The AFI Forum, as it had promised, proved to be an affair that catered not only towards the development of the country but also to the development towards an association of like-minded socially motivated entrepreneurs.

The event opened up by an address by the Co-chair and the driving force behind the forum, Mr. Sanjay Kadaveru who emphasized the importance of convening the seminar. He guided the assembly through the introduction of the proceedings and the goals they hoped to achieve that day. He called upon the entrepreneurs present to realize the need of the hour-to move towards an “inclusive growth”. He talked about moving towards a more growth mediated society in which government should form the larger framework of goals and the entrepreneurs should strive to fulfill them with the help up of government incentive and infrastructure. His address was received by enthusiasm by the people present and then he invited Mr. Sam Pitroda to take over the microphone.

Mr.Sam Pitroda, ex-Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission and currently Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations had the crowd’s rapt attention the minute he walked on to the stage. He mentioned the three main problems facing the Indian policy makers today,
1) Disparity
2) Demography
3) Development, encompassing the challenged posed.
Moreover, he emphasized that the main challenges for development today were that of expansion, excellence and equity. In lieu of the past twenty years, he applauded the achievements of the telecom revolution and the liberalization of ’91. As a message for the social entrepreneurs, he revisited their importance in the world today, when presumably the best brains of the world are catering to the problems of the rich, while the “real” grass-root level problems of the poor go unheard.

He concluded by calling up for the need of more interactions like the AFI Forum before conceding the stage to Mr. Pradeep Gupta, Founder and Chairman, Cybermedia, who released the DASRA report.

Following the release, 11 speakers were selected randomly from the 100 social entrepreneurs present. The highlights about them were,
• Mr.Venkat Subramaniam, e-Farm: His business model stressed upon the support given to marketing of the produce from farmers, something he felt was very much neglected.
• Vinay Kumar, Digital Green: His firm made videos of the successful farm practices of the farmers and then showed it to other farmers.
• Anoop : His firm specialized in providing for the transportation of goods and inventory management for the farm holdings
• K. Sharadchandra, Butterfly fields: His plan included revolutionizing the elementary education by providing cheaper and more effective lab equipment to facilitate alternate learning methods.
• Dr.Yogesh Patil: He and his team had built a portable machine to test the blood Hb level to check for anemia at the much lower cost. This machine was also more scientific and accurate than the current methods used.
• Sujay Santra, I-Cure: His model was for training of health workers and for integrating medical instruments to record data, to be used by doctors later.
• Roshan, Graamvani: His team had been instrumental in developing a technology based participatory platform.
• Michael Machark: Simpa Network: The people at Simpa Network had proposed a pay per use solar energy model, in which each payment was also an investment towards eventually buying the solar panel.
• Piyush, Ounegy: The team at Ounergy are involved in training up of rural entrepreneurs to cover the trust deficit as it exists today.
• Bhawani, Amrita University: Her team had conceptualized a computerized interactive vocational educational model to train people more effectively and creating a larger skilled labour force.
• Chander Chauhan, Jaldoot: His model uses auto-rickshaws to transport water from source to villages at a nominal rate. The auto rickshaw was in itself a filtration unit, a first of its kind model.

The speakers were applauded by both the crowd in general and Mr.Pitroda in particular who held that the future of India was brighter with such talent available for us.

The speakers were followed by panel discussions by eminent panelists over the development of livelihood and growth through the social sector, driven by technology. The assembly then broke for lunch which was followed by five separate discussions in the Bharti Building, one each about; Livelihood, Health, Agriculture, Energy and Education – the five pillars upon which social structure is based upon.

The discussion were highly intensive in identifying the problems and plausible solutions in each of the sectors, following which everyone reassembled in the Seminar Hall, for each group to present a summary of the conclusions they had come to. This was followed by an ending remark by Mr.Pitroda about the effectiveness of such Forums and discussion for the future of a strong India.

To conclude, the conference was not a congregation of just ordinary men, nor was it a congregation of just extra-ordinary men. All it was was a group of people, linked together by their efforts towards a better present and a glorious future.