A social entrepreneur's take on solving India's complex problems; parents stay abreast of their children's progress in school with EduCommerce

Thursday August 16, 2018 , 2 min Read

As societies grow complex, the problems they face have become increasingly complex too. This does not mean that simple and elegant solutions are impossible. While it is true that sharp thinkers often zero in on simple solutions, a certain class of complex problems tends to defy simple solutions. What are some of the characteristics of a ‘complex problem’, and how do you go about solving them? To understand this, we caught up with Shiv Kumar, a social entrepreneur and institution/people builder. He is the Founding Director of the Catalyst Group, and has helped countries and organisations successfully raise financial resources and effectively apply them to achieve intended results.

A partnership between a community of sex workers and a range of stakeholders has improved the lives of 20,000 women in sex work and their children.

As parents, the worry about a child's progress in school is inherent. The guilt of not being able to actively track their children’s progress, especially during the crucial formative years, led two corporate executives to start up four years ago. EduCommerce was set up in 2014, and focuses on building a cloud-based technology platform where information could be shared between a school, parents and the children, regardless of the device. It has received a strong platform in the form of Rajasthan government’s iStart programme, which is focused on nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the State.