Archive for India

Last week, Ashoka Changemakers held the first ever Twitter social enterprise chat. Participants included social enterprises, advisory firms, impact investors and others.

What resulted was a lively discussion, via Twitter updates, about the challenges facing entrepreneurs creating economic opportunity. Some of the key points brought up during the chat were the importance of relevant government regulation, training employees and providing opportunities at the local level.

The chat was held leading up to the Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works competition. The competition, a joint venture between the eBay Foundation and Ashoka Changemakers, to find the “world’s most innovative market-based solutions that create economic opportunity and generate employment for disadvantaged populations.” The deadline is June 15^th.

Photo credit: Gates Foundation

Five leading microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been approved by Indian banks for restructuring debt collectively amounting to about INR 5,000 crore ($1.1bn), the Mint business daily reported on June 4.

The four most recent CDR approvals were for Trident Microfinance Pvt Ltd, Share Microfin Ltd, Asmitha Microfin Ltd, and Spandana Sphoorty Financial ltd. Future Financial Services Ltd’s debt recast plan had been approved earlier.

The move is expected to bring a measure of relief to the embattled Indian microfinance industry that has been reeling from a systemic freeze after the stage government of Andhra Pradesh – where most MFIs have the bulk of their business operations – cracked down on recoveries and multiple lending, prompting banks to stop all lending to MFIs.

The recast of INR 2,000 crore of debt will help Spandana restore business back to the “normal business cycle,” the company’s managing director Padmaja Reddy was quoted as saying in the report. » Continue reading “Banks approve INR 5000 crore debt recast for five MFIS”

This story originally appeared in our May 19th, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe

Futures tools are gaining importance in planning for the urban poor. Claudia Juech and Evan Michelson from the Rockefeller Foundation write about the importance of pro-poor foresight.

The effects of events such as the American subprime mortgage crisis leading to a widespread and deep economic recession or the Japanese tsunami disrupting global supply chains tell us that it is becoming more and more difficult to forecast what the future may look like in 10 or 15 years. In our increasingly complex and interdependent world, the high pace of change, trends and discontinuities in demography, lifestyles, technology and economy can rapidly create new opportunities as well as threats.

Corporations and governments have been using forward-looking approaches for decades to inform their strategic decision-making. Given the high stakes and importance of considering the future of issues related to poverty and development, it is necessary to adopt those approaches – that illuminate alternative futures, identify potential solutions and take advantage of new opportunities – for improving people’s lives. Developing such a long-term perspective requires the utilization of a wide range of future-oriented tools, techniques and methodologies – such as scenario planning exercises, simulations and roadmaps – that can expand the mindset of key stakeholders, examine different strategies in a “safe space,” and discover unexpected pathways upfront. » Continue reading “Why Foresight?”

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”

In Forbes, Eva Pereira makes the distinction between “opportunity” entrepreneurs and “necessity” entrepreneurs. This is the difference between someone creating a technology start-up and selling street food. Growth happens by investing in the “opportunity” entrepreneurs.

Pereira writes:

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a non-profit research organization, economic growth is not driven by these “necessity” entrepreneurs, who decrease in number as the economy develops. The key to fostering growth is to support “opportunity” entrepreneurs, who choose to start new enterprises in response to market needs.

One of the key reasons this is true is because “opportunity” entrepreneurs create jobs, and many argue that job creation is the best way to stimulate and sustain economic growth. While “necessity” entrepreneurs create a job for themselves, the value is limited. » Continue reading “Moving Away from Necessity Entrepreneurship”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Pre-paid mobile phone services are reaching markets that other technologies have not yet been able to penetrate. How can this model be leveraged in other areas of development?

For those at the bottom of the pyramid, income is not a certain entity. No fixed amount is deposited into their bank accounts – should those even exist – at the end of the month. Their income is changing—from month to month, week to week, even day to day.

Which begs the question: if a borrower’s cash flow is so uncertain, why do so many companies attempting to serve that demographic insist on fixed repayment amounts?

At least one technology, invented in the 1990s, attempted to work around that problem: pre-paid mobile services that allowed people with variable incomes and/or poor credit to use cell phones. Such consumers made an upfront payment of only as much as they could afford in return for wireless services. » Continue reading “Top Up the World”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Ajay Chaturvedi, Founder and Chairman of the Gurgaon-based HarVa, spoke to Beyond Profit about harnessing value in rural India to promote self-sustainable livelihoods.

What does HarVa do?

HarVa is a unique and first of its kind rural enterprise focused on all women rural XPOs (including BPOs, LPOs, KPOs and MPOs), student helpdesks, medical helpdesks, community farming and renewable sources of energy. Our mission is to create value in rural India where little or none exists. The eventual goal is to be able to create value and then harness it rather than basing growth completely on selling.

What is the HarVa business model and what makes it unique?

The business model is unique since it focuses on value creation in rural India. We employ the people who need it the most and are unable to get similar opportunities. (Our) major focus over the past decade has been on tapping the potential of rural India by tapping into the buying potential of the people. Where there was no potential was enabled by a microfinance loan. However, little has been done to create the much-needed value based on annuity income for rural folk. » Continue reading “Harnessing Village Value”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

By the Numbers

In a soon-to-be published study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB, 15,000 people in seven Indian states were interviewed about their Internet usage. What does India’s rural Internet landscape look like?

98%

Projected percentage increase in active Internet users in rural India this year, reaching 24 million users, by December 2011.

» Continue reading “Data: The Other Tech Revolution”

This story originally appeared in our April 21, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Assigning all citizens a unique identification number can create a framework for mobile money in India.

The first of India’s unique identification numbers was assigned on September 10, 2010, in Maharashtra, and half of the country is expected to receive a number by 2014. While the project, driven by the Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDAI), has the goal of providing identity cards, it also has implications for mobile money.

Registrants with Aadhaar – the project’s name – have the option to link their bank accounts to the 12-digit number, which effectively allows them to use that number and biometric card data instead of credit cards in certain places. People can also open an Aadhaar-linked account when registering for the number. According to UIDAI, 80% of the 4.2 million residents with a UID number have expressed interest in opening a new bank account. » Continue reading “Banking on UID”