Joy Of Innovation

I was surfing about Project Green Hand’s recent 25 Million tree sapling plantation kickoff. The project aims to enhance the green cover of Tamil Nadu by 10%.The PGH volunteers created a Guiness World Record last year by planting 852, 587 tree sapling on a single day. While I was wondering why there not much coverage for the initiative in the Blogosphere, and scant coverage in the mainstream media, I came across the new revamped IshaFoundation website. The site design is pleasing and RSS enabled where appropriate. But one page caught my attention more than anything else. The Isha Business page:

Over the years, Isha Foundation has developed a gamut of social interventions which have been funded primarily by the concern of caring individuals. While the results have been impressive by any standard, this level of support can help relieve only a fraction of the existing need. For these projects to reach their maximum potential, where their impact can be experienced on a much larger scale, a steady stream of funding is critical.

And the page further states that:

Run by professionals and volunteers from various walks of life with diverse work experience and backgrounds, IBL seeks to address the need to combine commerce with social conscience. As such, the entire proceeds of IBL will fund Isha Foundation’s various Health, Environment and Educational initiatives: Action for Rural Rejuvenation, Project Green Hands, and Isha Vidhya.

The lines between the for-profit, non-profits are blurring.

Scale is the buzz word in biz. Be it YouTube, Google, Microsoft or Amazon, they created human impact through scale. Donation/Grant based social interventions inherently face stiff barriers to scale. Thus, Isha Business model is something interesting to watch and learn. Typically, a for-profit spin-off by a non-profit kills both. But given the background of the man in the helm of Isha Foundation - Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Isha Business will be a proof by exception and possibly game changer too. Prior to his intense Yogic Experience at the wilderness of Chammundi Hills, Mysore, Jaggi Vasudev was a successful entrepreneur. And there is no dearth of talent, expertise or access for Isha Foundation to take Isha Business to success. Non-profits wakeup! Disruptive market place ahead!

Disclosure: I’m a practitioner of Isha Yoga taught by Isha Foundation.

Bonus Links:
Stottpot has an interesting coverage of the Launch
Ashoka.Org - Intervention through Entrepreneurship.
.
Jaggi Vasude’v World Economic Forum Address:

Inclusive Economics beyond Fringe Spirituality. Just like there is engineering to do external climate control, there is a whole technology to manage inner climate and wellbeing. That everyone can make use of.