Krannert initiative combats poverty with entrepreneurship

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Krannert's iSeek team is teaching entrepreneurship to women and their families in Jharkhand, India, where many products are made by skilled women using their local resource, Tasar silk.

It's a big goal: In 10 years pull 10 million people out of poverty in 10 different countries. But Alok Chaturvedi has a purpose, a plan and a team in place to help him reach it.

"I started wondering how can we help people who have been left behind and have never been to school or have been to school for a very short time," says Chaturvedi, professor of management.

With a research background in national and homeland security, Chaturvedi has experience working on large-scale information technology projects in impoverished countries. "I started wondering," he says, "what will happen if I directly work for the people, to help them out of poverty, rather than work with the government?"