Be! Fund: Promoting social entrepreneurship
December 8, 2011 │ New Delhi
A Deutsche Bank employee, Joris Hensen, is providing advisory support for the social project Be! Fund in India for the second time. Be!Fund promotes young social entrepreneurs who are seeking solutions to local problems.
Be! Fund invests in entrepreneurs aged 18 to 29 from low-income groups who try to solve social, economic, and ecological problems in their surroundings. Be! Fund is convinced that young people growing up in poverty have the potential to find entrepreneurial solutions to day-to-day problems, including water and energy provision, waste disposal, health and safety. By 2014, Be! Fund intends to have provided 100 social entrepreneurs with funding of up to 9,000 euros.
In February 2011, the Deutschbanker Joris Hensen went to India to help Be! Fund develop a method to evaluate the complex social and financial effects of its investments. The aim of the evaluation tool, a software, is to enhance the understanding of the effects of Be! Fund projects and to help communicate them better.
In addition, Mr. Hensen had the task of presenting Be! Fund projects to potential investors, for example foundations or private individuals. One example is attached below: the story of Pravesh Kumar and his candle factory.
After his four-week engagement in the spring of 2011, Joris Hensen stayed in contact with Be! Fund. From Frankfurt, he oversaw the further development of the project, thus ensuring that his work will have a lasting effect. At the end of 2011, he went back to India for three more weeks to oversee the completion and implementation of the evaluation tool.
Be! Fund and Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank Asia Foundation, through which Deutsche Bank directs its corporate social responsibility efforts in Asia, has entered into a partnership with Be! Fund in India. The partnership will invest in start-up sustainable businesses proposed and designed by young individuals who live in slums and villages in India, to help them move beyond the boundaries of their impoverished situations. Be! Fund is India’s first not-for-profit venture fund. It was launched in Bangalore in July 2011 by the Going to School non-profit media trust, which makes stories for children who live in India’s slums and villages. Be! Fund invests in businesses designed and proposed by young people from low-income groups to enable them to launch businesses that effect positive change in their local communities.
Further information
Be! Fund website
Be! Fund in a nutshell
Be! Fund example: How candles fight crime
Be! Fund: The business of creating heroes
Vergrößern
With a Be!Fund investment, 19-year-old Pravesh Kumar (green t-shirt) founded a candle making business in a rural area whithout constant power supply.
He now employs 10 people who were jobless before. The entrepreneur returned Be! Fund's investment within six months.
Joris Hensen about Be! Fund
Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Community Partnership Program (CCP)
Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Community Partnership Program (CCP) is a global volunteering initiative. Since 2008, the bank has sent experts from its various business lines and infrastructure divisions to nonprofit organizations in emerging markets. Typical tasks include advising local management, improving IT systems and developing marketing strategies.
CCP is our flagship program for a number of reasons. As a global financial service provider, we can share our expertise with our partners, such as microfinance institutions and micro-insurance organizations in emerging markets, to help build economic and social structures that are efficient and self-sustaining. At the same time, the program offers Deutsche Bank employees the opportunity to gain personal and professional experience abroad. By learning more about the lifestyles, mentalities and cultures of other peoples during a several-week stay, they gain valuable new perspectives for their daily work.