Saturday, January 26, 2008

Choices for a Social entrepreneur

When we came up with the idea of SapGreen, we were in fix. We didn't know if we should start this
as an NGO, in the old fashioned way and people to donate money or to start this a profit making company. After few days of discussion we decided to go with the idea of a company.We had our reasons.

  • Accountability : To make sure our clients trusts us, we had to make sure we were accountable. We were ready to pay tax. We knew tax exemptions given by govt. to NGO/NPOs was a good thing, but it turns out be a play ground for the rich and mighty politicians. Just to narrate an incident, one my ex-colleagues had taken a receipt of 5 lac INR from an NGO to save his tax and the NGO in turn converted it's black money to white. He refused to tell me the name of the NGO.
  • Sustainability: By making a profitable business it not only helps us make sure the trees survive but also to make sure we grow. At the same time we could make sure to replace dead trees and monitor them.
In simple words profitability helps us serve better. Hence we decided to go with a profitable business model. You can actually see how companies like SELCO and TreeFlights are make a difference with a profitable business model.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks fot the link Anil.Good luck with the Blog.
(Ru from Treeflights).

Anil said...

Thanks ru, and great going with treeflights.com. 3246 is a good number of trees.

Mansi said...

thanks for visting my blog Anil:) I'm adding you to my blogroll, and I'd appreciate if you could link to mine too:)

-Mansi
http://ideasandgadgets.blogspot.com

Mansi said...

sorry Anil....I fixed the link:) it's there now:)

I think said...

Thanks for your comment, Anil.
We need to make people understand the importance of clean and green living.

http://clean-and-green.blogspot.com

You are on my blogroll now. I hope you can link me too.

I think said...

Will drop you a mail Anil. I am not part of any NGO. Am just trying my bit to spread the message of eco friendliness thru my blog. And also providing tips and info for people who would also like to live a cleaner and greener life.

http://clean-and-green.blogspot.com