By Neel Desai
As the semester comes to an end, SEI is hard at work preparing for its hallmark dialogue of civilization programs. I’m incredibly excited to be TA’ing the Social Enterprise in India Dialogue during Summer 1. I have a deep interest in leveraging technology for social impact, as well as family and cultural ties to India. Professor Sara Minard and Felix Bivens will be co-teaching the course, along with a story telling module led by Emily Turner.
Throughout the first half of the program, students will meet with and learn from leading women social entrepreneurs in India. The second half of the course will provide the students with a hands-on social enterprise consulting assignment with Indian business school students; designing social innovations in urban poverty, the informal economy, and health and sanitation, among other topics.
As we finalize programming and complete pre-departure coursework, many thoughts come to mind. My interest in social enterprise was initially sparked during my introductory 2206 Global Social Entrepreneurship course taught by Professor Shaughnessy. The following summer, I participated in the Social Enterprise Field Study Dialogue in Cape Town, South Africa, where we worked alongside local students to consult with urban entrepreneurs and social enterprises. That experience remains the inspiration behind both my academic and professional endeavors today.
Nevertheless, traveling to India from an academic angle will allow me to think critically about the various socio-economic problems the country faces. For some context, my parents immigrated from Vadodara, Gujarat. I lived there for a few years, attending pre-school before moving to Burlington, Vermont. A large part of my family still resides there and we tend to visit every few years. The focus of my trips in the past have been on reconnecting with old family and friends. I’m looking forward to working alongside locals and applying the principles we’ve learned in class to develop unique solutions that address the immense poverty the country faces.
Additionally, traveling with a group of Northeastern students presents its own adventures and learning experiences. Everything from the language, to nuanced social norms will be different. India is an incredible melting pot of cultures, religions, and people. I have my own biases, and given my experience with family and friends in India, and growing up in Vermont, affects the way in which I see its people, culture, religion. It is because of that diversity I’m looking forward to sharing my context and perspective on the country to all of the students.
Alternatively, in the context of traveling as Northeastern students, presents some inherent challenges. The way in which India is perceived in the West is quite often distorted. We see this through the appropriation of Indian culture and religion, westernization, and countless other cultural insensitivities. It is comforting that much of the curriculum integrates speaking with and working alongside locals to truly understand their perspectives in addition to the preparation our team is doing by reading about the country and its people ahead of the trip.
All in all, to be returning to India to study social entrepreneurship, as a student leader, ties together many pieces of my time here at Northeastern. What makes me most excited is its ability to leverage the world’s most powerful forces in moving capital and resources for social good. It’s practices will be the ones that end global poverty and suffering. It’s a systematic and sustainable framework for addressing the world’s biggest problems. I know that whether or not we study business, we’re a part of the system. I encourage everyone to find a way to get involved with SEI’s work in some capacity as I believe its principles are applicable to any domain.
On campus you can find me leading the team in the IDEA lab. Building out a strong support system and infrastructure for social enterprise ventures is a particular focus of mine. Feel free to reach out anytime, happy to connect to share more information, and see how we can work together.
