Solomon Prakash is a social entrepreneur from India who has launched two initiatives to alleviate poverty. In 1989, he started the nonprofit MAYA to help homeless children find jobs and reconnect with their families. He later founded MAYA Organic in 2003, a network of collective enterprises run by low-income workers that produce competitive products sold in mainstream markets. His second intervention, LaborNet, aims to formalize informal labor by connecting contractors with skilled workers and providing training and social services. Prakash believes changing rural development requires working through microfinance institutions to promote group entrepreneurship across India.
2. What is Poverty?
• Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount
of material possessions or money.
3. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
Started as an engineer, worked for a small company in Bangalore for a
number of years, mostly in special purpose machine design . In 1987 he went
to Europe, and became interested in alternative communities. He visited
these communities all across Europe, and brought that experience back to
India.
In 1989 he started a non-profit organization called “MAYA” in Bangalore
working with young people, to connect homeless kids to jobs and helping
them get in touch with their parents.
4. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
Solomon’s key innovation is his learning-focused approach which enables
low-wage laborers and producers to expand their opportunities by accessing
new clients and markets within and outside the community.
This alone cannot happen in training sessions, hence he incorporates it into
the fundamental fabric of the business environment, which makes it unique
among development programs targeted at the working poor and allows
participants to draw on each other’s skills.
These programs’ structure and facilitation are essential for the sustainability
and ongoing competitiveness of the enterprise that enables “learners” to
drive the learning process themselves and take control over their own
decisions.
5. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
With roots in the child labor movement, Solomon J.P. is taking a systemic,
industry-based approach to poverty in India, addressing livelihood issues
while increasing structure and regulation in low wage jobs.
Solomon’s initiatives respond to two elements of the challenges facing
the working poor: the struggle to sustain their own enterprises and the
need for support in regulating and organizing daily wage labor
opportunities.
6. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
Solomon’s approach to poverty alleviation rests on two distinct models which
capitalize on market needs and are based on principles of collectivity and
organization.
In 2003 he launched MAYA Organic which is a network of collective enterprises run by
the working poor, which produce competitive, market quality products.
This demonstrates that not only can the working poor manage their own enterprises,
but by enterprises mutually supporting each other, each business can engage and
compete with mainstream markets, negotiating and reaping profits in a way which
also benefits the group.
Since 2004, MAYA Organic has been active in three sectors: lac-ware, garments, and
wood and metal fabrication. More than 400 members work in 20 group enterprises
and, through continuous hands-on learning, have reached a level where they
independently plan, procure and execute product orders, maintain systems and
follow and understand quality processes.
7. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
Solomon’s second intervention is LaborNet, a new program that aims to develop the
skill and improve the services to unskilled or informal workers.
By systematizing how contractors find employees, Solomon transforms each worker
from an anonymous set of hands to a person who can develop different skills into
variety of settings, and therefore become more employable.
This creates an opportunity to work with employers on occupational health and
safety, and provides workers access to social services.
Solomon is organizing a Livelihood Resource Center which will train and support
citizen sector organizations, cooperatives, trade unions and microfinance institutions
to develop institutional structures.
In response to a growing demand, Solomon is introducing adult literacy programs
into the collectives.
8. Social Entrepreneurship Over Poverty
Solomon Prakash
Solomon realizes that to change rural development programs, he must work
through the vast microfinance sector. If he can successfully introduce group
entrepreneurship through the thousands of microfinance institutions across
India, then there would be real, tangible changes in rural economies. An
important peace of this idea is also to create stronger linkages between rural
producers and rural consumers.
9. We have come to the end……
Credits:
http://www.utne.com/Environment/What-Would-It-Take-SocialEntrepreneurship-Solomon-Prakash.aspx
https://www.ashoka.org/node/3858
Juergen: Websites
Zhan Zong ,Mansur and Nicholas: Slides
