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How innovative management can change society

September 18, 2008

Text: Arthur J Pais

Whether he is funding a $ 20 million technological innovation programme at MIT or supporting a raft of social programmes in India, including free lunch to nearly a million children each school day, Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande will tell you that it is all an extension of his entrepreneurship that has made him a billionaire and a dynamic role model.

"An entrepreneur and philanthropist are both very connected," said Dr Deshpande as he was getting ready to address the annual convention of NetIP (Network of Indian Professionals) in Boston.

"An entrepreneur is all about making an impact. You see the world and you say, 'It doesn't have to be like this, it could be better.' And when you say that, you are looking for change. And you want to be the person who causes that change. In a capitalist entrepreneurship, it is usually driven by free market economy and you are trying to create a product or service to make this a better world. In a social entrepreneurship, it is the same thing… you are still trying again to cause a change. Being that agent, being that person who is making the change is where all the excitement is."

Image: Students work on their One Laptop Per Child laptops at Vasti Vidhalaya in Karjat district, some 75 km from Mumbai. The OLPC project mission, a brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop. Dr Deshpande, co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks Inc, serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his $20 million donation has created MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. | Photograph: Pal Pillai/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: India's most admired entrepreneurs

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