Manav Subodh

Manav Subodh Personal Blog (Official)

[manavsubodh]

Business Raja goes live - An old dream, a brand new path

Friend and confidante. Saviour and mentor. A freedom fighter. The Super 30, Indian Idol and MC Sher of rural entrepreneurship. Business Raja is all that and more. I’ll tell you about it in just a minute, but first a little back story

Over four years ago, as I walked out of my last corporate job, I was a happy man. With grand visions of doing something for desh and deshwaasis, bridging the leanings of Berkeley and Silicon Valley to make a difference at the grassroots – I guess wasn’t just happy and free to chase the dream. I was also incredibly idealistic! What I didn’t know was that failure was around the corner – and it hadn’t so far been something I was used to. After starting up and failing 8 out of 10 times, 1M1B came along. The single-minded focus of my entrepreneurship journey from the get go was to innovate for rural India and grass root communities. Enabling rural entrepreneurship as a means to empowerment and freedom was the central idea. What I did achieve over the next few years was a front row view into the realities at the grassroots. With 1M1B, we made significant headway on future skills initiatives, like 1M1B’s Future Leaders program for high school students and Skills Accelerator for out of school youth. Both received tremendous support of corporates, governments, academia, and the United Nations. Things over at 1M1B have never been better. 

But an old dream refused to die - the dream of truly empowering rural India through entrepreneurship. And that’s my newest project – Business Raja.

6 months ago, I was travelling by road from a village, near Bhimavaram in the West Godavari region, State of Andhra Pradesh, India to Vijayawada to catch my flight back to Bangalore. Abhiram Natarajan - a young Teach For India fellow who has been working with 1M1B for over three years in the villages in Andhra Pradesh – had accompanied me on that trip. We’d just finished an intense day, full of stories of aspirations of youth seeking liberation from unemployment and a lifetime of poverty. We knew that our up-skilling initiative was going to bring these exact rewards, but in the long term. What I knew for sure was that in the short- to middle-term, rural entrepreneurship was going to save the day. Driving down with Abhiram, we both knew Business Raja was going to show us the way.

Who is Business Raja?

Inspired by the colourful, unabashed desi-ness of Govinda – my youth idol as those who know me would remember - Business Raja is a one-stop shop to empower over 200 million smartphone-enabled rural Indians to set up a brand new business from scratch – all from their smartphone. It is a platform that bridges the gap between the aspirations of rural India and the CSR budgets of corporate boardrooms. Business Raja is rural entrepreneurship’s answer to Super 30. It is a rural accelerator, a bridge between government entrepreneurship schemes and those who need them, a ‘leap-of-faith fund’, and a rural entrepreneurship platform – all rolled into one smart and agile conversational platform.  

Consider this – Adithya (real name) from Kaikaluru village, is a 25-year-old young man. He watches students in and out of a college on the highway next to his village. He does not dream of joining them in the classroom. Having recently relocated back to his village to take care of his mother after 3 years of odd jobs in the city, what Adithya needs most urgently is a source of income to pay off his mother’s rising healthcare bills. Outside the college, he wants to start a hangout spot of sorts – video game parlour, snack joint, stationery store and an internet café.

His goal is set, his shopping list ready. All Adithya needs is INR 1,00,000 (~USD 1,400) to set up shop. He has it all sorted out, but for those 1,00,000 rupees. He has been warned off the friendly neighborhood loan shark, thanks to generations of bad experiences and bad credit history. Banks will not loan him any money because his father had a bad credit history. What choices does Adithya have? Return to the city? Not a chance, with an ailing mother alone in the village. Continue his idle life, dreaming the impossible? Not anymore. Adithya now has Business Raja.

All he needs to do is to get on the AI/ML conversational credit scoring platform and chat with Business Raja. Business Raja will mentor and guide him, rank and validate his idea and its investment readiness – all in Adithya’s mother-tongue, Telugu. Business Raja will eventually endorse Adithya’s idea and will then connect him to an investor or a relevant government scheme. OR Business Raja will fund Adithya himself, because superstar mentors don’t let their mentees down.

The investor – a CSR manager or organization, a rural empowerment foundation, a bank, a district collector, or a VC fund – will evaluate Adithya’s idea and fund it. Or Adithya will find the next best investor. But he will get funded, his shop will open, his dream – will be realized. And guess what? Last month during Business Raja’s pilot run in Kaikaluru, Adithya’s idea did get realized!

That’s it. A simple premise to solve the complex grassroot challenge of accessibility to funds to start a new business.

Why Business Raja will work

Essentially, because of how simple it makes everything. In my 17 years in the corporate world, what I learned for sure was that every organization with a CSR budget – or even charitable individuals and communities - is looking to make a meaningful difference. The roadblock? They have no idea where to start looking for ideas to make this meaningful difference. What better place to start looking but at the very grassroots? Business Raja will bridge this gap.

With no mediators and a self-serve platform for investors as well as rural entrepreneurs, Business Raja will also infuse refreshing transparency into the rural entrepreneurship funding schemes. It solves for the lack of transparency in today’s many crowd sourcing platforms.

So the rural entrepreneurs know where the money is coming from and investors know where their money is going and how it is being utilized through the full business life cycle.

What next?

Superhero as he might be, Business Raja can’t do it all alone! We are actively looking to connect with CSR teams and organizations, government schemes, bankers, venture capitalists, charitable individuals and communities to get more ideas like Adithya’s off the ground.

Do you fit the bill? Do you just want to chat with us about Business Raja and find out how we can collaborate? Reach out to me at [email protected]

Or watch this space. More updates will follow.

Best wishes and greetings, Happy Independence Day India

[manavsubodh]

From a Dreamed Job to a Dream Purpose

I have been doing a corporate job for the last 17 years, of which the last 10 years I have been with Intel. The last 4 years I have been living my dream job, managing the entrepreneurship programs for Intel in over 30 countries. As Global Manager - Entrepreneurship, Corporate Affairs at Intel I have multiple opportunities to expand my initiatives and create positive impacts around the world. Just to give you an idea, among many of the exciting projects I oversaw is Intel’s ‘Make It Wearable’ initiative with Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich having the pleasure of working with some amazing entrepreneurs globally. I am also involved in India’s new prime minister’s national initiative: Make In India with an aim to give the Indian economy global recognition.

Recently, I realized the time I have now will not come back. This is my short window to make a big difference, the perfect opportunity to pursue my dream purpose in life. Thus now, I am launching an initiative, “A Million for a Billion” 1M1B - activating one million people to impact one billion people through entrepreneurship, youth employment and women’s empowerment as well as addressing social issues, economic, health, water and environmental concerns through prosperous enterprises. 

As you can imagine, this didn’t happen overnight, I have been challenged multiple times in my career. Once, I got challenged by our partners in Egypt to do an entrepreneurship program a month after the Arab spring. Our trainer refused to go due to travel advisory, so I got myself trained and landed up as a trainer. Over 150 youth attended showing that they want to participate in creating jobs rather than getting into the blame game and protests. I landed up doing a similar program for the unemployed in Jordan. I wondered how disappointed these Arab youth would have been had I not shown up in Egypt? Another instance is, when one of the girls from a poor immigrant family in New York wanted me to help her beyond our programs in setting her business. I pointed her to our local partner. The girl after some attempt dropped her idea and is back looking for work. So I asked myself, what if I had mentored her? Then, in a focused group discussion, one of the girls in rural India, Uttrakhand state, said that she wants me to help her set up a Teddy Bear shop, as she and other young girls in her village don’t get to play with teddy bears as they are expensive. I said I would come back to her. Can I really get back to her fast enough to activate her teddy bear dream?

All these moments, among multiple other great stories I could keep sharing with you have given me the courage to take the decision to leave my dream job for a greater cause. At the beginning, it was essential for me to be debt free before making the move. Then, I realized there would never be a perfect day and a perfect clean desk for me to take the plunge. It took consistent budgeting and a commitment to spend less to get my loans to a manageable level; which, it was worth the wait.

Now, as I am entering a new era in my professional life, I cannot wait to grow my non-profit, A Million for A Billion  (1M1B). With the vision to empower a million youth and women who will take actions, get employed, create jobs and start enterprises that will empower a billion people in disadvantaged economies creating a world with balanced economic prosperity, I continue my path confidently knowing that I must follow my call.

I have had so much help and support in making this decision. My friends and family have been incredible and my Intel managers and the Intel team have made all the difference by giving me an opportunity to find myself.

“Entrepreneurship is a calling, not a job” This is the main concept I would like you to remember from this article. Don’t compare entrepreneurship with a job, whatever your passion might be, don’t hold back. Get out of your room, talk to your supervisor, look for opportunities, take short assignments, volunteer over the weekend, do your best to create the best. Do whatever to activate yourself and your true calling. Count me in your tag team, contact me on Twitter!.

Remember, change is coming!

[manavsubodh]

It’s going to be almost 5 years this October 2019 since I started #1M1B. It’s been a great ride with lots of learning. I plan to share in the coming months my journey and what I have learnt.  Meanwhile I am on to a new challenge, which requires him to bring together my leanings from academic, corporate, and social entrepreneurship experiences. These days I am piloting in India and USA, a new age AI powered tech platform that will support under-served youth open new businesses and get access to finance using their mobile phone. A game changer is on its way! Stay tuned for my next blog

[manavsubodh]

From a Dreamed Job to a Dream Purpose

I have been doing a corporate job for the last 17 years, of which the last 10 years I have been with Intel. The last 4 years I have been living my dream job, managing the entrepreneurship programs for Intel in over 30 countries. As Global Manager - Entrepreneurship, Corporate Affairs at Intel I have multiple opportunities to expand my initiatives and create positive impacts around the world. Just to give you an idea, among many of the exciting projects I oversaw is Intel's ‘Make It Wearable’ initiative with Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich having the pleasure of working with some amazing entrepreneurs globally. I am also involved in India's new prime minister's national initiative: Make In India with an aim to give the Indian economy global recognition.

Recently, I realized the time I have now will not come back. This is my short window to make a big difference, the perfect opportunity to pursue my dream purpose in life. Thus now, I am launching an initiative, "A Million for a Billion" 1M1B - activating one million people to impact one billion people through entrepreneurship, youth employment and women's empowerment as well as addressing social issues, economic, health, water and environmental concerns through prosperous enterprises. 

As you can imagine, this didn't happen overnight, I have been challenged multiple times in my career. Once, I got challenged by our partners in Egypt to do an entrepreneurship program a month after the Arab spring. Our trainer refused to go due to travel advisory, so I got myself trained and landed up as a trainer. Over 150 youth attended showing that they want to participate in creating jobs rather than getting into the blame game and protests. I landed up doing a similar program for the unemployed in Jordan. I wondered how disappointed these Arab youth would have been had I not shown up in Egypt? Another instance is, when one of the girls from a poor immigrant family in New York wanted me to help her beyond our programs in setting her business. I pointed her to our local partner. The girl after some attempt dropped her idea and is back looking for work. So I asked myself, what if I had mentored her? Then, in a focused group discussion, one of the girls in rural India, Uttrakhand state, said that she wants me to help her set up a Teddy Bear shop, as she and other young girls in her village don't get to play with teddy bears as they are expensive. I said I would come back to her. Can I really get back to her fast enough to activate her teddy bear dream?

All these moments, among multiple other great stories I could keep sharing with you have given me the courage to take the decision to leave my dream job for a greater cause. At the beginning, it was essential for me to be debt free before making the move. Then, I realized there would never be a perfect day and a perfect clean desk for me to take the plunge. It took consistent budgeting and a commitment to spend less to get my loans to a manageable level; which, it was worth the wait.

Now, as I am entering a new era in my professional life, I cannot wait to grow my non-profit, A Million for A Billion  (1M1B). With the vision to empower a million youth and women who will take actions, get employed, create jobs and start enterprises that will empower a billion people in disadvantaged economies creating a world with balanced economic prosperity, I continue my path confidently knowing that I must follow my call.

I have had so much help and support in making this decision. My friends and family have been incredible and my Intel managers and the Intel team have made all the difference by giving me an opportunity to find myself.

“Entrepreneurship is a calling, not a job” This is the main concept I would like you to remember from this article. Don’t compare entrepreneurship with a job, whatever your passion might be, don’t hold back. Get out of your room, talk to your supervisor, look for opportunities, take short assignments, volunteer over the weekend, do your best to create the best. Do whatever to activate yourself and your true calling. Count me in your tag team, contact me on Twitter!.

Remember, change is coming!

[manavsubodh]

Here with Professor Jerome Engel, UC Berkeley promoting his book "Global Clusters Of Innovation"Entrepreneurial Engines of Economic Growth around the World in which I am honored to be authored a chapter.

During the book release at GCEC London. Also gave a talk, here is more information about the event -> http://www.gcec2014.com/manav-subodh

[manavsubodh]

"be the change you want to see in the world"

Mahatma Gandhi

[manavsubodh]

Intel Make it Wearable Judging Panel

Here with tennis ace Venus Williams (center), Intel CEO, Brian Krzanich (next to Venus ) , and then L-R, my colleague and co-lead, Len Klebba, Best Buy President and CEO, Hubert Joly, Professor Entrepreneurship UC Berkeley, Princeton and friend John Danner, Nike+ Vice President and General Manager for Digital Sport Stefan Olander, Chairman of North America Louis Vuitton, Pauline Brown, SMS Audio President Brian Nohe and Rebecca Minkoff Co-Founder and CEO Uri Minkoff and then me. 

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 7, 2014 – Six industry luminaires in fields from fashion and design to fitness and retail are joining Intel CEO Brian Krzanich as judges in the Intel "Make It Wearable" challenge, helping to shape the future of wearable technology. On Nov. 3, they will select three winners who will be awarded a total of US$800,000.

Judges include Best Buy* President and CEO Hubert Joly, Chairman of North America for LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A.* Pauline Brown, Nike+* Vice President and General Manager for Digital Sport Stefan Olander, Rebecca Minkoff* Co-Founder and CEO Uri Minkoff, SMS Audio* President Brian Nohe, and  tennis ace Venus Williams.

To accelerate innovation in the wearables space, Intel is bringing together great minds outside of the technology industry to provide their distinct perspectives and help push the creative envelope around design, aesthetics and functionality. With expertise in design, fashion, fitness, retail and user experience, the judges provide unique insights for the finalists in marrying design and aesthetics with function and form.

The ten finalists hailing from China, Europe, Latin America and the United States will present to the esteemed panel and will be judged on concept, feasibility, market demand and human impact. They are competing for a first place prize of US$500,000, a second place prize of US$200,000 and a third place prize of US$100,000.

The ten final concepts, all powered by Intel® Edison, include a wearable camera that flies, bionic mattress for babies in the neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU), first-person broadcast system for professional athletes, low-cost robotic hand, sports necklace for athletes, bracelet that manages body temperature, wearable device designed for skiers, baby guard for expecting mothers and infants, hand-worn production tool, and smart watch with interchangeable hardware.

[manavsubodh]

Entrepreneurship is a skill set

Egyptians, along with much of the world, need to fundamentally change the way they think about business and innovation. Here is a great caption of how I use innovation to do remote sessions to keep engaged with the youth in Egypt.

Read more here - http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/bringing-entrepreneurship-curriculum

Read more about changes here -> http://manavsubodh.tumblr.com/post/107494083944/from-a-dreamed-job-to-a-dream-purpose

[manavsubodh]

First Indo-US start up Accelerator workshop

I had the opportunity to share my views with an elite panel and audience at the first Indo-US start up Accelerator workshop at FICCI. If you missed it, no worries, my team recorded it for you to enjoy it at your own time. See the video below.

Here with Nandan Nilekani (Chairman UIDAI and Former CEO Infosys), Nancy Powell ( US Ambassador to India) , Rajiv Sharma (Executive Director IUSSTF) — with Rajiv Sharma in New Delhi, India.

A celebration of the innovators who bring new products, services, and processes to the marketplace:

 Check the press release sent out for the occasion here -> http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/sr221113.html