Indian knowledge and skills promise a lot
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Harold Rosen believes in driving people towards accomplishing tasks they never dreamt about. He is a stranger to the places where he works, but is quick to find hands that connect him to local people and their dreams. Though many reading this would know him as the director of Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI) at International Finance Corporation, but for many who can?t read or write, he is a catalyst in turning their dreams into reality.
Working with the World Bank Group since 1978, Rosen has been part of IFC?s financial planning and policy departments located across the globe. His latest assignment, however, has gone a bit micro, making him concentrate on the base of the pyramid.
In India, working closely with partners like SEWA in Gujarat, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust and Drishtee.com, GBI today boasts thousands of beneficiaries. ?And we have just started,? quips Rosen, who was in India to strengthen his initiative. ?We have great partners from the corporate world that are coming forward to lend their support for building entrepreneurships at the grassroots. GBI supports innovative social enterprises? grassroots business organisations (GBOs). These are socially driven ventures?whether for-profit or not-for-profit?that empower and engage those at the ?base of the pyramid? as entrepreneurs, suppliers, consumers and employees. These ventures provide income, training and products and services to those who need it most,? he adds.
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