It took me a while to realize that geography was more than just the formation of rocks and the names of different river basins. My first higher-level geography class taught me that it was all about finding patterns and making connections to how people and space interact with each other. This made the subject much more exciting.
You can only imagine my excitement when I heard about Spatial Ideas: a company that uses geospatial (mapping) technology used to work with people distributed across a large geographical area!. This company is focusing on India and making some great strides forward in improving service delivery to people in need.
Vishal Agarwal, the founder of the company, gives an example: "From being able to understand how food is consumed (and at what rate) in which areas, we can plan smarter logistics. By knowing where people stay (the bulk of them using food subsidies) one can plan the location of such stores nearby."
They also work with healthcare agencies to prevent epidemics by tracking the spread of diseases.
To get you, global citizens as excited as I am about this company, I sat down with its founder to get the full story. Thanks for your time and insight, Vishal!
Yuan Yuan Kelly: Tell me about yourself and how you started Spatial Ideas?
Vishal Agarwal: I am an engineer at heart. I love building products and I’m passionate about use of technology for solving socially pressing problems. I am a travel enthusiast and love nature, good music (ranging from alternative to Jazz) and photography.
Spatial Ideas started after I moved back to India from the US, where I had worked with some amazing people using geospatial technology for various interesting activities.
India is changing dynamically and has all the right ingredients to become one of the most amazing countries in the world, but it also has a serious issue: corruption. I believe that until we address this, we cannot succeed.
It was this thought which caused me and my company to start Spatial Ideas--to enable transparency, accountability and efficiency in governance. The company was created so that corruption doesn’t take away from the most needy and under-informed. That government efforts to alleviate poverty actually become successful, and the administrative officers who truly want to serve the nation and do good can have the right tools and tech to be awesome at their jobs.
YYK: How do you operate and what do you aim to achieve?
VA: Our technology platform is built on four pillars: GIS (Geographic Information Systems), biometrics, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, and mobile applications.
We have technology products in the following areas:
Healthcare - Helping the rural population of India get access to reliable healthcare, preventing female foeticide [aborting a child based soley on gender], ensuring proper vaccination of young ones and helping reduce premature births.
Food Security - Ensuring India’s 20 billion dollar Annual Food Subsidy Program actually benefits the intended.
Infrastructure - Using technology to ensure timely completion of infrastructure projects with accountability
Sanitation - Ensuring urban pockets of India are cleaner and government dollars actually fetch good results.
We also work with various NGOs and Quasi Government agencies to help them use technology for impact assessment or just to be more efficient with their initiatives.
We aim to help governments serve their people better, help save tax dollars and ultimately help save lives (and maybe score a cup of coffee with Mr. Bill Gates, who is an inspiration!).
YYK: What projects are being worked on right now?
VA: Currently we are working on a fantastic opportunity with the State Government of Kerala and the World Food Programme on exploring use of technology for a state-wide Food Distribution Program. If implemented state-wide successfully, it would ensure subsidised food to almost 40 million people! We also believe it could save the government close to 150 million dollars annually!
YYK: What has it been like to be based in India and working with the government? Have there been any challenges, surprises or mindset changes along the way?
VA: It's tough but it is very, very exciting--and yes, very humbling, as the scale is simply mind-boggling!
There are several challenges. The government won’t engage if you do not have prior experience working with them, making it extremely difficult for new people to start work with them.
YYK: What's next for Spatial Ideas?
VA: If all goes well - the continent of AFRICA!
YYK: Lastly, what role does technology have in ending poverty?
VA: Technology can not only help reduce costs for services thus enabling more funds for people, but also enable information sharing (knowledge dissemination) which empowers people. It also enables accountability.
I believe the only effective way to end poverty is to have good intentions but equally good technology!
I couldn't agree more with Vishal. Ending extreme poverty will take a revolution in technology and a revolution in human thought. Leveraging systems like his company's is a great start. You can join in both revolutions by joining Global Citizen today.
And if you want to check out Vishal talking to another interviewer, watch the video below of him on Indian talk show: Chai with Lakshmi.