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Pooling resources to tackle India's social challenges
Ravi Venkatesan (MBA 1992), former chairman of Microsoft India, left the corporate world to launch Social Venture Partners (SVP) India, which brings together concerned citizens to solve economic and social problems through venture philanthropy. He hopes this also creates more aware and engaged citizens who will tackle some of the challenging governance problems in India.
"Your time on earth is limited. Isn't it time to reclaim your life and start living? Isn't it time to embark on your heroic journey?" says Venkatesan about deciding to make a difference in a more personal way.
Venkatesan has been improving lives in India for years. As CEO at Cummins, he helped establish the first engineering college for women; and later, at Microsoft, he helped create a computer literacy program that has trained 35 million children and nearly a million teachers. At SVP India, based in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Pune—a spin-off of the Seattle-based nonprofit—Venkatesan and fellow partners take on issues essential to India, such as jobs creation.
"We've created a platform so that if you want to make a difference, there's a place for you to come in, meet like-minded people, and have resources and a brand, so you can go out and have an impact in the community," he says.
(Published April 2014)
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