TARAhaat is a first of its kind social enterprise that applies commercial methods and corporate practices to deliver effective and affordable solutions to problems of society that have long been considered intractable.  The primary aim of TARAhaat is to eradicate poverty and regenerate the environmental resource base in the Third World, with particular focus on India.  The key to achieving large scale impact on a sustained basis lies in TARAhaat’s ability to generate both financial and social returns on the investments it makes.   

TARAhaat’s unique business model and its association with the internationally recognized not-for-profit Development Alternatives Group enables it to attract financing, both from commercially motivated investors and public sources, which include government agencies, international donors and foundations.  Commercial investors, usually seeking a combination of financial and social returns, purchase equity shares in TARAhaat and public funding is generally provided by donors for specific projects through grants or contracts.  TARAhaat is thus able to seek donor funds to finance the delivery of public “goods” social services, and to mobilize shareholder funds to support the for-profit elements of its activities.  

The business model of TARAhaat was designed and fine-tuned through an extended pilot phase and the rollout of its operations was started in 2004, in two regions of India.  Delivery of TARAhaat’s goods and services is done through a network of franchised village knowledge centers called TARAkendras.  A well run TARAkendra can become quite profitable within the first year of business.  However, TARAhaat as a company, which generates a large part of its income from the royalty fees received from the individual TARAkendras, will become profitable only when it has several hundred TARAkendras in place. Therefore, depending on how successful we are in mobilizing capital to finance the management of our expanding network of franchises and in providing a growing range of products and services, an operational breakeven could be achieved within three or four years.   

We anticipate that, starting in the third year, our business revenues will begin to contribute significantly to the costs of operations, product development and network expansion and will shortly thereafter be able to generate a shareholder surplus, allowing TARAhaat to commence payment of cash dividends in due course.   

In addition, since TARAhaat’s mission is to equip individuals to engage in productive livelihoods and help communities create productive assets, we also anticipate sizable social returns including the transformation of the rural market..   

TARAhaat Information and Marketing Services Ltd. is a social entrepreneur, pioneering new institutional reforms, addressing as yet un-served markets and breaking ground in unknown territories of business.  Other investments available in the marketplace might well be seen as less risky; but very few investment opportunities will offer the social returns that will be generated by TARAhaat.