activists who manage to save an endangered species. There are political activists who demonstrate against the violation of human rights and succeed in freeing political prisoners. There are successful mothers and fathers who see their children develop into great personalities.

Now let’s look at different paths to success!!!

In this performance-oriented world, success is a term we are confronted with every day. Many books have been written to help people become and stay successful. Depending on your personality and attitude towards life and work, there are several ways to achieve success.

Optimism or positive thinking is one way to become successful. Since mental strength, self-confidence and a positive attitude towards life will generally make you a happier person, it also helps you not to give up on yourself after a project has failed. Believing in yourself and your strengths will make you more confident in any situation and therefore other people will get a positive impression of yourself. This especially helps in professional life for example in job interviews or work meetings.

Another approach to success is hard work. A hard-working person dedicates his or her life to achieving his or her goals and will make sacrifices in other areas in order to be successful. While some of these people might be considered workaholics, there are also those who know when to draw the line. Working hard does not necessarily mean giving everything until you suffer from burnout. It is important to focus on what you want and to work hard for it, but you should also celebrate when you have achieved your goal. Stress can be productive for some people, but do not underestimate the effect of stress on your psyche and your health.

A different path to success is help from others. Some people benefit a lot from teamwork and working together with others instead of alone. Working towards a goal in a group can be very productive, since people will inspire and motivate each other. This approach works well if you are studying for a university exam or a school test, but it is also worthwhile thinking about integrating teamwork and networking in the professional field. Communication and exchange of ideas between co-workers is a vital part of a successful work environment and should be encouraged at all means. Another positive effect of teamwork is that you can share your success with all the other people involved in your project.

So today let us ask ourselves what is SUCCESS TO US!!!

Can we focus on getting better, rather than being good?

Can we focus on what we will do, and not on what we would not do?

Can we maintain a positive outlook as we learn from our mistakes?

Can we communicate our message clearly with ease of understanding? 

Can we focus on making small and continuous improvements in ourselves?

Can we get more productive work out of ourselves rather than just being busy? 

Can we come out of our comfort zone and figure out specifically what we want to do with our life?