Consulting for Impact
Sriram Sundararajan is... well... just extremely knowledgeable at what he does, helps companies succeed. In this episode we dig into Sriram's experience (and soft spot) to see how businesses, social entrepreneurs, governments, and communities can align their priorities for the betterment of all. To say I learned a lot from this conversation is an understatement. Give a listen as he expertly paints a picture on how we can collaborate and innovate as a society to do well and do good. Reach out to him via LinkedIn.
Imperfect Show Notes
While these notes are not perfect (computer transcription is still a work in progress), they give you the gist of the conversation. Enjoy!
My conversation with Sriram Sundararajan:
Morgan Bailey 0:02
Hello, and welcome to the profit meets impact podcast where we explore the intersection of doing well and doing good in the world. I'm your host, Morgan Bailey. And I'm excited to bring you the wisdom of entrepreneurs and thought leaders, they're using business to create sustainable and meaningful change across the globe.
All right, I am here with Sriram Sundararajan, which means handsome king in Sanskrit, actually, he is an adjunct faculty at Stanford, and Santa Clara University and founder of hypergrowth Labs, in addition to being known as handsome King, which maybe you're not known as that, but I still think that's a great name.
You're also call yourself a growth alchemists, which I really love. And so you've worked across industries, helping with business strategy, operations and scaling, and been associated with the Miller center for social entrepreneur for over a decade, and a mentor for the past eight years, which is how we've met because we are both mentoring a social entrepreneur Sriram. It's a pleasure to have you on.
Sriram Sundararajan 1:08
Thank you, Morgan. It's a pleasure to be on your podcast. Thanks for inviting me. Yes, of course. So, you know, one of my first curiosities is always to hear, you know, your perspective on where where is business headed nowadays? When we look at all of the things going on in the world, of social environmental, what role is business currently playing in all this? And where's business going to have to head so we don't send ourselves into oblivion? You know, that's a very interesting question. as mentors, we have been involved with social ventures that are now struggling to survive in a world that's dominated by COVID. And that's certainly a disruption that all businesses are dealing with doesn't matter if they're social ventures or their for profit businesses. Some are doing exceptionally well, I would say. But I think society has been made to rethink what or where we need to be heading. And businesses need to listen. And they need to observe as to how much successful they have been, and what should they be doing to think about this in a very equitable fashion? And the reason I say that is, as as we look at the world today, and to answer your question on where is business headed, a business cannot exist in isolation, it has got to coexist with the society that it's
working with or part of. And to that extent, if it's a global business, the responsibility of the business to ensure equitable system success in the society that it operates in increases. It's it's got more importance now. And I focus a lot on emerging tech, as you know, and an emerging tech means everything from AI to blockchain to things like augmented reality, virtual reality. And all of these technologies have brought about transformation across industries, they have created transformation in fields like healthcare and fields, like financial services in automotive, and industrial manufacturing, and a lot of different industries. And all of these businesses have a responsibility in my time in PwC, we had research that was done that showed us that a lot of CEOs, in fact, majority of the CEOs surveyed about 85% of them said that they are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence in their business, which means that as businesses evolve, and they they try to grow more successfully, it becomes a responsibility for these businesses to benefit the society they are in and that should be the equitable success that they need to create should be a pillar for their focus areas.
Morgan Bailey 4:02
So I'm curious Yeah, could you say should be right, and I agree that things should be Do you? Do you feel like this is becoming like having more equitable businesses that support the communities they work in? And the environments for that matter? Do you think that's something that is going to become a requirement or isn't necessity or do you think it's going to stay? It should be?
Sriram Sundararajan 4:30
That's a great question. You know, the choice of words certainly wasn't deliberate. But, you know, I believe strongly believe that there are businesses that exists today that are performing
to a certain extend the
that actually let me take it back. They the responsibility that they have towards creating an equitable success for the community they are in does exist.
We do hear about organizations that are invested in communities that they want to operate in that work with cities like the city of San Jose is working with Google to, to build a new village of Sarge, that is going to combine office space with residential space, it's going to create more jobs, it's going to actually bring in a lot more people into downtown. Of course, this is being disrupted a little bit with COVID. But I'm pretty sure it'll be back on track. But that's a good example of how governments need to be working with for profit businesses to look at growth more equitably, not giving away, you know, tax benefits, just for the sake of a company, you know, coming in and having a presence, I think that would be totally wrong, and not benefiting the constituents. But how can how can you know, and you got to understand this, right? governments cannot operate in isolation, businesses cannot operate in isolations. I call this the trifecta, you know, of the time that it rather wet in there are businesses that each operate, there are local governments that need to support them. And then there is a very strong ecosystem of schools and universities that exists to kind of send talent to these schools, and some of them may even work in the government, but they need to be in harmony, and they need to make sure that they are moving lockstep, because without, you know, governments realizing the importance of what, you know, a business can provide in terms of benefits, they cannot jointly build a vision for their growth in the society.
Morgan Bailey 6:41
Yeah, and essentially, because, you know, as you're saying, this, what's what's registering for me is, so often times it is the government providing incentives for a business to come in.
Because they think, well, this is going to have this is going to have dividends to our community. However, you know, more often than not, the business isn't necessarily thinking very intentionally about how it's going to benefit the community beyond just simply providing jobs. And I mean, for some organizations that you know, that the benefit beyond jobs is very minimal. And so I think that it does, it does sound like there's a bit more of a partnership and intentionality of governments saying, we asked, we want to attract business, and business saying, and this is how we also want to invest in the community beyond creating jobs, and then being able to integrate with universities and schools there to create more of a sort of a holistic sort of system. And between all those entities.
Sriram Sundararajan 7:40
Absolutely, I think you've been up a very good point there. Because if you are, let's probably pick an example of this, right? innovation is a topic that, you know, Silicon Valley is known for. And Silicon Valley companies are always known for innovation, they are known for innovating on products, but that's not something new, right, that's actually been existing since, you know, eternity, probably from the time that man actually carved out stone to make tools, it was a very innovative way in which something could be used, you know, and you look outside the valley, you have three M's that you know, is known for innovation, you have GE that's known for innovation, and, and all these companies existed in the valley. But but we are in a very special place, you know, in the valley event, and there are so many of these tech majors that have set up shop, and that are investing in this innovation. And, and the point that you mentioned is interesting, because if governments can be aligned with the local governments can be aligned with the vision with a vision around innovation and how it can benefit their constituents, which is their people, the local population, and how the local population can participate in an innovation. It could be through schools, it could be through colleges and universities, like higher ed, for instance, and they they actually are part of that, then everybody goes, right, everybody understands how innovation is going to help them and help you know, and how they can actually solve real world problems. And and that becomes a very equitable model, when you know, the the time that it works very together. And the underlying community becomes part of the fabric, because they are part of, you know, the ecosystem of, you know, schools, universities, local businesses, where they work. And as taxpayers, they have certain expectations from the local governments, if that makes sense.
Morgan Bailey 9:27
Yeah, it does, you know, and what it what it sounds like is, you know, into the fabric of the business, you are building in and a purpose aligned with a community, which I think can can go a long way. And I know, I mean, of our work
that we share mutually is, you know, with social entrepreneurs. And so I'm curious, you know, how do you see social entrepreneurs taking business in a different direction than we've seen traditionally,
Sriram Sundararajan 9:56
in the media, working with social entrepreneurs, as you probably know,
There is a spectrum of organizations that we work with. And when I say spectrum, it could be across industries. But there could be businesses or social enterprises that are working in a very traditional way. Because they are trying to impact the livelihood of artisans give them a much more effective way in which these artists, no products can reach the market. And they are kind of like this, these social enterprises are kind of like the bridge between the cooperatives that the artisans are organized in to a marketplace where the products can be sold in a very profitable fashion that's equitable for the enterprise. And for, you know, the, the artisan, and that's an example of a traditional business. And, you know, as we work with, you know, these businesses and go across to work with, you know, someone that we have worked with, in terms of, you know, an online marketplace, where, you know, members of community can buy products, you know, in a, you know, as a group or as a community, technology plays a bigger play. So, you know, understanding these dynamics becomes very important when we are dealing with social enterprises. And the goal to go back to your question. social enterprises are mostly driven by their mission, and then their vision for growth. And the growth comes in a very equitable fashion by default. And they don't have to go beyond their, you know, strategic thinking process or strategic planning process to plan their vision, because as long as it's aligned to the mission, they know, they're going, you know, they have their true marks set. But when it comes to for profit businesses, there is a dichotomy here, right? Because for profit businesses have a totally different motive. And, you know, this is where going back to my first point that I made about, you know, creating a critical success, all businesses need to have as one of their foundational elements, something that they're going to give back to society, while for social enterprises, that happens by default, for in for profit enterprises, they need to actually make sure they have that mandate very clearly defined. Does that answer your question?
Morgan Bailey 12:16
Yeah, no, I think it absolutely does. You know, and I think I mean, we're seeing, we're seeing a lot more of this mix. I mean, before there was such It was so you know, very binary in a lot of senses between the nonprofit world, and the for profit world, I think we're seeing this this blend now. And I think, I think and consumers as well are starting to understand more and more that, you know, companies are coming to make their clothes or their foods can have this purpose built into them. And they're signed, and that actually increases the market value for products and goods right now, which, which a lot of organizations are realizing and some are taking advantage of, without actually doing the work. So like, you know, you've worked with quite a few of the social entrepreneurs across the world. I'm curious, like, you know, how do they How are they operating their business in a very practical sense, that's different, that's still generating profit, but also doing good? Ah,
Sriram Sundararajan 13:12
I think, you know, let me give a very practical example here, maybe we can talk about you want from younger greens, who I'm mentoring, this is actually the third year that I'm actually mentoring you on and her organization. Bianca greens is an organization that helps connect farmers in Kenya, with marketplaces globally. And they primarily work with wholesalers, who they
are,
who they work with wholesalers, who they have partnerships with, who you know, are kind of like giving them access to distribute their products globally. But in a way, they have kind of like the critical linkage with the farmers. This is a very delicate equation. And you know, younger greens is an example where, because of COVID, there have there has been a lot of disruption in their supply chain, there has also been a lot of disruption in their demand. social enterprises are impacted globally by by COVID. And they are now trying to bounce back. They lack access to capital, there are a lot of challenges they have with respect to being I mean, they are they are in a very critical survival mode. Think of them as being in an ICU. And it's in a very critical state right now. access to capital is very limited. I'm so glad that you know the US we are blessed to have a society where the government is doing so much in terms of the PPP program, their small businesses can get access to funding, you know, to run payroll and to pay, you know, their employees. The service industry is bouncing back. But the same is not true globally. Most of the organizations that you know, you and me work with probably don't have access to that kind of capital in this critical juncture. They need to survive and make sure that they are paying their employees at the same time they are guaranteeing some income to their suppliers. This is a very real challenge. This is something that's quite different in the social enterprise arena that you probably won't see in the for profit sector. And because of this, I believe there needs to be a shift in terms of social enterprises thinking more as hybrids, so that as they think about their social purpose, and they think about guaranteeing income for their beneficiaries in terms of, you know, adding economic value for the beneficiaries, they think about what should be the right business model to design and, and probably scale towards, which is going to give them the resilience and the capability to survive, or bounce back from the COVID situation or a similar situation in the future. And I'm so glad that the GSB AI program that the Miller Center has at Santa Clara is helping entrepreneurs like you want and younger greens, to bounce back with support from mentors like ourselves. And I think this is going to be very critical. But I also think it's going to be very critical to answer your question for social enterprises to think more as hybrids, and think about going beyond their not for profit purpose to include a very systematic way in which they could guarantee income for their beneficiaries and also survive past any tough situations. And
Morgan Bailey 16:42
so and just to just to clarify, when you say beneficiaries, who you're referring to, in that case,
Sriram Sundararajan 16:49
sorry, I couldn't I didn't clarify the so a beneficiaries by mean like, you know, the farmers that, you know, are part of the cooperatives, right. I mean, think about a farmer with 100, our cattle treats, that is in a few acres of farmland that probably, you know, fruits, you know, reasonably well, in a season, but impacted by climate change are impacted by COVID, because of which they have produced, but they're not able to sell it, these are beneficiaries that younger beans, you know, exist to create a social impact for and these beneficiaries are dependent, that they are critically dependent or directly in need of support from organizations like neoga greens, and, and this is where, you know, the the importance of social enterprises like mango beans come in, where they're benefiting, you know, the farmers who are the beneficiaries.
Morgan Bailey 17:44
Yeah, unless, right, so, I did a little bit of research on the other greens, you know, you sent me some information on it. And, you know, just to talk a little bit about, about how they kind of work with farmers, because I think that's relevant here. And I think it's a good demonstration, because what it sounds like, what she's doing is, she's working with farmers, helping them get certified organic, to help increase their, their ability to tap into a more higher value market, as well as doing, you know, value added processes for some of the fruits and vegetables that may not be able to go directly to market. And so and, and selling that, you know, to to Europe, and so we're, you know, small, small scale, farmers wouldn't have access to that, nor would they know how to, you know, get organic certified necessarily, or have the capacity to you know, take some bananas that maybe you don't look great enough for for the market, and being able to then process into something that actually might be
Sriram Sundararajan 18:43
Yes, and carries the same nutrition value. But as you and me now in the US we can get organic food very easily and we get access to nutrition and and benefits from you know, things like farmers market that happened on the year, and we have access to previews. But in in a place like Kenya where farmers you know, are completely dependent on seasonal produce, or they may have two or three different crops that happened through the year. It's, it's very important for them to think about, you know, how they can have their produce, that probably wouldn't provide a direct benefit or is not attractive for the local market be transformed in a very to a very innovative process to serve the needs of a market like in Europe, where organic food is required. But consumption of food also happens in alternate means like in a powdered form, for instance, and I love the fact that organizations like nilanga Green, have thought through this in a very innovative fashion. Again, you know, innovation happening outside the valley where they have noticed the demand for powdered food products and food products, right and they have it identified that need in the market, and they have mapped it to a source who can benefit from this. And even though they are an intermediary in this process, they are a very meaningful intermediary, because they're able to train these farmers on how to go organic, right, which is going to be very important for farmers to understand, it's going to be very important for them to understand how what kind of a value chain needs to be built for this, like, which part of the supply chain are going to be important, so and what is going to be, you know, important for the farmers to understand as they become part of the supply chain. Right? And as they plan for demand, how is it that they can make that resilient by working with distributors and wholesalers and get a very predictable demand pattern set so that they can go and communicate with the farmers on what to plant? And or what to, you know, what do they need in terms of produce, and in how much quantity the farmers have guaranteed of their income neoga is guaranteed of the demand, right? They they guarantee the demand, they are guaranteed of the supply, and they are able to make a very meaningful connection to the eventual customers who would benefit from the products that is actually going from Kenya?
Morgan Bailey 21:09
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, there's also the indirect benefit of you know, what consider like the social capital? Absolutely, because these aren't, and I think that's one of the big things with these organizations that that aren't just for profit, but they are building relationships. And, and I think those relationships can can absolutely help buffer challenges and the market challenges in the supply chain, that you don't get by the purely sort of transactional nature, a lot of businesses
Sriram Sundararajan 21:38
now, absolutely, that's a good point. And you mentioned supply chain, and something does, you know, popped in my head, because one of the things that, you know, is probably not possible in a developing country, is the resiliency of the supply chain, how do you make sure that it becomes resilient, right? This is where the programs like GSP, I have actually helped, you know, organizations like mango greens, understand how companies in the Silicon Valley have created resilient supply chains, and we can we can relate to these examples. And then bring that experience to bear with at a at a company like or an organization like younger greens, and make their supply chain or build a supply chain in a similar fashion and go towards that go towards creating that resiliency.
Morgan Bailey 22:29
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I'm not sure if I mentioned to you, but I spent time living living abroad in Africa, and I, you know, I lived on a, on an island and Lake Victoria for a while, and a lot of farmers, a lot of small scale farmers, and it was it was a really important experience for me to see sort of the trials of that, and you know, it's very weather dependent, and you talk about supply chain, I mean, you know, there were, you know, everything was taken by boat there. And, you know, you had to take a two hour boat ride, and then another boat ride, and then it's the, the supply chain there. I mean, just by some some subtle changes in the weather can can be completely disrupted.
Sriram Sundararajan 23:09
That's right. And, you know, we're, you know, I'm just curious for your listeners to know, what would what do you think would be an average? Daily? I guess, income for a farmer like that, in a villager on Victoria?
Morgan Bailey 23:26
I mean, you're talking within the dollars? Yeah, if it's in some in some days less. And yeah, it's, it's a, it's really hit or miss. And most, most of the most of the small scale, farmers had multiple jobs, somebody they would, they would drive a motorcycle, they would work in a kiosk, they would sell their vegetables. And you know, and a lot of it's because, you know, they, they didn't really have access to large markets, for their vegetables and supply chain wasn't in place. Right. And so they, and to be honest, they also lacked a lot of the skills and the training to be able to grow effectively. And, you know, they were using, you know, they would use pesticides, you know, like, like it was water, though. And it was a big challenge because they'd use pesticides. And again, part of this was just due to, you know, there wasn't sufficient regulations, policies or information on this, but some of the pesticides they use on the lake actually killed the small fish on the lake, you know, or the fish that recently hatched and killed the fish eggs, which they also dependent on, you know, for their livelihood by catching selling fish.
Sriram Sundararajan 24:35
Oh, that's right. And
Morgan Bailey 24:38
it is sad. And it's just, you know, it's the the economy grew in such a way that that wasn't very intentional. It wasn't regulated well. And, you know, I think there and that's why there is so much opportunity for people to come in like neon greens or something and say, hey, look, you have labor, you have land. You know, we can increase your skills. Improve the supply chain and add value to what you're doing. And everyone wins at that point.
Sriram Sundararajan 25:06
Right, right. And I'm sure like, you know, as, as we look at, you know, countries in Africa or countries in Asia, there's going to be a lot that these communities can learn from each other right there at the GSB. We speak so much about replication and the model for replication to, there are so many opportunities available for these entrepreneurs to learn from each other. And one of the things going back to your question on where business is headed, I just wish there was a more efficient way in which these communities in different continents can actually learn from each other. Right. And, and benefit because, you know, and I'm curious to know your thoughts as well, and does that I believe that food security is going to be a serious issue in the future. And lack of natural resources is going to be another issue, I just noted in the news that there's not going to be a new ETF for water, an ETF for water, and that's going to be traded. And I remember my grandfather, who was a world war two veteran telling me this when I didn't close the tap properly, when I was growing up in India, that one day will pay for this, you know, with money. And at this time, like, you know, what just came off the well through a borewell. And like, you know, it was going up to a tank, and we would use it inside our house, and he would not allow us to go away, if if even a drop of water was dripping. And you made sure that, you know, he, he actually trained me on that to make sure that, you know, I'm, you know, learning and, you know, I still remember that because, and then when I saw the news, I was struck to that learning experience I had as a 10 year old, growing up in a southern town in India, where, you know, water is now a very precious commodity, because of urbanization, because of the rapid way in which communities have scaled, and there's, you know, the point that you mentioned earlier in terms of, you know, lack of regulation that can control this unorganized growth, right. And it's, it's, it's an indirect consequence. Nobody wants to, you know, just go communities blindly. But it just so happens that the lack of regulation just opens it up for exploitation. And so, you know, what, it became a commodity and now, you know, it's become even more precious with these ETFs. And I just hope that, you know, the farmers the very, very critical element of our food chain, you know, these farmers and I hope that they have access to resources that they can, they can leverage and not, you know, generations down the line can actually like, benefit from from these natural resources, not just us.
Morgan Bailey 27:50
in defiance of ETF he said,
Sriram Sundararajan 27:53
Yeah, exchange traded fund, sorry.
Morgan Bailey 27:54
Yeah, it's okay. That's okay. Sorry. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah. And I think you're absolutely right. I mean, water, you know, I was a water engineer at one point in my life. And so definitely, you know, you know, particularly in California, it is something that is a reality for us, and will continue to be a reality for us. Okay. And going back to your, your previous comment on this idea, I think, particularly in emerging markets, the two things which are which are challenging one is that, you know, sharing of information, and building, you know, building a skills and knowledge base. And I would say, building the skills and knowledge base, it's very particular to that region, because, you know, I don't I would never advocate for us to sort of transport, you know, Western agriculture, you know, onto the world. I don't think it served us very well. However, I think there are, there are an immense amount of lessons within regions that can be shared. Now, there's another piece that I know from a lot of entrepreneurs I've spoken to across the world, and particularly within Africa, is the lack of capital, is that these markets are still seen as highly unstable, and risky markets. But I mean, but when you size it up, I mean, it's a fairly large, there's a fairly large amount of potential there. So I'm curious, you know, from your perspective, you know, I mean, when do you see access to capital being a big issue? And what, you know, what are the possibilities to work through that?
Sriram Sundararajan 29:28
That's a that's an interesting question. Because you and me, you know, when we deal with social entrepreneurs, we often come across this question as to what's the right way to finance a venture. But the question that we probably should be asking is, is capital even available and and what are the different types of capital that are available and the investment vehicles that can supply that capital, right and that would create an opportunity for Probably social venture funds to explore how they can help a social entrepreneur in a very meaningful way. And I say that because oftentimes we assume that access to venture funds that have a focus on social impact or in creating social good, are access to grants and access to foundations that probably, you know, our source for these grants is enough. And getting connecting, you know, the the social entrepreneurs to these foundations or to the sources of capital is enough to kind of like sustain the need the investments that need to go in there. But oftentimes, that's not because maybe the offering or the investment vehicle that a social founder foundation proposes may not be the right fund for that social venture. So in that case, how can the social entrepreneur, you know, be better served with a capital or investment vehicle? And how can local governments or local institutions come together to make this happen, I think this is going to be a problem in the future that we would need to solve. Certainly, there have been, you know, there's been a tremendous amount of activity that's happened in the social impact space, when it comes to being creative, like, you know, offering convertible debt, for instance, which would give a very low cost of financing to social ventures that are in the growth and scale stage that we normally work with. But there's probably a lot more that needs to be done to study the positive or negative impacts of these, you know, investments that have gone in in the past decade. And and what is the most, I think we need to figure out the effectiveness of what has been provided and figured out if we need to be more creative about investment vehicles. I'm curious to know your thoughts on this as well, because, you know, obviously, you haven't been in Africa will probably know, like, you know, but I've seen, you know, we've been in contact with SES, social entrepreneurs as well, right.
Morgan Bailey 32:01
Yeah, absolutely. And the the resounding thing I hear from social engineers in Africa is that capital that capital is difficult to come by. And so, you know, I think that's, I think that's something that will eventually have to change. You know, if if we're going to take these markets into, you know, and grow them. I mean, I think that's going to be absolutely absurd, because the, you know, the the knowledge is there, the skills are there. There are entrepreneurs who are there. And so I think perhaps the the question to ask is, how can we build confidence in these markets, to be able to open this up for more investment?
Sriram Sundararajan 32:44
I agree. I think that's interesting. Yeah.
Morgan Bailey 32:47
So that that's what that's where that's where I would learn things. That that's probably you know, where I would focus some time thinking about, and there is capital, but I think when you when you look, I don't know, the numbers off the top my head, but when you look at, you know, the sort of social entrepreneurship, capital that's invested, you know, something like 2%, you know, goes to local nationals in Africa or something of that nature. And, and I think that's a significant challenge. And people I've spoken to says, you know, it's, it's very difficult, because sometimes you'll have, you know, people from Europe, or the United States coming into to a nation and starting a social enterprise there, and then getting the capital investment there. But again, it's not, it's not going directly to somebody local, it's not going directly to the local economy, it's still going through an intermediary, which is still kind of think still stifling the market. So there's still some challenges to be worked out. But I mean, more than anything, I think there's a lot of opportunity. There's just a ton of opportunity. And, you know, I think from from the social entrepreneurs I've interacted with, I mean, they're not going to stop. It's just whether, you know, are we going to jump on board with them? Are they going to pass us by?
Sriram Sundararajan 34:02
Interesting? Yes, definitely. You know, you bring up a good point there, I think there is tremendous amount of opportunity there. There is also the, I guess, entrepreneurs, as you said, I'm not going to stop, they're going to need more and the more capital they have access to or sources of capital they have access to, the more they can actually do.
Morgan Bailey 34:24
Yeah. And with the sort of, you know, democratization of technology. Now, these ographers now have more platform. And and I think whether the the sort of Western markets wake up to the fact that if this potential, you know, you know, is not going to prohibit them from eventually finding their capital in their way, because a good idea is a good idea. And someone's going to recognize a good idea at a certain point. Absolutely. You know, who that is and how long that takes is another question. So Well, yeah, I've really appreciate this conversation. I'm I'm sure we could go on forever talking about these things. But I wanted to thank you and I wanted to hear from you like right now, you know, in this crazy world that we're living in yet what, what's, uh, what's captivating you most right now.
Sriram Sundararajan 35:15
You know I since I also teach and you know I focus on digital strategy I focus on, you know, helping my students I've been focused on how my my current research is how emerging technologies have contributed are going to have a big role in contributing to the growth in society in different ways and how they can impact this idea in different ways. It's a given that technology can create a very positive impact. But it's still unknown as to how you know, organizations can leverage technology and create that positive impact. And for that there is a lot of mind power that needs to go in in terms of buying on mindshare, that needs to be created in the mind in terms of boards, being more aware of how they can leverage technology for their business and create a positive impact for society. CEOs that need to subscribe to it. As I mentioned, you know, it CEOs have increasingly relevantly stated that they are leveraging are going to leverage technology like AI, to a great extent going into this decade. And it's probably accelerated because of COVID. But as they do that, I believe they also have to think about how they can be socially responsible as they bring about embracing or as they start to embrace new technologies, because it's going to have an impact on humanity is going to have an impact on the workforce. As the future of work evolves, organizations have a great responsibility to make sure that they are communicating as to what is needed in that workforce and develop that workforce in a very meaningful way. Working with the local communities.
Morgan Bailey 36:58
Absolutely. And that's man, that's a whole nother conversation we can have on that. Absolutely. So thank you so much. And if people are interested in find out more about you, how can they or your business? How can they find you?
Sriram Sundararajan 37:13
Oh, thanks for asking Morgan. And first of all, thank you for the opportunity. I really enjoyed this conversation. We certainly, you know, went all the way from us to Africa to the emerging economies. And it was fun. I wish we had more than an hour to do this. But to your question, I think if anyone wants to do reach me, they can always find me on LinkedIn. And, you know, my, my contact info is a straight Ahmed hypergrowth labs.com. They can find me online at dub dub dub dub, hypergrowth labs.com. That's the name of the site. And of course, you know, any of any need, I'm happy to happy to help. And, you know, I mentioned a lot of folks that folks need help mentoring, you know, or they need just help, you know, bringing an idea in or bouncing off an idea. Always most welcome.
Morgan Bailey 38:02
Awesome. Thank you so much. trium, the handsome King.
Sriram Sundararajan 38:07
Thank you for that compliment. By the way. I got to credit that to my dad for that.
Morgan Bailey 38:12
It was a pleasure. I look forward to our next conversation.
Sriram Sundararajan 38:16
Absolutely. Likewise, welcome. Thanks for having me on this podcast
Morgan Bailey 38:19
is a pleasure. Thanks for listening to another episode of the profit meets impact podcast. If you enjoy this experience, please subscribe wherever you find your podcast and leave a positive review. You can also find out more about the podcast at www.profitmeetsimpact.com
Transcribed by https://otter.ai