Nikhil Singh is the founder and General Secy of Sai Seva Sansthan Trust. Founded in 2020, Sai Seva Sansthan Trust is a Social Entrepreneurship Organisation focused on providing access to affordable and quality consumer durables to low-income households in emerging markets.
In line with its mission to create “Saral Jeevan” or an “Easy Life” for rural customers, Sai Seva Sansthan Trust has delivered a range of high social impact products including clean energy, agriculture, health, and water sanitation to thousands of people and 100’s of rural households in India. This has been facilitated through a unique distribution model where a network of over 100 digitized rural entrepreneurs help educate, relate, and reach these households. Prior to Sai Seva Sansthan Trust, Nikhil launched his microfinance organisation Arnika. He has worked on numerous development projects in 3 states in India and consulted on microfinance strategies for other countries South Asia.Nikhil has been awarded many accolades including the Most Influential Leader in Microfinance Under 30 as well.
Hi, Nikhil! , To start out, please tell us a little about yourself and your upbringing.
My parents are originally from Uttar Pradesh and I grew up in the Delhi in a very traditional community, where preserving our cultural and religious values has always been very important. I had access to different business experiences in India and Globally as well, and I believe this gave me the exposure that drove me to deeply consider what it truly means to be a global citizen.
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You are now on a unique and purpose-driven career path. Can you tell us more about the formal education and experiences that have led you to this path?
I was on the debate team in high school where I participated in policy debates on a national level. This was a great atmosphere to form and ask critical questions about the world and our role within it. It was an open atmosphere to explore the challenges out there — issues such as world hunger and poverty. What always stood out to me was that I come from a place of privilege and opportunity yet the world around me is clearly unequal. This is an interesting notion given today’s commonly held ethos that everyone and every soul is equal and should have access to the same opportunities everywhere. As a Rajput, we fundamentally believe in karma; I often questioned how if we come from a place of privilege, how can we help the world get to a more equal platform? These concepts have always resonated with me. I realized that the world cannot be a better place if we do not fight for better opportunities to create economic equality. Reflecting on this, I took a break to think through my personal mission and place in this world: Where will I make this type of change? How will I make it? And what will be my role in all this?
Taking a break is often easier said than done, even if it is the right and best course of action at the time. How did you and those around you approach the decision to take a full-stop break?
As any typical Indian parent would react, my parents encouraged me to go to grad school and move into a stable career. I told myself that I would take a year off and then go back to studies again. During this time, I started my micro finance company Arnika, As part of the microfinance movement, we studied the opportunity that comes with investing in women in India from a true business lens for the first time. The idea that investing in women in poverty can lead to economic gain, backed by a solid thesis, was gaining traction. Through this work, I met so many powerful women. Though they were uneducated and lacked access to basic necessities such as water and electricity, they were real, humble, and hospitable. It was exciting to be part of a new industry bringing investors into the picture.
What motivated you to move into social entrepreneurship?
When you put your skills in a place of impact, your impact can be exponential. Through my experiences, I found my calling. I wanted to take my work in microfinance to the next level. After living across many rural villages in India, I wanted to play a role in better delivering services to the poor. I wanted to invest and attract investment into the economic development of the poor. In 2020, I entered into Social Entrepreneurship NGO with my Business Mentor Sharad Singh, Sai Seva Sansthan Trust with 3 goals in mind.
First, I set up Sai Seva Sansthan Trust as a for-profit company with the intention of growing it to be the market leader in delivering services to rural houses at scale. This involves providing access to everything a rural household would need to have a better life: clean energy, water, internet, and cell phones. Second, I wanted Sai Seva Sansthan Trust to both serve as well as create opportunities for the poor. If my fundamental driving factor is to create a footprint in my impact, creating opportunities for the poor is just as important as the products I can serve them through my company. With this in mind, Sai Seva Sansthan Trust hired locally, trained locally, and invested locally. We have built a network of 5,00 digital rural entrepreneurs who sell our products to rural households. Third, I wanted Sai Seva Sansthan Trust to operate through a gender lens. As a Social Entrepreneur I always believe Indian woman, are often pushed into a stereotype of limitations. Rural women in India can be drivers of change and drive significant economic gain; when a rural women has money, she tends to invest into her children’s futures and her village differently from men.
Keeping these 3 principles in mind, Sai Seva Sansthan Trust is now a established brand in Social Entrepreneurship sector. We create impact and social value in a commercially viable way. What drives me every day is that we have touched nearly 50000 people and 2000 households. At this stage, we are looking to further accelerate our scale and impact. We want to evolve into a model that may be replicated in other parts of the world as well.
When you put your skills in a place of impact, your impact can be exponential.
Nikhil how you are going to define the concept of Social Entrepreneurship?
“It is a very diversely defined concept. What is common however the goal, which is not profit, but social work is. This can be done in for profit and non-profit organisations alike.”
Have your personal values influenced your professional decisions and actions? If so, how?
I have always applied the values of purpose, humanity, and empathy in every decision I have ever made. There was a point in my Organisation’s journey where we had to choose between making money and helping a community. Do we save our money or serve our people? My Board held firm on the idea that money will come and go, yet serving our people is paramount, where Frontier Markets is fundamentally committed to service. We are often faced with such real scenarios and decisions that force us to balance our values, and applying these 3 principles is how I approach these.
Nikhil,you recently visited Ladakh also,would you also planning to do something for Tibetan Kids ?
Yes,some Tibetan families cannot afford shoes and clothing for their children in the harsh winter weather,So will try to work closely with Tibetan families staying in Delhi and Ladakh to provide them proper winter clothing. Education is other aspect which we can work on in near future.
Nikhil, you have had an incredible journey so far. In retrospect, is there anything you would have done differently?
I’ve thought about other paths. I could have been a banker. There were times I would be meeting investors in Bangalore,Mumbai who would ask me how much I make. I’d say, “I’m a social entrepreneur. I make like this much.” They would respond, “What if I gave you this much amount to manage my fund?”
I had no idea I would go “all in” and do this. I really thought I’d take a year off, go to Uttar Pradesh to do some service work, come back to get a some other big degree, and eventually land a job at a Big MNC. This is the path I was expected to take, and I both surprised and scared myself. Sometimes, things just happen and you just go with the flow. This has been a very, very difficult journey. When you start an Organisation and it doesn’t work out; you are forgiven, and the world is still okay. When you setup an Organisation that is responsible for real people who are in a vulnerable place, you and your business are depended upon in a very different way where “hiccups” have real ramifications. There is no excuse to fail given the exponential negative outcomes that come with failure. This is where my passion comes from, and this is also where my fear comes from. On this path, you must be committed. You separate yourself from your purpose and your position in community. If my purpose is to drive impact, then there are times I need to be away from my family and focused on my work. I have made sacrifices in terms of my own life and sanity. Finding a balance is something that I am not very good at and that I have struggled with. Yet, when you see what you have created, you kind of self-justify what you have done. If we start understanding that the achievements we have gained are not for ourselves but for others and what we are able to give others, this can help us exponentially make the world a better place.
If we start understanding that the achievements we have gained are not for ourselves but for others and what we are able to give others, this can help us exponentially make the world a better place.
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