Our Culture

In pursuit of our purpose, each of us brings a diverse set of skills, experiences and perspectives, and a shared commitment to foster a culture of Accountability, Boldness, Diversity, Empathy, and Trust.

At Omidyar Network India, we demonstrate

By recognising that a willingness to make commitments is key to fostering trust and delivering the highest quality impact. We do this by:

Holding ourselves and our entrepreneurs to a high standard of expectations
Setting expectations clearly, meeting our commitments, and supporting others in meeting theirs
Bringing a sense of urgency in service to entrepreneurs and social impact
Reflecting on our work and communicating our successes, failures, and learnings with humility, respect, and empathy

Behaviours we encourage

Promoting good governance
Leading by example in meeting our commitments
Being considerate of demands on each other’s times, we also recognise the urgency of certain activities and act accordingly

Behaviours we don’t encourage

Glossing over failures, but view them as an avenue to amplify firm-wide learning and growth
Making unreasonable demands
Acting indecisively or sending conflicting messages

By backing entrepreneurs working in emerging and white-space sectors to solve some of India’s most vital and difficult challenges. We do this by

Creating a culture of bold decision-making both at ON India as well as within our investees
Building and backing our own convictions and ideas even if not yet validated by the market, and constructing new solutions where none exist

Behaviours we encourage

Supporting our entrepreneurs even
when the chips are down, recognising that they are tackling some of India’s most difficult challenges
Moving quickly to seize opportunities, even if out of our comfort zone
Recognising and working through our failures and pivot in a timely manner, in the pursuit of impact

Behaviours we don’t encourage

Getting easily swayed by external pressure and opinion
Shooting down bold bets without meaningful engagement or reasoning
Refraining from taking a stand to define the firm’s views on issues that can drive system change

By encouraging and celebrating varied perspectives and backgrounds. We do this by

Seeking out, considering, and engaging with varied perspectives in order to learn and
grow together
Actively working with people who are from different backgrounds and different life experiences, and creating an equitable field for everyone to excel

Behaviours we encourage

Everyone contributing their views, without prejudice
Fostering an inclusive environment where new colleagues feel welcome and different colleagues are able to participate equally

Behaviours we don’t encourage

Remaining silent bystanders to actions that go against our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion
Backing entrepreneurs simply because they went to the “right schools” or speak the “right language”

By putting ourselves in the shoes of the people we serve, our entrepreneurs,
and our colleagues to understand their perspectives. We do this by:

Deepening our understanding of the lives and aspirations of the people we serve
Reflecting on entrepreneurs’ experiences and constraints to inform our decisions
Investing time in engaging with the work of our colleagues
Finding norms of work that fit different workstyles, while being mindful of professional and personal constraints

Behaviours we encourage

Frequently engaging with the people we serve to understand their lives and perspectives
Making time for a cutting chai or filter coffee to offer a non-judgemental ear, and a helping hand to our entrepreneurs and colleagues

Behaviours we don’t encourage

Disengaging in meetings when other colleagues present their work
Expecting responses to emails on a holiday/weekend for business as usual activities

Through our belief in the abilities of entrepreneurs, our colleagues and ourselves. We do this by

Fostering an environment in which one can, without inhibitions, share views, and receive constructive feedback and support
Empowering team members to define their work, knowing they will demonstrate high commitment and deliver on their goals

Behaviours we encourage

Trusting entrepreneurs and our colleagues to do the right thing
Providing an environment to experiment, recognising we will sometimes fail, but know that we
will always learn and adapt
Creating an environment where entrepreneurs and our colleagues feel “safe” talking about what is not working

Behaviours we don’t encourage

Letting failures discourage our colleagues from taking risks in future
Missing deadlines and commitments without giving adequate notice to our colleagues

Omidyar Network India invests in bold entrepreneurs who help create a meaningful life for every Indian, especially the hundreds of millions of Indians in low-income and lower-middle-income populations, ranging from the poorest among us to the existing middle class. To drive empowerment and impact at scale, we work with entrepreneurs in the private, nonprofit and public sectors, who are tackling India’s hardest and most chronic problems. We invest in the areas of Advancing Cities, Digital Society, Education & Employability, Emerging Technologies, Financial Inclusion & Well-being and Property Inclusivity.
Omidyar Network India is part of the Omidyar Group, a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives, supported by philanthropists Pam and Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay.

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Our Culture

At Omidyar Network India, we demonstrate