Anurag Dusanapudi
I
am the co-founder and Director of Operations for Impact Micro Ventures (IMV), a for-profit social venture that uses data and mobile technology to facilitate financing to unbanked microenterprises in India’s unorganized sector. I founded IMV because I am passionate about poverty eradication, with a focus on bottom of the pyramid entrepreneurship, which enables the poor to build stable livelihood sources, reducing their dependency on perpetual aid.
BOP entrepreneurship has the potential to not only create income source for the poor, but also solve other issues at the root. These simple microenterprises (water purifiers, nutrition-rich snacks, agri-inputs etc.) can create win-win solutions for whole communities. While promoting more than 2100 such microenterprises in rural India, I witnessed how essential business solutions, in addition to government and non-profit initiatives, are in creating a long-term impact.
Prior to IMV, I served as a consultant on a World Bank and Indian Ministry of Rural Development funded project called Enable Livelihoods which aimed to support microenterprises and also as a Pre-Sales Executive for Polaris, one of the largest FinTech companies in India. I received my BA in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani.
Why Fuqua?
I want to inject a strong dose of business innovation to social sector in the coming years.
To achieve this, I wanted to attend a school that would equip me with core business skills, while also letting me pursue my interest in social impact. Through the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), Fuqua offers the best of both worlds to me. Duke provides a plethora of opportunities – CASE, Net Impact, Fuqua on board etc. – to engage in social impact.
Additionally, I readily connected with Team Fuqua spirit. From my own undergrad experience, I know that I thrive in a close-knit culture with a sense of collective responsibility. With CASE’s world-class faculty, its reach in Africa and India, and the numerous support-systems on offer, Fuqua was an obvious choice for me.
What impact do you hope your Fuqua education will allow you to have on the world?
My goal is to develop grassroots entrepreneurship as a powerful tool in eradicating poverty across the globe. In order to achieve this, I want to leverage the best practices from the business world in creating solutions and building strategic partnerships among businesses, governments, and foundations. At Fuqua, I want to focus on strategy, finance, and impact investing. Leveraging these skills, I want to work at a global social enterprise accelerator to understand the nuances of the sector in a global setting. Through my own network at Fuqua, and CASE’s far-reaching network, I want to eventually scale my social venture from India to African markets. The leadership development opportunities at Fuqua will shape me into a leader of consequence ready to face the challenges in social sector.
Share one of your 25 facts from your application essay.
I am an avid public speaker. I delivered public speeches in more than 150 villages as part of a campaign to promote grassroots entrepreneurship in India.
Duke’s Fuqua School of Business offers scholarships each year to individuals with social sector backgrounds who are looking to acquire business skills for use in their pursuit of social impact. The CASE Social Sector Scholarship brings in amazing students who add a richness to the Fuqua student body and bring their unique perspectives to the classroom. We are proud to announce our newest CASE Scholars. You can read about our other scholars here.