Building a better rat trap: technological innovation, human capital, and the Irula

Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Nov, 2007 by Siri Terjesen

This case follows Sethu Sethunarayanan, Director of the nonprofit Center for Development of Disadvantaged People, which is dedicated to the improvement of the Irula tribe in rural villages of southeast India. The Irulas specialize in catching rats, an activity which provides the bulk of their income and food. Following a routine visit to a local village, Sethu recognized an opportunity for a "better rat trap" to aid the Irula rat catchers. With feedback from rat catchers, Sethu developed an innovative new trap. His innovation won the prestigious Global Development Marketplace award from the World Bank which provided the funding necessary to commercialize the new technology. The venture's implementation involved site visits to identify beneficiaries, health checks and treatment, preparatory workshops, factory establishment, factory training, production, women's micro-credit collectives, distribution, and project evaluation. The case focuses on the relationship between human capital and technological entrepreneurship, considering the knowledge and skills required to commercialize technology for the rural poor and the positive impact on this greatly disadvantaged population.

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Sethu Sethunarayanan, Director of the nonprofit, nongovernment organization (NGO) Center for Development of Disadvantaged People (CDDP), beamed as World Bank President James Wolfensohn presented him with the prestigious Global Development Marketplace grant to develop innovative technologies to alleviate poverty. At the podium, Sethu provided a brief overview of his winning project,

   There are 3 million poor Irula indigeneous tribal people of
   untouchable status in India who make their income by catching rats
   in agricultural fields. They use a clay pot filled with burning
   straw to smoke these rats out of their burrows. Their mouths and
   hands touch the pot, and they are severely affected by heart, skin,
   eye, and respiratory problems. They are only successful 40% of the
   time and are in poverty and unable to send their children to
   schools. We developed a new hand-operated steel rat trap which
   eliminates the health hazards completely and enables the Irula to
   double their income. With this award, we can implement our project
   and make a complete socioeconomic change in the lives of millions.

As Sethu returned to his seat in the World Bank auditorium, he thought about how this journey began, on a morning walk through impoverished Irula villages in Tamil Nadu, India.

Introduction

On a sticky morning in January 2003, Sethu walked briskly, anxious to check on the progress of a new drinking water pump well installed in a remote Thiruvallar district village. Sethu wanted to make sure that the new pump was installed properly, so that the Irula people who live in the village would no longer have to bring water from several miles away.

Seeing Sethu, a tall, stout man wearing a long white mundu robe shuffling down the dusty road, the Irula villagers greeted him eagerly and escorted him to the well. Sethu was pleased to see that the pump worked perfectly, but exhausted from his 2-mile hike. He asked a lady villager for some water to drink. While she went inside her mud hut to retrieve a cup, Sethu glanced at a clay pot in front of the hut door and noticed a similar pot in front of most of the huts. Thinking he might be able to drink out of this pot, he picked it up, but noticed that, in addition to the top opening, there was a small hole at the base of the pot. He put the pot down and picked up a neighbor's pot which also had an extra hole. Sethu recalled the subsequent conversation,

   I asked, 'How will you carry water in the holed pot?' She replied
   with a sarcastic smile, 'This is not for carrying water, but for
   killing rats ... My husband carries this pot when he goes rat
   catching. He looks for a rat burrow and places the pot at its
   entrance. He stuffs wet straw into the hole and lights it, creating
   smoke. On this little hole at the bottom, he places his mouth and
   blows air through, pushing the smoke out the other side of the pot
   and into the rat's burrow. The smoke traps the rat. Then my husband
   digs into the earth and gets the trapped rat. He brings it home and
   I cook it for dinner. But sometimes he also comes home with burned
   lips and hands from handling the pot when the straw is burning....
   He doesn't always catch a rat.'

See Figure 1 for an illustration of the clay pot rat-catching technique.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Sethu handed the pot back to the woman, but he did not stop thinking about the inefficiency of this pot and the resulting health problems. As he walked back the dirt path, he contemplated this latest challenge to help the Irula. Sethu had 25 years of experience in developing innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for poor and disadvantaged rural people. From a young age, Sethu admired Mahatma Gandhi's efforts to alleviate poverty, liberate women, create economic self-sufficiency, and end untouchability and caste discrimination in India. Sethu studied at India's only Gandhian university, focusing on Gandhi's methods for developing and unleashing human potential, resolving conflict, and introducing new ideas. Upon completion of his studies, Sethu joined an NGO where he specialized in developing collective self-help, needs-based ventures. In 1998, the then 38-year-old Sethu established his own NGO, the CDDR