Khosla, Sun Co-Founder–One More Entering Into the World of Philanthropy Challenging The Rich in India To Do More

When you stop and think about it, we have some similarities in thought here between what’s happening in the US and India and granted there are some very poor in India that really need just some basics and are still fighting polio, that part being unlike here in the US. Vinod Khosla was able to power the opportunities here in the US of years past and now is working to challenge others in India of wealth to collaborate.

He states in this article that the culture should change in India to get the rich involved with investing in programs that have an impact on poverty. He states that charitable giving is at 10%, much less than what other countries experience, like here in the US where we stand at 75%, and that number in itself for us is worth paying attention too as it’s a lot larger than I even thought. Just like here too he states that social enterprises cannot be relied up on to address poverty. Desmond Tutu did some good work in this area years ago, and the comments in this article remind of that.

Medical Tourism Booming In India But Yet How About Their Own Citizens Needing Medical Care and Education Where Philanthropy Is Helping Fill Some Of The Gaps?

His model here is using some forms of capitalism to help out and at least with making an effort here we can see if this may prove to be beneficial with at least a challenge to others in India to begin thinking in this direction. We have those same ideas here in the US so perhaps this paradigm will spread worldwide. BD

MUMBAI, India — Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was already among the world’s richest men when he invested a few years ago in SKS Microfinance, a lender to poor women in India.

But the roaring success of SKS’s recent initial public stock offering in Mumbai has made him richer by about $117 million — money he says he plans to plow back into other ventures that aim to fight poverty while also trying to turn a profit.

And he says he wants to challenge other rich Indians to do more to help their country’s poor.

An Indian transplant to Silicon Valley, Mr. Khosla plans to start a venture capital fund to invest in companies that focus on the poor in India, Africa and elsewhere by providing services like health, energy and education.

By backing businesses that provide education loans or distribute solar panels in villages, he says, he wants to show that commercial entities can better help people in poverty than most nonprofit charitable organizations.

Besides Mr. Khosla, entrepreneurs like Pierre Omidyar, a co-founder of eBay, and Stephen M. Case, a co-founder of America Online, have started funds with similar aims.