Insaan Group

Programs: Entrepreneurshipinsaan supports entrepreneurial talent to create social change. In 2013, insaan impacted over 4,000 lives through investments in innovative start-ups operating in india and kenya. Many social enterprises work to ensure that their employees are treated fairly and that first and foremost, they "do no harm". But insaan's entrepreneurs go beyond that to ensure that company profits translate into social change in the lives of people with whom they work. Our accomplishments with two entrepreneurship ventures are described below. Soko (shopsoko. Com) is a start-up created in kenya in 2012 that develops unique technology solutions to help artisans who lack computers and bank accounts to manage their production, sell to global shoppers, and get paid directly using a simple sms query system. Sokos innovative, patent-pending technology provides unprecedented links between artisans without any computer or network access, and consumers who want to buy their goods. Soko's year-on-year sales are rapidly increasing. In 2013, soko started with about 20 artisans and has continued to grow, with improved livelihoods for the artisans, their families and communities. The impact on earnings, and what this means in terms of education, health, and empowerment, especially for women, is sizable, as demonstrated by veronica's story featured in philanthropy age: http://www. Philanthropyage. Org/2013/12/09/kenyas-new-artisans/ with insaan's help, soko is now preparing to expand outside kenya, while ensuring that it achieves its social aims by using powerful analytics. Mela (www. Melaartisans. Com) is a luxury lifestyle brand that celebrates india's artisanal skills and fosters entrepreneurship and social revival in poor communities in india. The result is transformed lives of over 4,500 artisans, whose artistry can now be found in shops such as neiman marcus, bloomingdales, holt renfrew in canada, and more. A percentage of sales are re-invested in community initiatives, including an eye clinic for artisans, a workshop rebuild to secure artisan health and safety, and banking-support programs. Thanks to social investors such as insaan, mela's growing sales are translating economic gains into better health, education, savings and empowerment for artisans and their families. Meaningful, viable jobs mean that artisans have the power to revive and preserve their heritage and world-class artistry. Insaan supports mela's integration of social metrics into its management practices, and facilitates linkages with markets in the indian ocean region. Connecting artisans to major retailers while connecting consumers with high-quality goods and the artisans themselves, both soko and mela are working to transform the market for quality artisan crafts on a large scale. Insaan's full qualitative and quantitative reports are available upon request.

educationinsaan backs great ideas that enable success in education for children from poor and low-income families. In 2013, insaan engaged in a long-term partnership with a low-cost education pioneer in india delivering stellar education to over 30,000 slum children to help them scale up through capital, research and evaluation, and technical expertise. Specific accomplishments with insaan's venture gyan shala are described below for illustration: -gyan shala's targeting reaches the poorest segments of its geographic area of enrollment;-gyan shala has effected gains in education that do not show a statistically significant effect of caste on child performance;-gyan shala has successfully overcome the gender bias against girls by keeping girls as at least 50% of its student body at all levels of school including through junior high school and beyond;-gyan shala's own test scores suggest no statistically significant difference between male and female performance but distributions align with international norms in primary and middle education. Insaan's work with gyan shala adds value to gyan shala's pragmatic, highly efficient low-cost primary education model. Gyan shala's meticulous methodology is complemented by quality analytics to improve service delivery. The low-cost, standardized model is being scaled in other states and has the potential to scale globally.