The year 2015 saw the world embrace a new action plan for poverty eradication, protection of the planet and ensuring prosperity and peace for all - the Sustainable Development Goals. With a total of 17 major goals and 169 associated targets, all set to deal with the umbrella issue of poverty from multiple ends, the path has been made clear for progress as we need it today. All the more, the ‘Leave No One Behind’ policy which all the member states have agreed upon while adopting this 2030 agenda is one key initiative to promote more inclusive implementation of the SDGs. With initiatives and targeted action for achieving the goals being among the main objectives for many development programmes, tracking them and their implementation becomes crucial. Also, while tackling the issues that plagues a country as diverse as India through the SDGs, it is indisputable that multi-sectoral interventions are of much need. At this juncture, a bottom up approach towards achieving the SDGs can be quite effective. Knowing the needs of the people along with the constraints and opportunities present in their ecosystem is valuable information while this approach is at play. Such an identification also brings us to a platform where the issues can now be mapped to sustainable solutions with an ultimate aim of attaining social objectives defined under the SDGs. Now, what we as a country need is not just any solution to meet these, but creative solutions that can meet the objectives. And the best method that we have in hand which can address all these on a single platform and yet trigger economic growth is one that is taking today's world by wind - entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship - A Way Forward

A recent report by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of the NSSO brings to attention a much broader reality - a 45-year high unemployment rate of 6.1% in the country. These alarming statistics presses the need for job creation. Entrepreneurship can be seen as a universal panacea for employment growth and development of the economy. Addressing the need for job creation through entrepreneurship can thus, help us achieve social objectives through commercial ventures. It can also be seen that entrepreneurial ventures can not only support creation of employment but also greatly contribute towards achieving other SDGs as well. The United Nations also recognises entrepreneurship as a pivotal integrant of development. Through its initiative, ‘Entrepreneurs for Social Change’ - a programme coordinated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) - it seeks to support those entrepreneurial ventures that not only brings in new marketable ideas that are socially viable but is also of significant need to society. Although entrepreneurship has been the buzz word around for sometime now, it is increasingly seen that much of this space is being taken up by millenials as compared to any other age group. A cursory glance at the schemes and development programmes supporting such ventures would also tell us that much of these target the millennial population. India being a ‘young’ country having its youth as its biggest strength, an innovation driven economy that can attain social objectives is not just a possibility but also a means to accelerate development in itself. This is so, not just in the case of social entrepreneurship but also commercial entrepreneurship as well. All the more, using the tool of entrepreneurship to address the issues put out by the SDGs can get us the best of both worlds - ensure more economically viable solutions for grassroot issues and also track the SDG implementation for the country.

Integrating SDGs to Enterprise Development

The one SDG that entrepreneurship addresses to the core is Goal 8 - promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all - through the sheer amount of job creation that such an activity enables. Moreover, under global targets for this goal, target 8.3 specifically pushes for policy interventions to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and growth of MSMEs among others. Interestingly goals 4 ,8 and 9, specifically incorporates entrepreneurship into the universal agenda. At the same time, it can be seen that there is a vast opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures to broach the other SDGs as well. Encouraging social enterprises to address developmental challenges has multiple benefits:

1. It can enable positive social change with financially sustaining models. For example, the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Mr. Harish Hande and his venture Selco which provides sustainable and affordable energy services to rural India (Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy for all).

2. It can provide an environment where solutions can be produced at scale for massive impact. Ela Bhatt with Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Ahmedabad works towards this and much more for women at large through livelihood promotion (Goal 5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls).

3. Can bring in more inclusiveness to the solution. Indian Social Entrepreneur of the Year for 2018 - Prema Gopalan of Swayam Shikshan Prayog which plays a pivotal role in revitalising rural economies through women empowerment is a huge example of this (Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities). An example from the younger generations, Arushi Batra, young Indian herself, with the Robin Hood Army gets surplus food from restaurants and events to the less fortunate sections of the society (Goal 2: Zero Hunger).

4. And at the same time, might also be able to build returns on the created impact hence producing value to the work and enhancing the economy. An example from the bygone era would be Dr. Varghese Kurian with Amul (Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth).

In order to ensure a targeted approach towards achieving the SDGs through entrepreneurship, it also comes as a necessity for entrepreneurs to identify the niche where their ideas can contribute. One such tool which can be used is the “SDG Dashboard of India”, a recent addition which can be used as a platform for making informed data driven decisions for understanding the less worked-on spheres of the SDG in your region. Digging in deeper, one can see that rural areas of the country are much more in need of the changes proposed by the SDGs and hence the MSME space comes into view. Encouraging rural enterprises and providing them support through co-creation is one key element in this web. Enterprise development coalitions happen to be a way of achieving the micro enterprise development through robust business ecosystems. Through its Work 4 Progress(W4P) initiative, Development Alternatives offers just that. The platform creates positive relations between multiple stakeholders through which enterprise development is being supported at the regional, national and global levels. The support rendered comes in the form of resource pooling, eventuate government participation through programmes such as Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and also disseminate knowledge from various global development platforms. As we make progress in bringing development to the neediest, the SDGs become crucial in filing the lacunas that interlink multiple aspects of it. At such a crossroad, entrepreneurship and enterprise development comes as a package that can address multiple goals at once. While smart techniques such as lean business operations and empathy maps can be used by the enterprises for understanding the social and financial needs better, the right kind of support can take us a long way in creating the impact we are looking for. With an interconnected approach in hand, enterprise development can be one of the biggest platforms that can bring the change that we need.

References:

1. http://www.id.undp.org/content/indonesia/en/home/presscenter/articles/2018/fast-tracking-sdgs-in-eastern-indonesia-through-youth-entreprene.html

2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishacharya/2015/03/07/how-the-un-plans-to-use-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-for-sustainable-development/#3ec9970ad7b7/

3. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

4. http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/129474/1/Chapter%20-%20Social%20Entrepreneurship%2 0and%20the%20SDGs.pdf

5. https://www.munplanet.com/articles/fridays-with-munplanet/entrepreneurship-for-development-and-the-sdgs

6. https://www.unido.org/news/weif-2017-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-are-essential-achieve-sustainable-development-goals

7. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S2040-724620180000008006/full/pdf?title=a-multiple-framework-approach-to-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-and-entrepreneurship

8. https://www.ipinst.org/2018/07/fostering-entrepreneurship-innovation-to-achieve-sustaina ble-development-goals#12

9. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=23553

10. https://nextbillion.net/social-entrepreneurship-sdgs/

11. https://yourstory.com/2015/10/startups-un-2030-sustainable-development-goals

12. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/ministry-of-statistics-and-programme-im plementation-launches-indias-sdg-dashboard/article28227081.ece

13. https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/05/youth-entrepreneurship-sustainable-development/

14. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/economy/india-s-unemployment-rate-doubled-in-tw o-years-soe-in-figures-64953

15. https://www.weforum.org/press/2018/10/prema-gopalan-honoured-as-india-social-entrep reneur-of-the-year-2018/

Sreela Srinivasan
sreelacecbvb@gmail.com