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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

5. The Elusive Model of Technology, Media, Social Development, and Financial Sustainability

Author : Aaditeshwar Seth

Published in: Socio-Tech Innovation

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

We recount in this essay the decade-long story of Gram Vaani, a social enterprise with a vision to build appropriate ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) for participatory media in rural and low-income settings, to bring about social development and community empowerment. Other social enterprises will relate to the learning gained and the strategic pivots that Gram Vaani had to undertake to survive and deliver on its mission, while searching for a robust financial sustainability model. While we believe the ideal model remains elusive, we conclude this essay with an open question about the reason to differentiate between different kinds of enterprises—commercial or social, for-profit or not-for-profit—and argue that all enterprises should have an ethical underpinning to their work.

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Title: The Elusive Model of Technology, Media, Social Development, and Financial Sustainability
Author: Aaditeshwar Seth
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Socio-Tech Innovation
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39553-7

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-39554-4

Copyright Year: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39554-4_5