Thank you, ON!

After eight incredible years at Omidyar Network, I have decided to move on! I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with amazing colleagues and partners around the world on hard problems that kept me curious, motivated and excited.?

When I joined in 2013, Omidyar Network was one of the foremost impact investors in the world, and made investments into promising early stage for-profit start-ups and supported some amazing non-profits around the world. Over the past couple of years, the organisation has evolved -- with Omidyar Network focusing on the very important impact themes of Responsible Technology and Reimagining Capitalism,?and Omidyar Network India continuing the impact investing approach, with a special focus on the ‘next half billion’ in India.

My own role has evolved over the years. What began as a role focused on building our work on Governance and Citizen Engagement in India quickly evolved into an opportunity to identify strong partners for impact in South East Asia, with a special focus on Myanmar.?

There were a confluence of events in late 2015 that led to the next phase of my work at ON. In India, Aadhaar was being used for various services. The UN Sustainable Development Goals identified ‘legal identity for all’ as one of the goals for 2030. The World Bank compiled statistics that pointed that over a billion people in the world had no formal identification. From our investments in start-ups that focused on financial inclusion globally, it became evident that having a reliable form of identification was a pre-requisite for people to engage in the formal financial system. Even as the evidence pointed to the importance of formal identification, we began to notice that in many cases, there was an inadequate understanding among key stakeholders on what ‘good’ looks like in this space.

Over the past five years, I have had the privilege of building out our work globally on digital identification and digital economy. We engaged with several stakeholders around the world on making things better – governments, private sector, early stage entrepreneurs, multi-lateral agencies, academics, civil society organisations, foundations, etc. In the coming days, we will post a blog on the Omidyar Network website listing some key resources that we have invested in that would be relevant for those interested in this area of work.

As this work has evolved, the conversation has shifted from a focus on identification, to a broader conception of digital economy and what it takes to be ready for the digital century ahead of us. We are delighted that there are a great many stakeholders engaging on these issues now… far more than when we began this work five years ago. And the conversations around privacy, safeguards and social inclusion are taking centre-stage. We are far from declaring victory on any of this, but as we look back, we believe we might have played a small part in bending the long arc of history towards ‘good’, in this space.

Back to my journey. Prior to joining ON I had been an entrepreneur for many years. So it was with some trepidation that I took on a role in a formal organisation with reporting relationships in India and abroad. But ON turned out to be a place that gave me lots of room to develop streams of work, invest in compelling ideas, and really make this organisation my own. And for that I am truly grateful.

As I wind things down at ON by the end of this month, I am planning to take some time to think through what I might work on next. I would be keen to stay in touch and have interesting conversations, explore a range of ideas, and think about where I can really contribute going forward. I am excited by what we might be able to create in the future!

CV Madhukar