swayam

I have signed on as advisor to Swayam, a new effort focused on eliminating the financial barrier to education. Part micro-finance institution and part financial analysis engine (to ensure that the money invested in a student gets a good return compared to other alternatives), Swayam is a winner of the 2008 Stanford social e-challenge, where I met them as one of the judging panel members.

Having been a part of the core Deeshaa team years ago, I'm aware of how challenging it is to get a socially conscious but basically for-profit venture off the ground. A key motivator for the Swayam team is their own personal story, and the fact that many other brilliant but not so financially well-off students do not get to pursue an education and a life of their choice because they could not afford to.

Here's a statistic to ponder: of all students granted admission to higher education courses, only 24% enroll. Just for India to catch up to this world average, 35 million more students need access to funding! The general gap between need and availability is true for most developing countries.

Swayam is pursuing this critical need. Being a swayam angel is an opportunity to both do good and do well.