About

Ashoka Tree :: Vision, Mission, Goals, FAQ

What is Ashoka Tree?

It is an incubator of socially relevant businesses.

Vision (What?)

A more equitable and spiritual world created by bringing *equal opportunities* of growth to people who contribute in businesses through their labour and loyalty.

Mission (How?)

1. To incubate businesses that impact the lives of people at the “base of the pyramid”
2. To incubate businesses driven by people at the “base of the pyramid”
3. To incubate businesses that follow the credo of Green/Sustainability/Natural
4. To incubate businesses run by the principles of “employee-ownership” or/and “workplace democracy”

Projects/Businesses it intends to take up

1. Tiffins business run people at the base of the pyramid OR/AND retired Army Jawans OR/AND women only
2. Alternative Products Portal : An e-commerce portal for
3. An eco-tourism and rural tourism company; ideally combined with Home Stay business in rural areas
4. Home Stay business
5. SOLAR power :
   • advocacy needs to be done to bring about policy change to ensure homes can generate power and supply back to the National Grid. This done, Solar Power can be democratized, like it is in Germany.
   • Car Parks in the west are touted as a big area of interest for medium-sized scale Solar Power installations; ever parked your car at the Chhatarpur Metro Station? Imagine if that could be covered by a roof of Solar Cells, and this power fed into the local station and remaining fed to the Grid?
   • Concentrated Solar Power: see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OLjooHY1VA about the “Nevada Solar One”
   • http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bill_gross_on_new_energy.html – a new design to capture and concentrate and reduce costs of solar power
6. Other renewable sources of energy, such as Waste-To-Energy (WTE)
7. Low Cost Wind Power (as opposed to Suzlon’s fraud) : http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html
   • Why can this not be “mass produced”, in low-cost factories around the world?
   • Why can this not be taken to thousands of villages across India?
8. A new business model : create a Creative Commons open source partnership agreement
9. Re-write the constitution of India – by engaging the civic society and the legal community
10. Agriculture:
    • BioChar: See how this simple “natural locally accessible technology” can change agriculture productivity in India? And Africa?
      1. can this be commercialized and reach thousands of villages specifically in low-rain-fed and arid zones?
      2. http://www.nscss.org/content/india-dr-reddy-bio-char-cnn – this man has even made a Stove at a cost of Rs.250 (i’m in touch with him on email) – the design of which he has open-sourced; it just needs to be commercialized

My guess is that quite a few of these ideas, specifically in renewable power, bio-char, and rural eco-tourism, need to be clubbed together in “one common business plan” to make it commercially viable.

Who will invest/fund these?
There are a several investment companies which fund projects at the “base of the pyramid”.

1. http://www.aavishkaar.in/
2. www.ennovent.com
3. there are several others like these

Mission Statement

What comes from the people must go back to the people many-many times over! (~ Late JRD Tata)

What is Ashoka Tree’s intended structure?

1. Senior Partners
2. Junior Partners
3. Fellows
4. Employees

Who are Partners?

1. People who are able to align themselves with any of the projects defined above, or in incubation of similar businesses
2. People who will offer their design, marketing, consulting, for helping incubate the businesses Ashoka Tree desires to associate with

What does Ashoka Tree get in return?

1. Part of profits OR/AND part-equity of the incubated companies

What do partners get in return?

1. A salary, when it can be afforded
2. Part of the profits that are distributed end of each year

How are Partners going to be selected?

1. By Invitation
2. During the initial stages of Ashoka Tree, by Rahul Dewan, from within his “trust network”

How are Fellows going to be selected?

1. By invitation
2. During the initial stages of Ashoka Tree, by Rahul Dewan, by invitation from within his “trust network”
3. Identified using Social Media Marketing; and then a selection process — which is to be defined

Who are Fellows?

1. People who are interested in starting their own business practices aligned with the goals of Ashoka Tree, but are yet not ready to take the plunge, and are testing waters with the help of partners of Ashoka Tree
2. People who wish to help out in Ashoka Tree’s projects but do it with minimal involvement

Do Fellows get remuneration?

1. Fellows do not get a salary
2. Fellows can however, use the Partners’ and Fellows’ network within Ashoka Tree, to get references and maybe even business from their respective businesses or/and circle of  influence

How does an Employee become a Partner?

<to be answered>

Can Partners be removed on accounts of non-performance?

1. Yes
2. However, a Board could judge their performance and either give a one-time severance payout OR give make them part of an Alumni, and offer an ongoing dividend at the end of the year – as decided by the active Board and in-line with the constitution/shareholders’ agreement

How?

1. Accountability is of primary importance; therefore on grounds of non-performance
2. When Partners go on to head the business they started with help of Ashoka Tree, they cease to be partners in Ashoka Tree (this is to be thought through)

How do Fellows become Partners?

<to be answered>