Social Entrepreneurship: Giving Back To The Society

Leveraging entrepreneurship for societal benefits leads to massive impact. Nepal may be considered a virgin market compared to its counterparts in the South Asian region. Lack of infrastructure, framework and the ongoing political transition has denied Nepalese of their basic necessities, especially in the rural regions. It does have a lot of scope for budding social businesses, however. Hence, there are a lot of private companies, individuals and NGOs who have taken it upon themselves to serve the community for a better tomorrow. Being the “preferred brand” is the vision of Panchakanya Group. One of the core values underpinning our vision is to “serve our society.” Our group is a third generation business that caters to diverse industries.

One of the reasons for our prevalent market share is our connection with our people. This is credited to our founder’s vision of serving the society in multiple ways. We promote higher education for employees’ children by giving subsidy through the company and, in many cases, bearing the full cost of their higher education. This not only helps when it comes to employee satisfaction, but it also helps us to more meaningfully engage with our employees and their families beyond the workplace. What’s more, this results in lower turnover and higher satisfaction in terms of social engagement in the society. In the contemporary times, social entrepreneurship is an area where most entrepreneurs are investing their time to help social causes. Even those individuals intending to bring betterment in the society contribute to this cause.

There are few things that truly leave an impact in our lives, both professionally and personally. The norms that are practiced within the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) lead to such an impact. The structure in which I conduct meetings is based on the way our EO chapter board and forums are conducted. And the organization’s strategy meetings inspired me to hold the same in my various units when it comes to planning and implementing our goals for the year. The Entrepreneurial Masters Programme (EMP), a long-held and highly impact EO programme offering executive education, has also helped me build my business to render long-term sustainable growth. I am also engaged in a few social causes. As the board president of Child Reach Nepal, one of the recent projects that I undertook was making sanitary pads more accessible in the rural areas. When I met Arunachalam Muruganantham at an EO event, I was moved by his achievements. I knew what he did in Tamil Nadu and other parts of rural India changed women’s sanitation, and it positively impacted health issues tremendously. This concept was taken up by Child Reach Nepal immediately to introduce the same in rural Nepal. The process of introducing a sanitary pad-making machine to be operated by the community, and then sold to the community with a special focus on women employment, helped in solving women health issues and also economically empowered women by creating jobs.

I have also been involved in Idea Studio Nepal (ISN), which helps young minds through training and mentoring, and helps startups with seed funding and organisational or individual tie-ups. One of the successful stories in ISN portfolio is Nyano Maya, a locally made incubator, which is very accessible to rural health posts. The concept came to us in a very nascent form. We helped the “ideator” create a concrete business plan around it and market the product to make it feasible while serving the society. It has been a rewarding experience to date, and I’m excited for the future.

Ujjwal Shrestha is the Executive Director, Panchakanya Group, one of Nepal’s leading business houses. With 1,200 employees, five industries, 15 companies, 70-plus distributors and over hundred products, the company’s vision is to become the preferred brand of Nepal. Shrestha is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Nepal chapter.