For the 49th St Gallen Symposium we have introduced our new format – the Interactive Sessions – to foster more interaction and ideation space among our participants. Each session focussed on a central issue related to this year’s symposium topic “Capital for Purpose” to develop solutions within a short time. In a specific design thinking setting our participants produced different approaches to solve the challenge they had been facing. 

We have prepared the completed results of four Interactive Sessions to give you some insights. Each of the concept posters consists of a solution to the issue or a way to foster and enable impact. After seeing several of our communities’ outstanding ideas coming into action in the last years, we look forward to inspiring many more in the future. Become part of this initiative by sharing your brilliant ideas.

From DLE to DLC

Dharma Life improves the quality of life in rural India through an entrepreneurship model that provides the rural poor with livelihoods and access to socially impactful products and services. The territory map revealed relevant areas to scale the model and expand reach: distance, communication, infrastructure, financials, organisation, logistics and key personnel. The problem statement identified was how to capture (technology, social media), share (with community, across large regions and rural villages) and multiplicate (find who wants to follow and become a spokesman for her region). The group set out to tackle this capturing stories with video; creating a marketing strategy to spread the word, considering social demographic aspects; considering how to create Dharma Life Entrepreneurs (DLE) celebrities, or influencers, developing a leadership program and teaching leadership skills.

Local Insights

Dharma Life improves the quality of life in rural India through an entrepreneurship model that provides the rural poor with livelihoods and access to socially impactful products and services. Some main areas identified include: the complex issues related to Dharma Life, community trust in Dharma Life, spending capacity of local citizens, stakeholders involved and the need for standardization of processes and recruitment. Problems identified include lack of strategy and pricing reference due to lack of knowledge about local demand because of missing access to data. The group set out to tackle this is gaining a more in-depth understanding of consumers in the local communities and the potential of the market. They suggest: doing A/B testing of products with local communities, working together with other sales representatives to share prices and data, collecting data through surveys of the local community, and bundling products to gain insights on when certain goods are bought in combination.

Network Club

Dharma Life improves the quality of life in rural India through an entrepreneurship model that provides the rural poor with livelihoods and access to socially impactful products and services. The idea was created to address the challenge of “How can we equip the Dharma Life Recruiter (DLR) to more successfully hire the right Dharma Life Entrepreneurs (DLE)”? The identified key challenge is to identify and engage the right people in the village to become social entrepreneurs in the Dharma Life network. One barrier to sustainable and efficient network growth is the relatively high number of “drop-outs” and entrepreneurs who do not live up to expectations. The envisioned solution or key idea is to build up and leverage a (social) network – The Dharma Life Network Club consisting of the Dharma Life “family” with existing entrepreneurs at the core. Recruiters and other employees of Dharma Life would also participate. Incentives would be provided to participate in the network, like “Seller of the Month” or similar awards, including rewards for successful referrals.