About

MISSION AND BACKGROUND:

ThinkChange India’s goal is to be your primary source of information on social innovation and social entrepreneurship in India.

Our blog lies on the presumption that the social circumstances facing India are unique in nature, and thus the approaches that will be most effective will also be unique. For that reason we focus on the country as its own, unlike other blogs in the social entrepreneurship space.

However, the true mission and purpose of the blog is also inspired by Paulo Freire’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The underlying principle is that meaningful change is predicated on reflection coupled with action.

We leave you now with some words from Freire himself:

“Human existence cannot be silent nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which men and women transform the world. To exist humanly is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. Human beings are not built in silence, but in word, in work, in action-reflection.”

VISION:

• Every post has the potential to be a springboard for action.
• Rising out of this shared educational experience, we hope that innovative solutions will emerge that will better India.

THE TEAM:

We have a dedicated team of editors who aggregate personal stories, articles, academic works and other relevant bits of information to provide you, the reader, with the most comprehensive taste of the vibrant social venture landscape in the Indian subcontinent and other efforts that are sprouting up in other parts of the world, but are focused on India.

Editors

Vinay Ganti

Vinay is in his fourth year of a four year JD/MBA program at the New York University School of Law and the in New York City. Prior to coming to New York, Vinay graduated from Brown University, worked in technology transfer as a consultant and also founded a financial literacy program for underprivileged youth. Currently, Vinay is an InSITE Fellow for Venture Capital and Innovation and was an intern at the Clinton Global Initiative‘s Energy & Climate Change Working Group.

His primary interests are in the social venture capital investing space and its role in transforming micro-businesses into globally competitive SMEs. After school, Vinay wants to create novel ways to provide clean energy to the world’s poor and lead the charge for a more socio-economically sensitive campaign for sustainable living and development.

Santhosh Ramdoss

Santhosh has a keen interest in enabling economic development and job creation among rural communities in India. He is currently a final year MPA Candidate at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. He is also a Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU. Santhosh is the co-founder of Profits for People, a social venture which was one of the winners of the Social Venture track of the 8th Annual Business Plan Competition at the Stern School of Business.

Shital Shah

Shital’s family immigrated from India when she was only four years old, but her heart and soul still remain there. She went on to graduate from Northwestern University and returned to India as an Indicorps fellow. She completed her Master of Public Administration from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, specializing in International Development.  In the past few years, she has been involved with the Washington Leadership Program, InSPIRE (a summer program for South Asian youth), and internships with the UN, Oxfam International, the World Bank, and New Visions for Public Schools.  She is currently on alternative delivery channels, such as mobile and agent banking, for emerging markets, and is based in Washington, DC.