AmbuPod a Family-Owned Social Enterprise for Inclusive Quality Health care in India

Abstract

India is one of the emerging economies in the twenty-first century. It is witnessing rapid progress in different sectors. At the same time, this progress is uneven and is not inclusive. There are many in India who do not get adequate food to eat. Many children do not get proper education. Many girl children and women are seen as liabilities and are side tracked in terms of nutrition, educational and career opportunities. Health care in India is one of the main areas where we see on the one hand a lot of sophisticated healthcare facilities available to a privileged few whilst the poor and the rural areas either have no access or find them too expensive. Some of them also get caught in lifelong debts on account of trying to procure medical attention for themselves or their family members. The twenty-first century is a witness to a lot of social enterprises that try to solve the problem of access to affordable quality health care for the poor and the needy. Start-ups and social enterprises are critical for India to grow in an inclusive and sustainable manner in today’s economy. Social enterprises are said to meet two conditions—they address long-standing social problems and they develop innovative solutions to do so (Santos in J. Bus. Ethics. 111:335–351, 2012) [1]. They attempt to restore the balance in the social, structural and political systems by producing and sustaining positive social change. Such organizations try to make available goods and services that the market or public sector is either unwilling or unable to provide. They are engaged in developing skills, creating employment and integrating socially excluded people (Trivedi and Stokols in J. Entrep. 20(1):1–32, 2011) [2]. Quite a few entrepreneurial ventures in India are family owned wherein family members are partners. Some of the social enterprises are also family-owned especially at the start. The paper studies how a family-owned social enterprise namely AmbuPod has with the help of technology sought to innovatively make available affordable health care to the poor and rural people. The researchers have used the primary research technique of personal interview of a member of the family business. They have also referred to secondary data. The study is very important as it will encourage policy makers, NGOs and corporate to support social enterprises like AmbuPod. The study also reveals how such social enterprises along with making available critical services like affordable health care, also provide employment.