The AGSM Social Impact and Women in Leadership clubs proudly presented the Investing in the Future event at AGSM Kensington on 14th October 2014 with the goal of exploring the function of not-for-profit (NFP) and non-governmental organisations (NGO) working within the space of Youth and Education internationally and within Australia, and the roles in which MBA students are able to contribute their skills and knowledge to these organisations. Our clubs were incredibly honored to have in attendance, Ms. Sanghamitra Bose, CEO of a Delhi-based civil society organisation Sshrishti, and Mr. Ranjit Singh Dosanjh, an AGSM EMBA currently involved in the mentoring of disadvantaged youth and young adults within Sydney.

Sshrishti has been working to educate over 2000 children from Indian slum environments for over 10 years, after having first started in 2003 in the living room of Ms. Bose. Ms. Bose discussed the beginnings of Sshrishti where despite no knowledge of how to run a not-for-profit and little money, Sshrishti stemmed out of a strong sense of commitment and passion to providing a solid education for the early years of development for disadvantaged children living in slum clusters of Indian cities, deprived of their basic rights.

These children mostly belong to the families of migrant labourers who migrate from economically disadvantaged areas to major cities, such as Delhi, to earn a living as unskilled labourers. Due to the migratory nature of their own lifestyle and of their parents, the children miss on regular schooling and mostly drop out and become child workers.

Ms. Bose discussed Sshrishti’s current initiatives include computer and digital literacy programs, women’s self-help groups and community empowerment through skill-building and microenterprise at over 10 centres across different cities – 9 within Delhi and 1 in Uttarakhand (Northern India). A part of Sshrishti’s functions continue to encourage children off the streets and into the classroom, often drawn by the promise of a lunchtime meal. With time, a classroom discipline and work ethic develops and children return regularly for lessons. Sshrishti’s workers then aim to gain engagement with the parents of these children through monthly parent-teacher meetings which are often limited by the requirement for the parent to forego a day’s working wages to attend the appointment.

With gender discrimination remaining prominent particularly within India’s marginalised, lower income communities, Ms. Bose discussed that Sshrishti continues to support the formation of groups for female victims of domestic violence and alcoholism, harassment, and abandonment within these communities.

Mr. Singh discussed his journey to become a mentor for disadvantaged youth in Sydney has stemmed from his own difficult experiences as a young adult in Oakland, California and the kindness of those that supported him in regaining control of his life. Having previously been involved in Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets program, Mr. Singh has now branched out into one-to-one mentoring of his own group of disadvantaged youth within Sydney with the aim of breaking cycles of substance abuse, domestic instability and guiding these youth to more successful lives.

For not-for-profit and community programs such as Sshrishti and that of Mr. Singh’s, funding remains a particular challenge. Ms. Bose discussed Sshrishti’s current funding resources remain 85% donor dependent, and 15% coming from individual donors, corporate tie-ups, corporate partnerships and the organisation’s own fundraising activities. In future, there is hope that Sshrishti may have the ability to become partially self-sustainable, but outright self-sustainability remains a remote prospect. Mr. Singh discussed that he has managed to gain some intermittent monetary support from his employer, EFM Logistics, but the majority of the program continues to remain funded by himself.

In exploring the roles that MBA students and alumni can play in developing not-for-profits and joining not-for-profit boards, Mr. Singh discussed that challenges remain in building the strategy and back-end support required for his mentoring program, and should he be able to gain the support of additional members of the AGSM community, this would allow the ability to scale the program further.

Ms. Bose discussed the function of Sshrishti’s board remains to provide advice regarding organisational actions and fundraising initiatives, and board members (such as MBA graduates) may contribute in a variety of ways including their use of managerial skills and experience, and financial acumen. However, Ms. Bose emphasised the core skills required of NFP members remain an ability to communicate with a variety of stakeholders, and a healthy dose of optimism!

The evening concluded with a delicious Indian feast prepared by members of the Class of 2015 cohort. It was a true privilege for the Social Impact Club and the AGSM to learn from the wisdom and experience from two guests making tangible impact to the lives of the disadvantaged of India and Australia. To quote Warren Buffet, ‘If you are in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%’, and we hope that the knowledge shared by Ms. Bose and Mr. Singh on the evening will stir AGSM students and graduates to apply thought to how their skills and knowledge can drive development and action for NFPs around the World.