Socially Yours - XLRI

DATE: 31 AUGUST 2006
ATIKA JAIN

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur is introducing a new elective on Social Entrepreneurship for its second-year Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PMIR) and Business Management (BM) students in September.

Though a relatively new entrant in the Indian B-School curriculum, B-Schools abroad have courses and entire centres devoted to Social Entrepreneurship. For example, the Said Business School, Oxford University has the Skoll Center for Social Entreneurship while the Fuqua Business School, Duke University has the Centre for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship.

...According to Ashoka, a global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs, a social entrepreneur is someone whose “job is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and provide new ways to get it unstuck.”

Says Madhukar Shukla, professor, Organizational Behaviour, XLRI, “ Unfortunately, most management students/professionals view social entrepreneurship as a “by charity/ for charity” venture, and not as a financially viable entrepreneurial activity. The course aims to expose the students to viable business models through case studies, which are simultaneously profitable (though, not necessarily with “profit-making” as the sole aim) and enthuse them to actively think about this as a realistic vocational choice.”

XLRI is also trying to tie up with Ashoka (which has a network of 1500 social entrepreneurs across more than 50 countries) so that they can mentor and provide feedback on the plans of the students at the end of the course.

....Says Shukla, “The purpose of the course is not to tell people about the social entrepreneurship is all about but to provide inputs to those who would like to become 'social entrepreneurs'.”