Using digital technologies to empower social enterprises in India and Wales

A University of South Wales academic is investigating how Lean principles and digital technologies can help social enterprises to enhance impact and efficiency.

Dr Manisha Kumar, lecturer in Global Business, recently visited India thanks to Global Wales funding, which brings together universities with partner organisations to support activities such as research collaborations, pilot projects, and institutional visits to develop international partnerships.

While in India, Dr Kumar collaborated with researchers at the University of Hyderabad and RV University, Bangalore, to look at how Lean thinking can empower social enterprises (SEs) to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Her research focuses on identifying operational challenges faced by SEs in India and Wales, and examining how process improvement tools and digital innovations can help create practical, scalable solutions that align with both local realities and global objectives.

Dr Kumar and her colleagues engaged directly with grassroots organisations through workshops, interviews and site visits to understand how they deliver services and manage resources.

“The aim is to develop a set of actionable insights and toolkits that SEs both in India and Wales can use to build more resilient, efficient, and digitally enabled operations,” said Dr Kumar.

“I also hope this work will foster long-term academic partnerships, lead to joint publications, and create opportunities for student engagement across borders. Ultimately, I aim for this research to contribute to a more inclusive understanding of how operational excellence can be effectively applied in the non-profit sector to support sustainable development.”

During her two visits to India, Dr Kumar collaborated with several organisations, including Bala Vikasa, which focuses on community-driven development; Akshaya Patra, a large-scale provider of school meals; Kevath Laxmi Bai Crafts, Pollinate and a few more and university-linked centres working on social innovation.

She said: “These interactions provided rich, contextual data and deepened our understanding of how SEs operate at scale while staying rooted in local communities.

“We have gathered a significant amount of qualitative data, and initial themes are already emerging, centred on the need for simplified Lean tools, enhanced digital infrastructure, and tailored capacity-building models. However, the formal analysis is still ongoing.

“Our next steps include synthesising these findings into a set of practical recommendations and exploring further funding opportunities to extend the work, particularly to pilot some of the proposed solutions in both Indian and Welsh SE contexts.”