|
March 18, 2011
SOCIAL
BUSINESS MATTERS TO US
Dear
Friends,
It is with joy that we share
with you that our Founder and Managing Partner, Mr. Nishith Desai, has been
honored with the Prof. Yunus “Social Business Pioneer of India” award for 2010. The award is instituted by The Grameen Creative Lab,
founded by the legendary Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner of
2006.
At Nishith Desai Associates
(NDA), using our expertise in law and tax to give support to the cause of
the more under-privileged in society has been a passion close to our hearts
for well over a decade. We were inspired when, a decade back, we were
conferred with the `Asian Law Firm of the Year 2001’ for pro bono
work, by International Financial Law Review.
Driven by both the vision and
zeal of Mr. Nishith Desai himself - and the enthusiasm of our people - we
have, over the years, continued to keep up our commitment through our work
in, what we term, the social sector. Our research paper on ‘Rebuilding
Afghanistan’, our work on the Gujarat Earthquake, award for Asian
Counsel’s Social Responsible Deal of the Year 2009 from Pacific
Business Press, and Mr. Desai’s role as a trustee of the American India
Foundation (AIF) are all reflections of
this endeavor.
Besides his commitment to
nurturing entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship as the Mumbai President of TiE (a global network of
entrepreneurs), Mr. Desai is involved with preserving heritage as international counsel to the US-based Global
Heritage Fund (GHF), focused on heritage sites worldwide for research,
study, restoration, conservation and preservation. The India project we are working on for GHF and Indus Heritage Trust is centred on the Indus valley
Civilization and on setting up a world-class multi-facility centre –
including museum, research facility, conservancy lab, interactive
multi-media facility, etc.
Our social sector
practice group is rigorously working to bring in greater awareness and
development of the
Social Business concept in India. For the last two years, Mr.
Desai has personally led our engagement with this domain, and he has chosen
to devote even more constructive time to it in future.
We have all been witness to
emergence of a new offshoot of Capitalism – what is called social
business. A powerful concept of a self-supporting viable commercial
enterprise that aims to solve a social problem using business methods, social
business was pioneered by Prof. Yunus with his Grameen Bank.
Social business is typically of
two kinds. The first is a non-loss, non-dividend company devoted to solving
a social problem and owned by investors who reinvest all profits in
expanding and improving the business. The second is a profit-making company
owned by poor people, either directly or through a trust that is dedicated
to a predefined social cause.
Social business is also designed
on principles that ensure no conflict between economic and social
objectives. In effect – and this is why this model particularly inspires us
at NDA - the business serves to benefit a broad group of people rather than
being focused purely on share holders’ gain.
Mr. Desai’s and our firm’s
little steps to bring in understanding of and impetus to the cause of social
business and social responsibility to our country would not have
been possible without your constant support and goodwill. Thank you for
that!
Do enjoy some interesting video
clips from the Award ceremony held at a function and seminar organized by
the Wockhardt Foundation in Mumbai last month, which had inspiring talks by
eminent visionaries like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Prof. Yunus.
With
our best regards,
Team
NDA
 Nishith Desai: Honoured with the title of "Prof. Yunus
Social Business Pioneer of India" - 2010 by The Grameen Lab and the
Wockhardt Foundation
|
