Digital Partners India taps the power of the digital economy to develop market-based solutions that benefit the poor. We do so by fostering a global leadership movement in which the market-development acumen of IT entrepreneurs is linked with the poverty-alleviation activities of social entrepreneurs, foundations, and development institutions. We believe their ability to use IT and markets to address the needs of the wealthy can also be harnessed to address the needs of the poor.

Mission

Digital Partners India provides professional services and necessary financial support to visionary social entrepreneurs interested in effectively utilizing IT to benefit the poor through a portfolio of influential collaborating institutions and individuals. We have also created a new venture capital fund model, a "social venture fund," to invest in and incubate new initiatives designed by IT and social entrepreneurs to trigger solutions to previously intractable problems of poverty.

What we do

What we are setting out to do distinguishes us from others who are also working with social entrepreneurs. At Digital Partners India we are committed to harnessing the unprecedented momentum and potential of information technologies to enfranchise the millions of poor increasingly shut out of an information-driven world economy. We believe that it is possible to use the market dynamics of the galloping Digital Economy to create new opportunities to empower the poor as agents of their own development.

Our objective is to engage IT entrepreneurs in service to the world’s poor. We believe their ability to use IT and markets to address the needs of the wealthy can also be harnessed to address the needs of the poor. We have created a new venture capital fund model, a “social venture fund,” to invest in and incubate new initiatives designed by IT and social entrepreneurs to trigger solutions to previously intractable problems of poverty. Current activities include:

Activating a Brain Trust of entrepreneurs and their IT colleagues, social entrepreneurs, highly placed government officials, business leaders, and others that are committed to technology inspired poverty reduction. The Brain Trust is designed to: w

Digital Partners India is working to cultivate a world in which all men, women, and youths are able to reap the benefits of the Digital Revolution to improve the quality of their lives.

	Engage with nonprofits and social entrepreneurs in partnership with institutions of all sectors to create new funding mechanisms, collaborative problem solving methods using IT, and to shape public policy in key areas such as Intellectual Property Rights, etc.
	Contribute to a Social Venture Fund designed to support key initiatives that are scalable, catalytic, market-based, collaborative, and technology-driven.
	Assess the various ways digital technologies are being integrated into current development strategies to benefit the poor. A database of this assessment is being completed for online use.

Support Innovative Revenue Generating Efforts of two kinds in the fields of education/literacy, healthcare, and micro-enterprise:

	Support for current IT experimentation: Financial and management support for the most promising, current, on-the-ground efforts (both nonprofit and for-profit) in the use of IT for poverty reduction.
	Help to reinvent existing processes: This approach responds to invitations from established or innovative nonprofit networks that already have significant anti-poverty capacity who desire assistance from Digital Partners India. View a list of currently supported projects

Changing Public Policy by initiating high level dialogues and bringing together key stakeholders with the Brain Trust to:

	Determine the most effective means to make government controlled information (e.g., land records) available to the public through the use of the Internet. We hope to understand the key issues surrounding the control and dissemination of such information and determine the most appropriate and effective means of public-private partnerships for its dissemination.
	Convene a discourse on issues surrounding Intellectual Property Rights and Internet Law through a series of high-level meetings.
	Change the current tax laws that preclude donations of used computers to nonprofits and private schools by mobilizing a high-powered campaign and working with high-level government officials to intervene on our behalf.

The difference we make comes from the active, hands-on involvement of our “Brain Trust,” which combines significant venture capital and social entrepreneurial experience. We are using a proactive approach to identify capable and distinguished social entrepreneurs. Our support of organizations will be supplemented through ongoing interaction and regular fieldwork. A team of local managers and technical advisors will provide on-the-ground technical, managerial, and investment support, helping innovative ideas become viable ventures.

Who We Help

We help innovative individuals and nonprofit organizations interested in engaging IT and markets in service of the poor. We also assist foundations, development and aid institutions, and corporations rethink and redesign their humanitarian initiatives in light of the new opportunities presented by the Digital Age.

What we look for

We look for organizations that are innovative, transparent, and effective. In addition, we are looking to support ideas that are scalable, catalytic, market-based, collaborative, and technology-driven.