When profit meets social causes

PROFIT is heartless. Everybody in the corporate world knows that. That’s why it’s not very hard to find people committed to “doing good” as a career, who resign themselves to lives of poverty (or at least minimal comfort).

If you are a socially minded entrepreneur, this heart surgeon’s experience may give you some ideas.

Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty refused to buy the usual profit language. He saw a need and he created a business model to fill that social need. He found a way to use technology so that he can save the lives of millions of Indians at the bottom of the pyramid (so goes the popular phrase), half of whom are children and infants.

Just think of that: “McDonaldizing” heart surgery. You would think that he is either crazy or brave. From the INQUIRER.net article:

Every year, two and a half million Indians need to undergo a heart operation. They are three times more genetically prone to heart diseases than Australians, Americans, or Europeans. Yet few can afford even basic healthcare, let alone heart surgery. Currently, those who undergo the operation make up less than half of a percent of those diagnosed.

Dr. Shetty’s solution is simple yet bold: bring the mountain to Mohammed. His Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital set up a network of coronary care units in remote government hospitals around India. These are all video-linked via satellite to the hospital in Bangalore — allowing him to consult patients in far-flung rural areas who otherwise would never have access to specialist medical advice.

Here’s a photo of Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital.

Shetty is very interesting as an entrepreneur because he is going where nobody has gone before and he is getting the community to thank him for doing what he is doing. Not a usual thing for company XYZs.

And he didn’t stop at his first great success. The article also says that Shetty has launched a health insurance program that benefits two million farmers. Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in India named him “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” for his exemplary contribution to giving the poorest of Indians access to quality healthcare.

Shetty’s next vision: get every person to hold a smart card that gives him access to hi-tech healthcare in any part of the world with dignity.

When I interview him this October, I’ll tell you if he makes profit from his success. I would certainly let you know how he reacts to the question.

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