Monday, June 24, 2002		Article

AKHTAR Badshah (47) is executive director and co-founder of the Digital Partners Global. Located at the World Trade Centre, Seattle, this is one of the development organisations being currently led by expat Indians, even as the country's brain drain shows some signs of reversing.

In the small and dusty town of Baramati, in Maharashtra, over the past two years, Badshah is a part of the team that has been organising an annual 'Baramati Initiative' meet. The goal: to discuss how ICTs (information and communication technologies) can be harnessed for development. Held at the end of May, these meets have drawn a wide range of persons trying to experiment with this field.

The Web venture that Badshah is associated with (www.digitalpartners.org) is sometimes marketed as UN Secretary General "Kofi Annan's favourite site."

Badshah is one of those who see "enormous potential" in digital technologies and the Digital Economy helping poor communities leapfrog out of poverty. This year's meet brought in social entrepreneurs, members of the development community, ICT entrepreneurs, government officials and others.

Some came from far, including the World Bank.

An architect by training, Badshah studied in Ahmedabad and did his Ph.D. in MIT. For eight years he taught architecture at the MIT, focussing on urban development issues. He was involved with two non-profit bodies - the Asia Pacific Cities Forum for cities with over 10 million population.

"I believe in serial social entrepreneurship and like to start non-profits and shut them down when they've done whatever they were intended to do. We brought in the concept of corporate citizenship to India. CII has taken over. Groups like Bombay First, Chennai First, Sambhavana in Karnataka, Colombo First and groups in the Philippines have also been formed to take up such tasks," he says.

The following are the excerpts from an interview:

It actually takes all my time. This is all I do. It's an organisation I co-founded. Most of my adult educated life has been spent in architecture and in the development field, after my education at the MIT. One thing I firmly believe is that one way to overcome abject poverty is to promote entrepreneurship. "Entrepreneurship" may not be the right word here. What I'm referring to is the little chap opening some little stall to earn a living. Today, IT allows us to create micro business ventures in a far more effective way then ever. That's the belief system that brought me into this effort. We believe we can make a difference by using IT and creating entrepreneurship.

This is not an easy job. But the fact is that you can have two such events (the annual Baramati conference in far-flung areas) with an enthusiastic response. If you ask whether we are able to raise the resources we need, the answer is 'No'. Three years ago (during the dot.com boom), if we had to raise $50 million it would have probably been no problem. Today, you need to educate persons that this is the right thing.

Absolutely, there's no question about that. You can see the kind of expertise and the kind of dedication. India is a bastion in terms of IT-for-development. That's why Digital Partners took on India as the first challenge. All resources are there -

India has the poverty problems and is badly in need of development. It also has the IT skills and the infrastructure by way of communication technology. There is brainpower too. There's also a tremendous (but un noticed) local entrepreneurial energy.

It's based in Seattle and its primary support comes from individuals in the hi-tech industry. This includes expat Indians, Kellogg, Open Society Institute, the UN, World Bank, USAID. Individuals directly drive project-level funding. We have chapters in Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, San Diego, and are going to launch in Washington D.C. We also plan to launch Digital Partners in Ghana, to look after West Africa.

In addition, we are looking to work out of Mexico.

Right now, it's limited. Our process is based on people applying for mentorship. We have mentorship programmes in Africa and Latin America.

I'm not so sure about that. Even in the last two years, there were a lot of projects that got funding that should have not. Projects that were unsustainable. Projects that should have been killed upfront. During the dot.com boom, anyone with an IT idea found people saying, "Great, let's support it." Today, there is a lot more of checking. So, better projects will get funding. Social motivation without sustainability has no value. It is one thing to feed a destitute and very hungry child. But you've got to go to the next level so persons understand how to feed themselves. If you've made a very sick child better but not healthy, you've not done your job.