Alchemize

Anaccelerationprogramtohelpsocialenterprisesscaleimpactandbuildsustainabilityintheirmodel Over the last couple of decades new age Social Enterprises have created impact in areas that the Government and the private sector have had a challenge working within. Health, education, employability, access to drinking water, better nutrition all these are subjects where social organizations have applied government funds, market models and philanthropic money to demonstrateimpact.ThisreflectsthatinmanywaysSocialEnterpriseshaveanedgeoverGovernment led development in terms of understanding the core issue within communities, being agile enough to learnquicklybyfailingfastandcrackinginnovativemodelsthatcouldgothelastmileinefficientand lowcostways. However,moreoftenthannottheinitialsuccessatprototypestagesdoesnotalwaysleadtolargescale adoptionandimpact.Organizations tend to compromise innovation and do a tradeoff between the larger challenge and the potential feasible impact possible through current resources. Limited resources, high costs of capacity building, poor available infrastructure, limited working capital for operationsareallreasonsthatgoodideasseemtostopgrowingafterapoint. At the same time issues of health, education, employability, women, farming are all becoming more critical to solve. This makes it imperative that social organizations adopt innovation principles to overcometheodds.Findingwaystotakealeapintolargescaleimpact.

AlchemizeTM
DesignedanddevelopedbytheteamatInnovationAlchemy,thisaccelerationprogramisdesignedfor SocialEnterprisestoapplyInnovationtoscaletheirimpact,beyondorganizationalconstraints.Thisis achievedthroughahandsonmethodologythathelpsateamengagewithaprocessovera1012month period.Thecoretenetsofthisprogramdesignare: 1. BuildingthecoreteamscapacitytouseInnovationtools,frameworksandmethodologiesin solvingissuesandblocksofsocialimpact.Thisprogramconsciouslyworkswithacoreteam insidetheorganizationNOTjusttheprimaryleader 2. Identifythecoreblockstoscaleandfindwaystocreatebreakthroughsinthose,enablingfaster deeperimpact 3. Demonstratethepotentialoftheideasinamannerthattheboard,managementand investorsseethepotentialofsupportingitfurtherwithtimeandfunds InnovationAlchemyfocusesitseffortonthegrowthphaseofanideaoramodeltoaccelerategrowth. The special energy of the AlchemizeTM process is to apply innovation thinking as a key ingredient to
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developandscaleabusinessinitiativeoragovernmentactionthatresultsinbreakthroughincreasein socialimpact,balancedwithfinancialandoperationalsustainability. This effort typically involves working with projects that have been on the ground for 23 years, have demonstratedsomeamountofworkabilityandimpactandarenowkeentoincreasethescaleofimpact. Acoupleofconsiderationsareimportant:Scaleisnotaboutthesizeoftheorganizationbutinsteadthe sizeofimpact;anditshouldbenotedthatthemostsuccessfulsocialenterpriseinitiativestake710years frominitiallaunchtosomelevelofscaledimpactandhencetheprojectsarestillintheirinfancy23year after inception. In many cases, these projects are embedded into larger organizations as initiatives or prototypesandneeddevelopmentintoindependentbusinessesandoperations. ParticipatingintheAlchemizemethodologyhelpsaproject/organizationtoachieve: Greaterimpact,faster(bydiscoveringtheinnovationleversthatwillhelpgetthere) Buildlongtermfinancialsustainabilityintotheidea/model Build replicable models that can be leveraged by other entrepreneurs and innovators, thus creatingorganicscale

Methodology
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it ~Albert Einstein. And, scaling up an idea often needs a very different perspective and mindset from solving the original challenge. Based on this observation, the core elements of the Alchemize Methodology have been developedasfollows:

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a. A focus on seeking fresh INSIGHTS on the challenges, gaps and opportunities for largescale impact (in a business environment these translate into a fresh understanding of the larger marketvisvisthenewgoalandinasocialcontexttheseareacombinationofopportunitiesto impactsocialROI).Often,thissteprequires: i. ii. b. Rapid PROTOTYPINGisappliedasthekeymethodtobuildonthe insights.Rapidexperiments with measurable success criteria and a freedom to fail quickly becomes the 2nd pillar of this process.Sincethisentireprocessisfacilitateditallowsforacontinuouslearningandonground developmentofideasastheyevolvetomeettheinnovationrequirement c. MeasureIMPACTtodemonstratetheeffectivenessoftheidea,modelandprototype.Anykind of growth needs substantial focus on the outcomes. This also helps articulate the RoI for potentialfutureinvestment,whichisanecessityforscale. a. HelptheSocialEnterpriseteamarriveatthekeysocialmetrictobetrackedthatwillalso haveabearingonthebusinessmetrics b. Helptheteamstoidentify,integrateandapplytoolstoformalizetheexperimentsand extractvaluableinsights c. ThinkthroughtheuseofTechnologytoenableimpactmeasurementonanongoingbasis d. Build the Team. Self explanatory, this is the focus on bringing in the new skills needed to performatagreatercapacitytoachievescale.Theentiremethodologyisdesignedtoworkwith a CORE TEAM and not with just the primary Leader or Entrepreneur this is a very important differentiatorintheapproach,sincethishelpsbuilddeepcapacitywithinthecoreteaminsidean organization. In reality, this step enhances the entire ecosystem including project core team, projectcollaboratorsandalliancepartnersandinvestors. Anoutsideperspective Applyinglearningfromeffortsofotherprojects

InnovationAlchemyInvolvement
Acombinationofskillsarebroughttogethertomaintainthedeeplevelofinvolvementwiththeproject andpeople. Thisishighlightedintheillustrationbelow.

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Implementation
Alchemize process is designed as a detailed handson program, implemented through a 1012 month engagementwithquarterlygoals/deliverables.TheAlchemizeteamwillhavedetaileddiscussionswith potentialteamsfora48weekperiodpriortoprogramstartdatetoidentifyandfinalizetheobjectives, goals and projects being selected. Activities during the engagement period are described in the table below. AlchemizeAccelerationProgramTimeline ApproximateTimeline FacilitationFocus Firstquarterofengagement 1. Assess current impact of operations through Research & (03months) Insights 2. Setupacoreteamwhowillworkthroughtheprocess 3. Cocreate and redefine objectives,deliverables,directions andvaluepropositionneededforScale 4. Identify the mindset changes and new perspectives needed:IsScalereallyneeded,Why,How? 5. Identifythemajorinnovationsensitiveareas 36months 6. Insights and immersion through exposure to other
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7.

612months

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9.

1218months

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successful and unsuccessful models involving meetings/ interactionsandengagement Collaborate in building ideas, Prototype design, Business modeling to achieve value proposition and direction; leveragepeernetworksformomentumandideas Support through Specialized handholding in Finance, Operational plans, SoP development, Systems thinking, people hiring & retention based on the scale goals created(leveragingapoolofexternalsessions/partners) Collaborate in implementing the prototypes designed withongroundsupporttodesign&measuretheenhanced impact Facilitate Investment connections for the model by demonstrating prototypes + investor readiness of the modelthroughthedemonstratedprototypes

ValueProposition FortheProject/Initiative/SocialEnterprise: 1. Redesigned Goals and objectives with respect to scale and necessary innovation, blending social impactwithbusinessimpact 2. Demonstratedprototypesofscalable,sustainableModels,implementedongroundwithcoreteam, includingimpactmeasurementandunitcosts 3. AtrainedandcapableCoreTeam,abletocarrytheworkforwardandcontinuetobringinInnovation Valueintotheorganization FortheInstitution/Investorwhofunds/sponsorssuchanengagement: 1. Demonstratedimpactoftheinvestmentthroughmeasurableprototypesdesignedforscale;project accelerates towards scaling up and is on the route to sustainability through the deep engagement process 2. Operational Plans, financial plans and future projections are based on actual prototypes of scale models,andnotontheoreticalscale/growthplans 3. Higher percentage of social enterprises are able to find their way to increased impact and sustainability ReadmoreabouttheaccelerationworkwithYuvaParivartan,supportedbytheMaricoInnovation Foundation:http://maricoinnovationfoundation.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/crackingthe employabilityparadoxofruralindiayuvaparivartan/ MoredetailsonscaleaccelerationprojectsimplementedbyInnovationAlchemy: http://innovationalchemy.com/projectsclients/
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