Business with purpose: Real or fluff?

A story of hunter-gatherers, planters and rainforests

In recent years, I have noticed myriad initiatives for entrepreneurship promotion, everywhere by everyone -— for example, Niti Aayog’s AIM, IITB’s SINE, Pune’s TIE, Chennai Angels and Calicut’s ULCCS, to name just a few. At one level, startups and entrepreneurs seem to be intensely active and alive, confirming the statistic that India counts among the top three start-up nations in the world. At another level, the initiatives may appear to be haphazard, causing an observer to wonder whether seemingly random activities will lead anywhere. Rainforests offer some hint of an answer.

An innovation ecosystem should resemble a rainforest. Five traits