Bridging the Business
and Social Sectors

Welcome to a discussion about how the business and social sectors can work together. Here, Ravi Venkatesan, the dynamic 37-year-old executive who ten months ago was made chairman of all India and Asia operations for the world's leading diesel engine manufacturer, Cummins Engine Company, leads off the discussion. In his short time as chairman of Cummins India, Ltd., Venkatesan is credited with bringing a new dynamism and vision to his company, the cornerstones of which are information technology and total solutions.

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". . . it's time for a new paradigm . . . a move away from charity to real partnership"
- Ravi Venkatesan

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Venkatesan's initial contribution to this interactive discussion is another exciting vision: how to more effectively bridge the work of the business and social sectors. With astonishing candor, he opens by launching a radical critique of past attempts by his own company (which is a leader in corporate philanthropy in India) to make contributions to society.

. . . continued

 Read the Discussion
  about how to bridge the
  business and social sectors

Some other initial comments from the social and government sectors:

"Synergy between business and social enterprise is so essential – both for the success of business in the long run, and for the success of the social sector. This synergy is the most essential requirement of a good civil society."

- Read more comments
by Anand Bordia, Project Director, United Nations Drug Control Program
Billimoria, Venkatesan and Bordia

"What we found is that we do a lot of training, but the training is not measurable – we do not know the impact – we do not know the output. What we did is try to involve the corporate sector . . ."