Archive for Health

Waterlife India Private Limited (Waterlife) announced that it has received an investment of INR22 crores (~US$4.2m) from Matrix Partners India. Beyond Profit‘s publisher Intellecap was the sole advisor for this transaction.

Waterlife is a pioneer in providing high quality potable water solutions to the underserved in an affordable and sustainable manner. It has installed safe water systems in more than 1,500 villages and urban areas reaching more than one million people.

“This capital infusion provides Waterlife the growth capital to expand its scale in the underserved potable water space. We started our work in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and presently work in six states to provide potable water solutions. We are now poised to emerge as the leading player in this segment across India. We are very impressed with Matrix’s deep understanding of the water sector and are very  pleased to have them as our partner,“ said Sudesh Menon, Managing Director of Waterlife India Private Limited.

Anurag Agrawal, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of the Investment Banking division at Intellecap, had this to say: “We are delighted to partner with Waterlife as it is one of those rare business models that has successfully demonstrated that it is possible to create true triple bottom-line returns and create tangible large scale impact on the ground in rural India. We’re confident this is just the start of many paradigm shifting achievements for Sudesh and his team.”

“It is our privilege to be associated with the Promoter team of Sudesh Menon, Mohan Ranbaore & Indranil Das. We believe Water will remain a high growth sector driven by strong government focus and socio-economic relevance of water as a resource. We believe Waterlife with its innovative business model complemented by a high quality management team is set to emerge as a leader in the potable water segment,” said Avnish Bajaj, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Matrix India.

Waterlife won the prestigious Sankalp Award this year in the Health, Water and Sanitation category.

This story originally appeared in the October 2011 edition of the Searchlight South Asia newsletter created by Intellecap for the Rockefeller Foundation.

By Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

Hyderabad, state capital of Andhra Pradesh, is the sixth most populated city in India and holds the same ranking for the country’s most populated “urban agglomeration.” The city also has a significant urban poor population. According to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC), more than 33% of the city’s population lives in slums. The overall slum-dwelling population in Andhra Pradesh is approximately seven million people, and Hyderabad claims near two million. Regarding the growth of the city’s slums, the GHMC states: “Slum settlements have multiplied over decades and the living conditions of the poor have not improved. Environmental decline, vehicular pollution, inadequate basic services and infrastructure in the poor settlements hit the poor hardest.” » Continue reading “Vaaradhi: An Urban Ultra Poor Intervention”

This story originally appeared in the August 2011 edition of the Searchlight South Asia newsletter created by Intellecap for the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Government of India is currently celebrating the fact that per-capita agricultural income is growing faster than overall per-capita income. With its next five-year plan for 2012-2017, the government is targeting a 4% agricultural growth rate. This may seem like good news, especially given recent years’ food inflation. However, the fact that India’s agriculture sector is earning more income has a hidden story: the price of food is increasing with each year, but there are also more mouths to feed each year. It is imperative to understand how much food India will need to grow every year to satisfactorily feed its population, however as presented in this article, India’s food challenges stem from mismanagement more than output. » Continue reading “Urban Food Management in India”

This story originally appeared in our June 30th, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to download the pdf e-magazine.

A mobile hospital business model in Brazil shows it is possible to provide high quality, specialized healthcare to the bottom of the pyramid.

According to the Government of Brazil, the country’s most serious health threats are childhood mortality, maternal mortality and non-communicable diseases. Under Brazil’s 1988 Federal Constitution, all citizens are entitled to free medical assistance at the point of need from both private and public healthcare providers. However, the country’s healthcare system is such that private sector players manage the majority of medical services, including government-subsidized in-patient care. » Continue reading “Wheeling in health”

Nandu Madhava, CEO of mDhil, doesn’t make a lot of guarantees in his business plan, but he does make one: 10 out of 10 teenagers have questions about sex.

It’s for that reason that much of the content on mDhil, a mobile health information platform, is geared toward young people. In addition, young people are early adopters of technology such as mobile phones and 3G.

“A cell phone is the only way many can get privacy,” Madhava said.

Teenagers aren’t going to use the family computer to look up potentially embarrassing information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. » Continue reading “Plugging the Health Information Gap with Mobile”

Beyond Profit spoke to Sameer Kalwani, Chief Technology Officer of Sankalp 2010 winner Sarvajal, about its technological advancements and measuring social impact.

What has being a Sankalp winner meant to Sarvajal?

Winning Sankalp 2010′s Health, Water, and Sanitation Award for an Emerging Enterprise has aided Sarvajal in two ways. Being a young organization, we wanted to make sure we were moving in the right direction. Gaining the approval of Sankalp’s experienced judging panel reaffirmed our business model. The questions the panel posed also helped us adjust our methodologies, getting us closer to a sustainable, scalable solution that encourages the spread of clean water throughout India. What made the outcome even more beneficial was the network that emerged out of winning the award. After Sankalp we were able to establish a couple of partnerships that have helped us bring our solutions to other parts of India that we were not operating in before.

» Continue reading “Why We Measure Impact”

Nilekani talked to Beyond Profit about her work in education, the next big issue in social enterprise in India and her session at the Sankalp Forum.

What do you hope comes out of your Indian impact investing sessions at Sankalp?

I hope I do a good job, of course. Certainly, I will learn much. Will it impact on creating new impact investors? Well, I hope it can deepen a debate.

In 2007, you said primary education in India was at a tipping point. Has it tipped?

Several milestones have been crossed since 2007. The RTE (Right to Education) is in place, the Ministry of HRD (Human Resource Development) has become active about the next level of education – secondary and tertiary. There is a clear governmental priority for quality of outcomes at all levels. Many nonprofit organizations and also for-profit entities remain very active. Best of all, parents are making smart choices for themselves on education for their children wherever they can. As always in India, you can do all that and there still remain formidable challenges. But I still maintain we have won the battle of ideas on primary education. Almost all children of this and future generations will complete primary school. We have to keep making sure they get their time’s worth and the joy of learning they deserve. » Continue reading “The Battle of Ideas”

Dear Reader,

The world’s water situation is dire. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean water—that’s almost one in four people. Four million people die of water-related diseases each year. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of child mortality in the world and kills up to 1,600 people a day. As a result of unsafe water, diarrhea and upper respiratory infections kill 3.5 million children under the age of 5.

World Water Day is in less than two weeks, and this issue focuses on the challenges of providing clean water and quality healthcare to those who need it most.

WHO estimates that out-of-pocket, point-of-care expenditures account for more than 70% of healthcare spending in India. This can continue the cycle of poverty.

Read more about Arogya Parivar, a rural healthcare business catering to the bottom of the pyramid. This is one initiative aiming to solve that problem. Currently, the program reaches 50 million rural Indians with plans to expand to 350 million in the next 10 years.

As always, we want to hear from you! If you have any comments, thoughts, or feedback, leave a comment on a specific post or get in touch.

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Editorial Team » Continue reading “Toward A Healthy World”

This story originally appeared in our March 10, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Novartis has employed a social business model to tackle the behemoth that is rural healthcare in India.

No one needs to be told that India is a huge country with consequently huge challenges. Of its 1.2 billion person population, more than 700 million people live in the country’s 640,000 villages. Half of national income is generated in rural India. At least 50% of the rural population lives on US$2-3 (INR90-135) per day. Many of these people are field laborers with a nominal daily wage. Falling ill, therefore, can have devastating effects on household income and on one’s ability to escape poverty.

Health education and healthcare are hard to come by in rural India. People have limited access to information about preventative and curative measures, as well as to professional medical treatment. Because there is this pervasive ignorance, India’s rural poor will suffer illness to keep working instead of seeking treatment. Evidently, there is a clear and present healthcare need to be met. » Continue reading “Healthcare as a Social Business”

This story originally appeared in our March 10, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

World Malaria Day is on April 25th. We look at five advances in malaria treatment and prevention.

mPedigree
The World Health Organization believes that 25% of the medicines—including those for malaria—that are sold in the developing world are counterfeit. To combat this, mPedigree, a cell phone service available in Ghana and Nigeria, can verify if a drug is legitimate or counterfeit. A consumer buys the drug, scratches off a panel and texts the code to a computer system that verifies it. » Continue reading “Advances in the Battle Against Malaria”