Imparting a problem-solving approach in the community

In a country like India, we can find many unsolved problems that people struggle with in their daily endeavour, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where people lack awareness, education and many other facilities. To convert India from an impoverished community to a vibrant one, the approach needs to be changed. Usually, when people see a problem, they either complain about it or simply start living with it, which should not be done. Instead, the problem should be identified, analysed and solved within the community.

What lacks in the current approach is the ability to imagine the problems.

Dr. Abhay Bang, Director of SEARCH shared in Development Dialogue 2015, “To become an innovator and entrepreneur, I first started imagining problems and went out to ask questions: Who is the community and what do they need?”

In the same session, M. P. Vasimalai, Executive Director of DHAN Foundation shared, “Always put community first, look for issues within your community. Every problem has a solution.”

The founder of Deshpande Foundation, Dr. Deshpande believes that even if you come up with the best solution, there is no capacity to absorb the solution. You have to build the capacity. So, if you really want a good partnership between the people who really need the solution and the people who think they can contribute to the solution, you need collaboration. And collaboration happens only between two equally strong partners.

In a nutshell, entrepreneurial rigour is required while solving problems, which means it should include strategy, planning and analysis.