NewsFeedNewsFeed

Our Staff Writers and Editors offer insights on the latest news, events, interviews and other happenings from the development through enterprise and base of the pyramid universes

Filter Content By Date OR Region:

Friday, May 17, 2013 — South Asia

Entrepreneurship and Social Impact in the Middle East — Business as Unusual?

Source: All Things D
It is a striking feature of the growing startup ecosystems in the Middle East that the lines between “entrepreneurship” and “social entrepreneurship” — that is, entrepreneurship that makes a social impact — often blur.
TAGS:Impact Assessment, social enterprise
Friday, May 17, 2013 — South Asia

Anti-diarrhoea vaccine: Why social innovation is the way ahead for Indian healthcare

Source: First Post India
After nearly 25 years of work involving multi-institution, multi-country collaboration, India yesterday announced its first locally developed anti-diarrhoea vaccine.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Thursday, May 16, 2013 — South Asia

Acumen Fund announces first energy investment in Pakistan

Source: Daily Times
Acumen, a pioneering non-profit global venture firm addressing poverty across Africa and in South Asia, on Monday announced its first investment in the growing rural energy sector of Pakistan.
TAGS:impact investing, social enterprise
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — South Asia

Dirty medicine

Source: CNN Money
The epic inside story of long-term criminal fraud at Ranbaxy, the Indian drug company that makes generic Lipitor for millions of Americans.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 — South Asia

Source code: PharmaSecure goes mobile in battle against fake drugs

Source: The Guardian
An initiative allowing the provenance of medicines to be verified using mobile technology is taking aim at the illegal drug trade.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Monday, May 13, 2013 — South Asia

World economy in a tizzy, but Indian pharma flying high

Source: The Hindu
Although global economic recovery still remains fragile and the road back to normalcy is a long and difficult one, the fortunes of India’s pharmaceutical industry remain upbeat.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, May 09, 2013 — South Asia

Godrej Appliances to enter new categories for rural consumers

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Growing rural demand is making Godrej Appliances target consumers at the bottom of the pyramid with new products pegged below Rs 3,000.
TAGS:social enterprise
Thursday, May 09, 2013 — South Asia

Now, a regulatory body to set norms for impact investment

Source: The Economic Times
In order to avoid excesses that derailed the Indian microfinance industry three years ago, nine entities doing 'impact investing' have come together.
TAGS:impact investing
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — South Asia

Ramadorai new chairman of NSDC

Source: Live Mint
S. Ramadorai took over the post from M.V. Subbiah, who was heading NSDC since 2008.
TAGS:business development, poverty alleviation
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 — South Asia

Market for feature phone apps is low-tech goldmine

Source: BBC News
The next time you are standing at a bus stop, cursing the late-running service, spare a thought for Milind Dahikar.
TAGS:mobile phones, social enterprise
Monday, May 06, 2013 — South Asia

Toxic waste sites detrimental to health in India: research

Source: Business Standard
Toxic waste sites in India with elevated levels of lead and chromium are causing disease, disability and even death, leading to loss of healthy years of life among people, according to a new research.
TAGS:public health
Monday, May 06, 2013 — South Asia

Cheering social entrepreneurship: How Lok Capital did it

Source: Money Control
Investing in a social enterprise in India has become quite the in-thing and the definition of who is a social entrepreneur seems to be changing as well.
TAGS:impact investing, social enterprise
Monday, May 06, 2013 — South Asia

Unilever Wagers Billions on India Economic Revival

Source: Bloomberg

In 1888, when Queen Victoria ruled India, the company that would become Unilever (UNA) decided the country was the future. More than a century on, it’s staking $5.4 billion that it still is. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Dove shampoo and Lipton tea, successor to one of the first multinationals in India, plans to spend as much as 292 billion rupees ($5.4 billion) to increase its control over Indian unit Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUVR)
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products, multinational corporation
Friday, May 03, 2013 — South Asia

Investing in Girls to Change India's Future

Source: Huffington Post
While many perceive India to be an "up and coming" global power, recent statistics show it continues to lag behind in its equal treatment of women and girls.
TAGS:social enterprise, Women
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — South Asia

World Bank Group Awards $2 Million to Social Enterprises in the States of Madhya Pradesh

Source: Finchannel.com
Twenty social enterprises were awarded grants totaling $2 million by the India Development Marketplace (DM) funded by the World Bank Group (WBG).
TAGS:impact investing, social enterprise
Monday, April 29, 2013 — South Asia

Missing the small picture

Source: The Hindu Business Line
The collapse of the Sarada Chit Fund has exposed the plight of those who are at the bottom of the pyramid of India's financial system -- the unbanked and the unfunded. They may represent management guru CK Prahlad’s ‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ – but the fact remains that nobody is chasing very hard to grab that particular pot of gold. They are the pieces who have fallen through the yawning gaps in our financial system – ready prey for bottom feeding sharks like Sarada and others of its ilk.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, financial inclusion, microcredit
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 — South Asia

Grassroot-level innovations may hold the key to global challenges

Source: The Guardian
Development professionals should help spread the ideas that are effective in solving problems but often remain in obscurity.
TAGS:social enterprise
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 — South Asia

Indian manufacturer cuts price of childhood vaccine by 30 percent

Source: GAVI Alliance
Biological E and GAVI partnership will reach millions of children with life-saving vaccine
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 — South Asia

Making a clean sweep of a 'dirty' business in India

Source: MoneyControl.com
A new kind of "dirty" business is becoming the latest frontier in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market in India, with a number of start-ups seeing a huge opportunity in building and maintaining toilets as more than 600 million Indians still defecate in the open, according to the World Health Organization.
TAGS:public health, social enterprise
Friday, April 19, 2013 — South Asia

Applications Open for Indian “Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2013”

Source: Press Release
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a Switzerland-based nonprofit, and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, an Indian nonprofit, have announced that they are now accepting applications for the 2013 Indian “Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.”
TAGS:Microfinance
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 — South Asia

Blue Collar, Inc

Source: Hindustan Times
Krishna Kumar used to spend his days listlessly gathering scrap in garbage dumps across Motihari in Bihar.
TAGS:social enterprise
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 — South Asia

Billion-dollar India Innovation Fund to be in place by June

Source: Business Standard
The proposed Rs 5,500-crore India Inclusive Innovation Fund, focusing on generating employment and supporting livelihoods across the country through innovative enterprises, is expected to be in place by June.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 — South Asia

"Being a woman gives me patience and humility"

Source: Times of India
Aparajita Agrawal's Sankalp Forum is the first platform globally that has social enterprises at its core.
TAGS:social enterprise, Women
Friday, April 12, 2013 — South Asia

World Bank proposes multi-billion plan to reduce poverty in India

Source: The Hindu Business Line
The World Bank has come out with a multi-billion ($12-20 billion) four-year plan aimed at bringing down poverty levels in seven low-income Indian States.
TAGS:poverty alleviation
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — South Asia

India’s Disputed Ruling on Pharmaceuticals and Patents

Source: Center For Global Development
On April 1, the Indian Supreme Court rejected the attempt by Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, to patent a new version of the leukemia drug Glivec.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — South Asia

India readying to take on absolute emission reduction cuts

Source: Times of India
India is preparing to take on absolute emission reduction cuts under the new global climate compact to be signed in 2015.
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — South Asia

Coughing Dragon, Sneezing Elephant: China, India, and Global Health Governance

Source: Council on Foreign Relations
The recent H7N9 flu scare in China has shown once again that we live in “an epidemiologically interdependent world.”
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 09, 2013 — South Asia

The “Technology for Impact Accelerator” announces the first batch of 16 startups

Source: Your Story
“Technology for Impact Accelerator” program for business creating social impact is an initiative by CIIE- IIM Ahmedabad and Village Capital. As a part of the first batch, 16 startups have been selected.
TAGS:social impact, startup
Wednesday, April 03, 2013 — South Asia

The Novartis Decision: Is the Big Win for Indian Pharma Bad News for Investment?

Source: Time
In a decisive victory for India’s pharmaceutical industry, India’s Supreme Court rejected Novartis’ patent application for the cancer drug Glivec on Monday.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, March 28, 2013 — South Asia

Investors commit over Rs 400 crore for funding new ventures for the poor

Source: The Economic Times
BANGALORE: Investors have committed at least Rs 400 crore to a government-backed fund that will provide capital to new ventures serving the needs of India's low-income communities. The fund, whose eventual size is envisaged at more than Rs 5,000 crore, is the first such by the government, which is taking increasing interest in venture capital investing.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, impact investing
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 — South Asia

Sheetal Mehta Walsh, on the Rise of Social Entrepreneurship

Source: The Next Women
Sheetal Mehta Walsh, is the founder of Shanti Life, a unique microfinance platform serving the poor in Gujarat villages and slums so that they can create sustainable businesses.
TAGS:poverty alleviation, social enterprise
Friday, March 22, 2013 — South Asia

Deepa Gangwani: Fomenting Change for Indian Trash Collectors

Source: PBS Newshour
A shocking incident involving her maid and a trash collector helped set Deepa Gangwani on her quest to help the poor communities near where she lived in India.
TAGS:Poverty, social enterprise, technology
Thursday, March 21, 2013 — South Asia

Panel spikes government’s rural healthcare plan

Source: Deccan Herald
The government’s plan to create a new cadre of trained individuals to provide basic healthcare in villages has received a setback with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health rejecting the proposal.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 — South Asia

Water for all

Source: The Economist
NEARLY three-fourths of all diseases caused in India are due to water contaminants. Despite that, one in eight Indians still lacks access to clean drinking water.
TAGS:sanitation, social enterprise, water
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 — South Asia

India's Primary Health Care Needs Quick Reform

Source: Forbes India
Primary health care delivery needs to reinvent itself. Only then can India aim for universal health coverage.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 — South Asia

Asian Development Bank : Pay-As-You-Go Model Expands Solar Energy Access in Rural India

Source: Press Release
More than 60,000 households in rural India will have better access to electricity by 2015 as Simpa Networks, a company supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), scales up the sales of its off-grid, pay-as-you-go solar energy solutions.
TAGS:social enterprise, solar
Friday, March 15, 2013 — South Asia

Rs 5,500-cr India Innovation Fund to focus on job creation

Source: The Economic Times
NEW DELHI: The government today said the Rs 5,500-crore 'India Inclusive Innovation Fund' will focus on generating employment and supporting livelihoods across the country through innovative enterprises.
TAGS:financial inclusion, social development
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 — South Asia

World Bank promises big push to poverty alleviation schemes in India

Source: The Hindu
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday indicated an assured annual funding of $3-5 billion for the next four years to push development projects and poverty eradication programmes.
TAGS:poverty alleviation
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — South Asia

Interview with Impact Investment Shujog and Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)

Source: Forbes
Robert Kraybill, Managing Director at IIX, and Magnus Young, Research Manager at Shujog, join us today to share their insights on the work they do at Shujog and IIX. They also provide their analyses on the trends in the impact investing space.
TAGS:public health, social enterprise
Thursday, March 07, 2013 — South Asia

Impact investing likely to grow at 30% annually

Source: Live Mint
Impact investing, in which money is used to deliver social benefits alongside financial returns, generated around $100 million (around Rs.547 crore today) of capital in India last year and is set to grow at an annual pace of 30%, according to research by the Rockefeller Foundation.
TAGS:impact investing, social enterprise
Wednesday, March 06, 2013 — South Asia

India's villagers reap visible benefits from solar electricity scheme

Source: The Guardian
Energy NGO Teri has revolutionised 500,000 lives through a scheme that uses solar LED lanterns to provide cheap power
TAGS:solar
Tuesday, March 05, 2013 — South Asia

Microcredit loans fall for first time in 13 years

Source: The Globe and Mail
The number of people around the world who have access to microcredit financing has fallen for the first time in 13 years, reflecting turmoil in the sector and the fallout from the global financial crisis.
TAGS:Microfinance, social enterprise
Tuesday, March 05, 2013 — South Asia

Grameen Koota raises $10M round led by Creation Investments

Source: VC Circle
Besides Grameen, several small-to-mid-sized MFIs have managed to raise fresh equity rounds in the past 5-6 months.
TAGS:social enterprise
Friday, March 01, 2013 — South Asia

India Bends Curve on Child Health

Source: The Wall Street Journal
India is making positive strides in reducing child mortality through new policies and ambitious programs, but preventing the deaths of millions of children remains one of the country’s greatest challenges.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, March 01, 2013 — South Asia

India’s Budget Targets Women

Source: The New York Times
At a time when India’s commitment to women’s rights is under scrutiny, the government’s annual budget released Thursday proposed a number of measures for women, including increased spending to improve their safety and a bank only for women.
TAGS:social enterprise
Monday, February 25, 2013 — South Asia

What Nepalese Mountaineers Can Teach You About Business

Source: INC
Sherpas are famous for trekking to the summit of Mount Everest. But one entrepreneur says they have much to teach the business world.
TAGS:business development, social business
Monday, February 25, 2013 — South Asia

164 social ventures take part in the first edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge

Source: India Education Diary
The Tata group in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), hosted the grand finale event of the first Tata Social Enterprise Challenge today, followed by a Social Entrepreneurship Conference at the institute’s auditorium where the winners were felicitated.
TAGS:social enterprise, social entrepreneur
Friday, February 22, 2013 — South Asia

India's first social sector PE fund gets SEBI nod

Source: Economic Times
India's first social venture fund, Incube Connect Fund (Incube), has been accorded registration by market regulator Sebi, a company official said.
TAGS:social capital, social enterprise
Thursday, February 07, 2013 — South Asia

India's new child survival plan

Source: Devex
The Indian government plans to engage the private sector and aid community more as part of a strategic approach to reduce child mortality launched today at a national summit on child survival in Chennai.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 06, 2013 — South Asia

Diaspora-driven development: how to turn wealth to health in Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian
A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates are unskilled labourers so cash transfers will still dominate the way they contribute to development back home. However, due to high tax on remittances and high money transfer fees, many chose to use informal channels. The Daily Star, a Bangladesh English language broadsheet reported that up to 24% of remittances are brought into the country through informal channels. Reducing tax, as well as transfer fees by organisations such as Western Union could encourage more people to use formal channels and hence increasing government revenues
TAGS:health care, poverty alleviation, public health
Friday, February 01, 2013 — South Asia

Rebecca van Bergen Gives Wings to Struggling Artisans

Source: PBS NewsHour
The talents of countless small-scale craftspeople around the world are abundant, but many have trouble growing their businesses because they lack resources and connections to large-scale, and perhaps more importantly, consistent buyers in higher-income countries. But what if those connections could be made, with some financial resources and business consulting made available? Enter Rebecca van Bergen, part social entrepreneur, part fashionista. Van Bergen is founder and executive director of Nest, a nonprofit dedicated to helping artisans in developing countries grow their businesses.
TAGS:skill development, social enterprise
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 — South Asia

TOI Social Impact Awards: They battled the odds to even the chances

Source: The Times of India
"I have some questions before we begin. Can we all turn to page 140 of the dossier provided to the jury?" These words, spoken by National Advisory Council member and Rajya Sabha MP Anu Aga, and received with approving nods by the other jury members, immediately made one thing clear. The jury had done its homework, wading through 300 pages of expert assessments, field reports and background information on the 41 candidates shortlisted for the second Times of India Social Impact Awards in association with JP Morgan.
TAGS:social impact
Monday, January 21, 2013 — South Asia

New fund from global impact investors

Source: Business Standard
Global impact investors Rockefeller Foundation and Omidyar Network have joined hands with Dasra, a strategic philanthropy foundation, to launch the Impact Investing Forum in India. The forum on Saturday announced the launch of the India Impact Economy Innovations Fund to catalyse collective action and market development in India, a statement said.
TAGS:impact investing, Rockefeller Foundation
Thursday, January 17, 2013 — South Asia

What Two Years Without Polio Mean for India

Source: India Real Time
On Jan. 13, 2011, doctors confirmed Rukhsaar Khatoon, a two year-old from the state of West Bengal, had polio. Since baby Rukhsaar was diagnosed, exactly two years ago, no cases of polio have been confirmed in India.
TAGS:health care, public health, vaccinations
Friday, January 11, 2013 — South Asia

The Bottom Three Billion: How One Clean Tech Company Serves the Poor

Source: Forbes
In 2007, a married couple with well-paid tech jobs in Singapore saw a prototype of a Japanese electric car and had a revelation. An electric car could be run for a tenth the price of a comparable one fueled by gas. The couple wondered: Could they create an electric motorbike for the masses in their home country of India? “This hit my mind like anything. This is the future,” Pachyappa Bala, the husband of the couple, remembered thinking at the time.
TAGS:renewable energy
Thursday, January 10, 2013 — South Asia

In India, Solar Ambitions Are Suddenly Outsize

Source: The New York Times
After years of lagging behind China and the West in the adoption of solar power, some states in India are proposing to build solar farms at a galloping pace that leaves them at risk of falling short of electricity (a familiar problem here) or of paying higher prices for it.
TAGS:solar
Wednesday, January 09, 2013 — South Asia

Providing remote medical care in inaccessible areas

Source: The Hindu
Future of Indian medicare is Telemedicine, opined experts in the field, which is evolving into a promising technological intervention to provide quick and super-specialty medical care to even people residing in a remote place.
TAGS:rural healthcare delivery, telemedicine
Monday, January 07, 2013 — South Asia

Lok Capital buys minority stake in social enterprise Drishti

Source: mydigitalfc.com
Firm will use funds to service underserved geographies of Karnataka
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, health care, social enterprise, venture capital
Monday, January 07, 2013 — South Asia

Prices double as private vaccines flood market

Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: The Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) seems to have slipped almost entirely into the grip of the private sector as the government's vaccine institutes that were reopened in February 2010 after being shut down two years ago are yet to contribute in any significant way. In the process, the cost of most vaccines has more than doubled since 2006-07.
TAGS:health care, vaccinations
Monday, January 07, 2013 — South Asia

NIC to launch Rs 5,000 cr VC fund for innovation: Pitroda

Source: Business Standard
The fund will support enterprises which drive change at the bottom of the economic pyramid
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, investment fund, venture capital
Thursday, January 03, 2013 — South Asia

India's shift to inclusive innovation is 'a model to follow'

Source: SciDev.net
A leading Indian scientist and policymaker is calling on developing countries to adopt an "emerging paradigm" of affordable, less complex and inclusive innovation to promote development and cut poverty.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, health care, vaccinations
Thursday, January 03, 2013 — South Asia

Unitus Seed Fund lands $8 Million for BoP Startups from Leading Early-stage Investors

Source: Press Release
Investment includes backing of Vinod Khosla, Mohandas Pai, Mike Murray and others
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, investment fund, startup, venture capital
Wednesday, January 02, 2013 — South Asia

The Gyaner Haats – knowledge bazaars – of Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian
Faruk Ul Islam explains how his charity is developing networks that build on official channels to reach deeper into communities
TAGS:rural development, technology, telecommunications
Wednesday, January 02, 2013 — South Asia

Measles outbreak kills hundreds in Pakistan

Source: Al Jazeera
An international health body says that the disease has killed more than 300 children in Pakistan's Sindh province.
TAGS:health care, rural healthcare delivery, vaccinations
Thursday, December 27, 2012 — South Asia

Tata launches 'Social Enterprise Challenge'

Source: New York Daily News
Mumbai, Dec 27 — Aiming to find the country's most promising social enterprises, the Tata Group has launched the 'Tata Social Enterprise Challenge' in association with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), a company statement said here Thursday.
TAGS:events and competitions, social enterprise, social impact
Thursday, December 27, 2012 — South Asia

AP microfinance crisis helped Bandhan grow by over 50%

Source: The Hindu Business Line
At a time when many microfinance companies are still reeling under pressure following the crisis in Andhra Pradesh about two years ago, Kolkata-based Bandhan Financial Services is planning to expand. The company plans to apply for a banking licence as and when the Reserve Bank of India comes out with the final guidelines on the subject.
TAGS:Microfinance
Thursday, December 20, 2012 — South Asia

RSBY health insurance scheme launched in Arunachal

Source: Money Control
Itanagar, Dec 19 (PTI) The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a health insurance scheme of the Centre for people living below poverty line was launched today in Arunachal Pradesh.
TAGS:health insurance
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 — South Asia

Delhi Dispatch: Rice, Wheat, and Water Serve Up Equal Helpings of Punjab’s Wealth and Risk

Source: Circle of Blue
NARAINGARH, Haryana, India — The first rain in six months, and a stout and cold wind whipped at the black plastic covering stacks of grain Thursday morning at the Shivshakti Rice Mill, one of 13 mills surrounding this roadside village about 70 kilometers west of Chandigarh.
TAGS:agribusiness, farmers, nutrition, sustainability, water
Friday, December 14, 2012 — South Asia

Will Saral Money reduce corruption?

Source: ZDNet
India's ruling government is making cash transfers an important pillar in its 2014 election strategy, and while others might call it bribery, citizens shouldn't complain if such initiatives help reduce corruption.
TAGS:corporate engagement, financial inclusion, mobile banking
Thursday, December 13, 2012 — South Asia

PM says rural-urban divide in telecom growth must be bridged for socially inclusive growth

Source: NetIndian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the full potential of telecommunication in enabling higher growth would not be realised until the use of telephones spread much wider in the rural economy of India as well.
TAGS:governance, mobile phones, rural development, telecommunications
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 — South Asia

Panasonic lanterns 'to regain market'

Source: BDNews24
Osaka, Dec 10 (bdnews24.com) – Electronics giant Panasonic will launch solar lanterns for un-electrified areas in developing countries by early next year as it shifts its businesses to eco-technologies to bring back the losing markets by 2018, its 100th anniversary.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, multinational corporation, renewable energy, solar, sustainability
Thursday, December 06, 2012 — South Asia

Solar Energy Brings Power to Rural India

Source: Triple Pundit
In Central India, far from the grid of power lines, telephone poles and power transformers an electrical experiment has been taking place. For the last year, the village of Meerwada has been learning to live with solar energy. Located some 90 minutes from the nearest city by way of a rocky 4×4 dirt road, this small town sits on the cutting edge of a modern-day industrial revolution.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development, solar
Thursday, December 06, 2012 — South Asia

Telemedicine Still Not Reaching Rural India

Source: Enterprise Efficiency
Building brick-and-mortar hospitals to cater to a country that accounts for more than a sixth of the world’s population is a near impossibility. At present, 65 percent of India’s population lacks access to modern medicine. Less than 10 percent have access to a hospital, and only 13 percent have access to a primary care center.
TAGS:health care, rural development, telemedicine
Wednesday, December 05, 2012 — South Asia

Bartering vegetables for sanitary pads

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Women in rural areas are being convinced of the hygiene benefits of using sanitary pads, now to the extent that “they even barter onions or tomatoes for low-priced pads”, declared A. Muruganantham at the recently concluded TiECon – Chennai 2012.
TAGS:consumer products, public health, sanitation
Tuesday, December 04, 2012 — South Asia

Pakistan to follow Brazilian model in tackling poverty

Source: The Express Tribune
ISLAMABAD: Emulating the Brazilian model of zero hunger and with support from donors, the Pakistan government has expressed the resolve to alleviate poverty and hunger from the country.
TAGS:nutrition, poverty alleviation
Tuesday, December 04, 2012 — South Asia

Sanofi shakes up diabetes market in India

Source: LiveMint
The firm is changing the rules of the game by is lowering prices, localizing products for treatment of the disease
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry
Monday, December 03, 2012 — South Asia

Patnis purchase stake in Grameen Capital India

Source: Business Standard
Grameen Capital India (GCI) has announced that Amit Patni and Arihant Patni have acquired a stake in the company from original investor IFMR Trust. The Patni's after exiting their software services exports company to iGate in a $1.2 billion deal have started Nirvana Venture Advisors, a venture capital fund with focus on the internet space in India.
TAGS:impact investing, technology, venture capital
Monday, December 03, 2012 — South Asia

First-of-its-kind virtual medical kiosk in India

Source: PharmaBiz.com
ehealth Access, a company focused on developing healthcare eco-system through advanced telemedicine technology, launched a first-of-its-kind Virtual Medical Kiosk. This is a breakthrough innovation in technology that will enable patient-doctor consultation in a secure environment.
TAGS:health care, telemedicine
Monday, December 03, 2012 — South Asia

What Is eBay’s Omidyar Doing on Delhi’s MedTech Row?

Source: New York Times
Pierre Omidyar is best known as the founder of the online auction company e-Bay, which he grew from an “odd little Web site” to one of Web commerce’s biggest and longest-lasting success stories.
TAGS:impact investing, Philanthropy, social impact, venture capital
Thursday, November 29, 2012 — South Asia

‘Rising Star’ Leila Janah on Fighting Poverty

Source: Wall Street Journal
Leila Janah is trying to find a way to connect women and young people living in poverty to dignified work via the Internet. Her company Samasource, which she founded in 2008, provides free, specialized technology training via 16 centers in nine countries, including India, Pakistan, Kenya, Haiti and Uganda.
TAGS:poverty alleviation, social entrepreneur
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 — South Asia

Accion’s Frontier Investments Group and Saama Capital Invest $4 Million in Mortgage Company

Source: Sacramento Bee
Early-Stage Equity to Help Expand Shubham Housing's Mission to Serve Urban Poor
TAGS:affordable housing, impact investing, investment fund, Microfinance
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 — South Asia

Justrojgar Joins With Upaya Social Ventures to Create Service Sector Jobs for the Very Poorest

Source: Press Release
Equity Investment Will Create New Corporate, Domestic Employment Opportunities For Those Living At The Base Of The Pyramid
TAGS:employment, poverty alleviation, social enterprise
Monday, November 19, 2012 — South Asia

‘We are now treading cautiously on lending’

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Dena Bank Chairperson and Managing Director Nupur Mitra, who is due to retire on December 31 this year, feels that customers at the bottom of the pyramid offer lot of opportunities for banks to expand business.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, business development, microcredit, Microfinance
Friday, November 16, 2012 — South Asia

Intellecap, Villgro Enter Strategic Partnership to Build a Comprehensive Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship

Source: Press Release
Intellecap and Villgro today announced a strategic partnership that will leverage the extensive experience and networks of both organizations to better assist social entrepreneurs developing innovative business models across India. This synergy of resources and expertise will promote a broader national-level collaborative plan to identify and support competitive enterprises focused on creating market solutions for the Base of the Pyramid.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, incubators
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 — South Asia

Student Social Entrepreneurs from India Win the 2012 Intel Global Challenge

Source: Social Enterprise Buzz
With a “jugaad” mindset embedded in the culture, India has no shortage of social innovators cooking up solutions to the world’s ills. As a matter of fact, the Greenway Grameen Infra (GGI) team from India has just been announced as the winners of the 2012 Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, receiving $50,000 from the Intel Foundation on their invention of a biomass-based stove that increases fuel efficiency.
TAGS:corporate engagement, events and competitions, renewable energy, social enterprise
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 — South Asia

My new book will talk about SKS experience: Vikram Akula

Source: Business Standard
A candid account of what went wrong at SKS Microfinance Ltd during 2009-11 is in the offing. Founder and former chairman of SKS Microfinance, Vikram Akula, tells Santosh Tiwari in an interview he was working on his new book, which will focus on his SKS experience and lessons learnt.
TAGS:books, Microfinance, social enterprise
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 — South Asia

Bangladesh could be 'next China'

Source: The Daily Star
Bangladesh must act soon to take advantage of its low-cost edge to become the "next China" before Dhaka's competitors take the markets the world's second largest economy is leaving, according to the World Bank.
TAGS:employment, manufacturing
Monday, November 12, 2012 — South Asia

eBay founder's investment firm makes a grant to global health consortium

Source: Times of India
Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar, is making a $1.5 million grant to a global consortium supporting innovation in healthcare and medical technology. The grant has been made to Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Global Health to support the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech).
TAGS:entrepreneurship, health care, impact investing, venture capital
Monday, November 12, 2012 — South Asia

Final Frontier: Firms Flock to Newly Opened Myanmar

Source: Wall Street Journal
YANGON, Myanmar—For Tim Love, a vice chairman of advertising giant Omnicom Group, it was an opportunity too good to pass up: an entire country, off the map for most Western investors for decades, embracing foreign investment in a place with untapped energy resources and 60 million people.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, energy
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 — South Asia

Lok Capital is re-inventing strategy for social impact

Source: Business Standard
Rajiv B Lall, 55, managing director and chief executive officer of Infrastructure Development Finance Company talks unlike his peers in glamorous investment banking and private equity business despite spending over thirty years with institutions such as Warburg Pincus, Morgan Stanley and Asian Development Bank.
TAGS:impact investing, social impact, venture capital
Tuesday, November 06, 2012 — South Asia

Goonj founder this year’s top social entrepreneur

Source: Hindustan Times
Almost 13 years ago an idea then considered a ‘non-issue’, fructified into an NGO — Goonj, got recognised on Tuesday evening, as its founder Anshu Gupta was adjudged the ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year India 2012”.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, nonprofit, social enterprise
Tuesday, November 06, 2012 — South Asia

Husk Power Systems raises $5 million for expansion

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Husk Power Systems, a Bihar-based company that runs micro power plants on agricultural waste, has raised Series A equity financing of $5 million (Rs 27 crore) from co-investors Bamboo Finance, Acumen Fund, and LGT Venture Philanthropy.
TAGS:Acumen Fund, energy, impact investing, rural, sustainability
Monday, November 05, 2012 — South Asia

Can the 'American Dream' be reversed in India?

Source: BBC
America's Silicon Valley has always been a hub for some of the brightest and best Indian immigrants to start businesses. Now, in a reversal, more people from the US are moving to the sub-continent with their ideas.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, startup, technology
Thursday, November 01, 2012 — South Asia

How To Strengthen Pakistan's Economy? Empower Women!

Source: Forbes
Changemakers talked to Shaista Bukhari about how to unleash the entrepreneurial power of women and what it could mean to Pakistan’s economy, if more women were to open businesses on their own. A transformation that requires more than just seed money.
TAGS:Ashoka, Women
Thursday, November 01, 2012 — South Asia

LifeSpring Hospitals: Providing Affordable, Quality Maternity Care to India’s Middle Class

Source: Knowledge@Wharton
Last year, when 24-year-old Madhuri Satyanarayan, a resident of Neredmet village in Andhra Pradesh, found out that she was pregnant, her joy was tempered with anxiety about the medical costs. At the nearby private hospital where she went for her check–ups, the cost of delivery was estimated to be around US$500.
TAGS:health care, middle class, Women
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 — South Asia

'Over 60 percent of land projected to become urban by 2030 yet to be built'

Source: Business Recorder
Global urbanisation will have significant implications for biodiversity and ecosystems if current trends continue, with knock-on effects for human health and development, observes a new assessment by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
TAGS:energy, health care, sustainability, urban
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 — South Asia

Bill on property rights to slumdwellers in the works

Source: Hindustan Times
Millions of slum dwellers across India could soon aspire to become home owners. The Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry is all set to finalize the draft Model Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Bill which, once enacted by states, would for the first time give landless slum-dweller living in an urban area long term legal entitlement to a “dwelling place.”
TAGS:governance, poverty alleviation
Monday, October 29, 2012 — South Asia

An entrepreneurial ecosystem is the future roadmap

Source: Times of India
An entrepreneurial ecosystem is the future roadmap. Tirna Ray reports on the fifth edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum, which was held in Lyon, France, from October 24-27
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, conferences, entrepreneurship, social business
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 — South Asia

P Chidambaram urges banks to lend more to the poor

Source: Times of India
By saying banks need to lend more to the poor, Union finance minister P Chidambaram is on the right track. There is no denying that India continues to be a significantly under-banked country. Around 41% of the population is unbanked, with the figure touching as high as 61% in rural areas.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, financial inclusion, Microfinance
Monday, October 15, 2012 — South Asia

Learn for life, not for exams, students told

Source: The Times of India
MANGALORE: Pragrati 2012, the biennial symposium with the theme 'Youth- Intrinsic Motivation' with a focus on igniting young minds and awakening them to the realities surrounding them was held at AIMIT, St Aloysius College, Beeri on Wednesday.
TAGS:education, social enterprise
Thursday, October 11, 2012 — South Asia

Financing a greener future

Source: Al Jazeera
World governments will gather soon in Hyderabad, India, for the biennial Convention on Biological Diversity conference to find ways of valuing and safeguarding life on Earth - perhaps one of the most pressing priorities the global community now faces.
TAGS:conferences, impact investing, sustainability
Wednesday, October 03, 2012 — South Asia

The dawn of e-microfinance

Source: Business Standard
It doesn’t look like Primiya Bai Rout, a vegetable cultivator in Salebhata village of Odisha, belongs in cyberspace. Yet, there she is, with a profile that nestles right next to Niharika Padia’s from New York. It is an unlikely pairing, but what has made it possible is a loan of Rs 400, given by Padia to Rout, so she can finance her vegetable business, thanks to Rangde — an online platform that enables people like Niharika to choose borrowers like Rout from a list of microloan seekers in the most remote corners of India.
TAGS:Microfinance, telecommunications
Friday, September 28, 2012 — South Asia

Unilever takes HUL strategies like small packs, cheaper variants to developed markets

Source: Economic Times
MUMBAI: During a 2009 India visit, Paul Polman, CEO of Anglo-Dutch consumer goods major Unilever, couldn't conceal his delight with the Indian subsidiary's strategy of offering brands with multiple price and packaging options, helping consumers trade down or up depending on the state of the economy.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products, multinational corporation
Thursday, September 27, 2012 — South Asia

Using Innovative, Low-cost Solutions to Provide Safe Drinking Water in India

Source: India Knowedge@Wharton
P.Venkatesh, a resident of Boduppal village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is a carpenter of modest means. The ever-increasing price of essentials has forced him to cut corners to save each paisa as he struggles to look after his family of four. But despite all odds and after much deliberation, three months ago he decided to make provision for yet another non-negotiable in his monthly budget -- drinking water.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, rural development, sanitation, water
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 — South Asia

Danone plans national launch for its yoghurts next year

Source: The Economic Times
MUMBAI: French dairy major Danone today said its new business unit here which is dedicated for developing products for the masses, will be rolled out to other cities by next year.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, nutrition, scale
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 — South Asia

U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council Launched

Source: RTT News
(RTTNews) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday announced the launch of the U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council on the margins of the UN General Assembly, in the presence of Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Sherry Rehman. Recognizing the critical role economically empowered women play in strengthening stability, security, and prosperity, the Council's core mission is to promote the economic advancement of women in Pakistan.
TAGS:conferences, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion
Monday, September 24, 2012 — South Asia

How the Aakash tablet bounced back

Source: The Washington Post
Internet-connected tablets, as I’ve explained before, have the potential to positively impact billions. Cell phones improved commerce and changed society by allowing, among other things, the poorest villagers in the developing world to connect with one another. The Internet will catalyze the next leap forward by providing those in the developing world access to the same ocean of knowledge as those in wealthier societies. This will transform education and revolutionize commerce.
TAGS:consumer products, pricing, product design, technology
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 — South Asia

Dow Corning Offers Workers Cold Showers With Bugs to Build Sales

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek
When Brad Fogg did volunteer work in India, the adventure came with unwelcome insects and other discomforts, as well as a chance to benefit the country and find opportunities for his employer, Dow Corning Corp.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, corporate engagement
Monday, September 17, 2012 — South Asia

ISB competition for social entrepreneurship ideas

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Do you have an idea that has a potential to make a social impact? The Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced iDiya, a nationwide idea competition for working professionals who are interested in starting ventures with a potential to create a positive impact on society.
TAGS:events and competitions, social entrepreneur, social impact
Friday, September 14, 2012 — South Asia

Allahabad MFI Sonata Finance raises $6.35M from Creation Investments, others

Source: VCCircle
Chicago-based Creation Investments made its first investment in India in 2010 by picking up stake in Eko India Financial Services.
TAGS:investment fund, Microfinance
Thursday, September 13, 2012 — South Asia

$4 billion planned for investment in social enterprise in 2012: Report

Source: The Economic Times
According to a global impact investment market study by JP Morgan, and the Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN), investors see the social enterprise as a market 'in its infancy and growing' with almost $ 4 billion planned for investment in 2012. Over the last eight years $ 600 million has been invested in social enterprises in India itself. The Monitor Institute estimates that over the next 5 - 10 years impact investments will grow to 1 percent of global assets under management, emerging as a new asset class.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund, small and medium enterprises, social enterprise, social impact
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 — South Asia

Citi Foundation Grants $180k to Parinaam Foundation of India

Source: Microcapital.org
Citi Foundation, the charitable arm of the US-based financial provider Citigroup, reportedly has given a grant of INR 10 million (USD 180,000) to Parinaam Foundation, an Indian nonprofit organization, to deliver Parinaam’s Diksha Financial Literacy Program to approximately 31,000 microfinance clients.
TAGS:Citi Foundation, investment fund, Microfinance
Friday, September 07, 2012 — South Asia

Intellecap facilitates investment of INR 250 million in NationWide, from Norwest Venture Partners

Source: Intellecap
Intellecap today announced that it has facilitated an investment of INR 250 million from Norwest Venture Partners in Nationwide Primary Healthcare Services, a pioneering chain of general practitioner and pediatric clinics backed by US based angels.
TAGS:health care, impact investing, investment fund
Tuesday, September 04, 2012 — South Asia

In Andhra Pradesh, moneylenders rush to fill vacuum created by MFIs

Source: The Hindu Business Line
The Andhra Pradesh crackdown on microfinance companies has driven an increasing number of poor borrowers in the State back into the arms of local moneylenders, a recent survey shows.
TAGS:Microfinance
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — South Asia

Institute for sustainable enterprise takes off

Source: Business Standard
An innovative concept to promote green technology and support entrepreneurs to build a sustainable business on this much needed space has taken shape in Bangalore. Indian Institute for Sustainable Enterprise (IISE), promoted by some well known global and Indian personalities has kicked off its operations and is set to launch its post-graduate certificate programme in sustainable enterprise shortly.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, entrepreneurship, sustainability, technology
Monday, August 27, 2012 — South Asia

Is a Youth Revolution Brewing in India?

Source: The New York Times
Among the world’s major countries, India has the youngest population, and the oldest leaders. A startling four-decade gap between the median age of India’s people and that of its government officials most recently reared its head with a heavy-handed and widely-maligned crackdown on free speech on the Internet.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, poverty alleviation
Friday, August 24, 2012 — South Asia

TISS to fund, mentor entrepreneurship students

Source: The Indian Express
The social entrepreneurship students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), keen on starting their venture at a time when the economy is volatile, now have a back-up. The institute has introduced a scheme this year to fund and mentor students pursuing masters in social entrepreneurship for three years.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund, social entrepreneur
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 — South Asia

Start-ups like InVenture flourish with technology services for micro finance firms

Source: The Economic Times
BANGALORE: A new wave of start-up companies is building technology enabled services aimed at bridging the communication gap between borrowers and lenders in the embattled microfinance industry.
TAGS:Microfinance, startup, technology
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 — South Asia

It is important to make money in business, but not at the cost of ethics and values: Sam Pitroda

Source: The Economic Times
Sam Pitroda, who led the telecom revolution in India, says the second phase will see a slew of opportunities for startups in areas such as broadband, mobile applications and local content. Pitroda, an advisor to the Prime Minister on public information infrastructure and innovation, is helping the government launch a $1-billion fund to invest in bottom-of-the-pyramid innovations. In conversation with ET he retraces a journey that has seen him survive cancer and bypass surgeries. Excerpts:
TAGS:entrepreneurship, profits
Monday, August 20, 2012 — South Asia

India’s microfinance industry gets some relief

Source: Devex
It’s a period in history that India’s microfinance industry would probably rather forget: In late 2010, more than 200 poor residents of the Andhra Pradesh state committed suicide allegedly due to excessive pressure from microcreditors for debt repayments. Backlash against microfinance institutions not just in the state but the whole of India followed.
TAGS:microcredit, Microfinance
Monday, August 13, 2012 — South Asia

Future Group to pitch Mother Earth chain against retailer Fab India

Source: The Economic Times
MUMBAI: Future Group, the country's largest retailer, will pitch its Mother Earth chain directly against ethnic products retailer Fabindia by expanding rapidly and borrowing its rival's social enterprise-style business model.
TAGS:business development, social enterprise
Friday, August 10, 2012 — South Asia

‘Innovation must happen spontaneously’

Source: The Hindu Business Line
R. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Tata Sons, on Thursday said that innovation is not just about being first in the market or taking big bets. Innovation is rather something that happens spontaneously.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid
Thursday, August 09, 2012 — South Asia

Government assisting SMEs development to reduce poverty

Source: Pakistan Observer
Islamabad—The government has made strategic shift in its strategies to assist infrastructural development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to enhance productivety and exports of this particular sector to help reduce poverty in the country.
TAGS:poverty alleviation, small and medium enterprises
Monday, August 06, 2012 — South Asia

Ideas man: professor in quest for India's rural inventions

Source: Hindustan Times
t's 43 degrees Celsius, and Prof. Anil Gupta has been hiking the scorched plains of central India for hours. But he smiles widely as he enters a tiny village in search of another unsung genius. "If you have any new ideas or you have any new inventions, I'm here to promote you," he tells farmers squatting beside a dusty roadside shrine to Lord Shiva.
TAGS:farmers, rural development, startup
Monday, August 06, 2012 — South Asia

India’s RBI Eases Regulations for Non-Bank Microfinance Lenders

Source: Bloomberg
India’s central bank eased norms for non-bank microfinance companies, removing a cap on lending rates and relaxing risk-provision standards, after some lenders found it difficult to meet existing regulations.
TAGS:Microfinance
Friday, August 03, 2012 — South Asia

Test-driving the ‘World’s Cheapest Computer’

Source: New York Times
India’s “Aakash” project, a tablet billed as the cheapest computer in the world, hopes to revolutionize learning in Indian colleges and universities. We’ve been following the ups and downs of the Aakash project closely here at India Ink and were delighted when we were allowed to test drive the new, improved version, known as the Aakash-2, at the ministry of Human Resources Development.
TAGS:technology
Monday, July 30, 2012 — South Asia

Acumen Fund Invests INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) in Edubridge Learning

Source: Acumen Fund Blog
Mumbai, India, July 25, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture fund addressing poverty across Africa and South Asia, today announced a INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) equity investment in Edubridge Learning Private Limited, a growing company that provides vocational skills training for low income youth across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund, poverty alleviation, rural development
Friday, July 27, 2012 — South Asia

Gujarat accepts report on sustainable development

Source: Times of India
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat government has accepted the report 'A Solutions Landscape for Gujarat Cities.' The report provides recommendations on how Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara can be supported in their holistic urban planning, energy efficiency and waste water management efforts.
TAGS:sustainability
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 — South Asia

Rural market, an incredible opportunity: Manwani

Source: The Hindu
Rural India is a powerhouse waiting to emerge and presents an incredible opportunity of potentially adding $1.8 trillion to the Indian economy which is equal to the current GDP, according to Harish Manwani, Chairman, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products, rural development
Thursday, July 19, 2012 — South Asia

Innovating The Process Of Getting Technology To People Who Need It

Source: Fast Company
Having technology that will change the lives of people in the developing world doesn’t mean much if you can’t get it to them. To fix that, Essmart Global is trying to revolutionize distribution and supply chains.
TAGS:technology
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 — South Asia

"Having It All": Finding Profit and Purpose with Tahira Dosani

Source: Forbes
In the wake of Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” I had been thinking about how to have it all not in terms of balancing children and career, but rather in terms of finding a career that encompasses money and meaning. For many women in our 20s, the tradeoffs between pursuing our passions and supporting ourselves can be perplexing. We want to pursue work that excites us, but we don’t know when, where, or how to start. This is a dilemma I’ve faced myself, as I’ve worked in banking and private equity and am beginning work at an impact investing fund.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 — South Asia

Grassroots entrepreneurship helps alleviate poverty

Source: The Financial Express
Bangladesh has positioned itself in global community as a forward-looking nation, with firm footprint on path of steady, accelerating growth and development towards rapid poverty elimination and eventual prosperity. Bangladesh has achieved fairly steep decline in poverty over the past two decades from 57.0 per cent in the 1990s to 31.5 per cent in 2011. According to the latest projections of the Planning Commission, poverty will come down further to 26.4 per cent in FY 2012-13.
TAGS:poverty alleviation, social entrepreneur
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 — South Asia

Poor women to get mobile feeds on their financial info

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Poor women in Andhra Pradesh could soon get access to their financial transactions on mobile. About 90 lakh women members of self help Groups (SHGs) in Andhra Pradesh can look forward to this facility, thanks to a mobile book-keeping project being launched by the State Government.
TAGS:Microfinance, mobile applications
Monday, July 09, 2012 — South Asia

Are mobile phones better than aid?

Source: World and Media
Helping people to use technology can combat poverty more effectively than centralised aid programmes according to a leading development entrepreneur.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, mobile phones
Friday, June 29, 2012 — South Asia

Annapurna Microfinance raises $2.36M from Incofin Investment Management

Source: VCCircle
Orissa-based Annapurna Microfinance Pvt Ltd (AMPL) has raised Rs 13 crore ($2.6 million) from Belgian investment firm Incofin Investment Management's Rural Impulse Fund II.
TAGS:investment fund, Microfinance
Friday, June 29, 2012 — South Asia

Need for affordable houses

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Mr Om Prakash Bhansali, 32, has a big dream. He wants his own house. This textile worker with a steady job and a monthly income of Rs 12,000 from Ahmedabad has been scouting for a 250-300-sq.-ft house that he can buy with his meagre resources. But he has been unable to find one.
TAGS:affordable housing
Friday, June 22, 2012 — South Asia

Grameen Koota Raises INR 25 Crores through Non-Convertible Debentures

Source: Microfinance Focus
Microfinance Focus, June 22, 2012: Bangalore-headquartered microfinance firm Grameen Financial Services Private Limited (GFSPL), popularly known as Grameen Koota has raised INR 25 Crores (USD 5 million) in debt funding through an issue of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs).
TAGS:Microfinance
Friday, June 15, 2012 — South Asia

Kalpna Saroj: One of the Few Women Social Entrepreneurs in India

Source: Just Means
Kalpna Saroj is an Indian social entrepreneur whose rag to riches story reads like a Bollywood script. Born into the caste of an Indian 'Dalit,' where she was formerly an "untouchable" and bullied at school; forced into marriage at the age of 12, and then fought social pressures to leave her husband; finally, overcoming poverty and physical abuse, she becomes CEO of a multi-million dollar company: a true heroine!
TAGS:social entrepreneur
Wednesday, June 13, 2012 — South Asia

Financial inclusion for whose benefit?

Source: The Hindu Business Line
The tale of financial inclusion in India is akin to that of the blind men and the elephant. You all know the story. A bunch of blind men chance upon an elephant. The one who catches hold of its tail says the elephant is like a rope. The one who touches the trunk says the elephant is like a snake, while the one touching the animal's leg insists it's like a tree.
TAGS:financial inclusion
Wednesday, June 06, 2012 — South Asia

BRAC eyes fully self-funded by 2021

Source: BDNews24
Dhaka, June 5 (bdnews24.com)—BRAC says it is 'gradually' lessening dependency on foreign donations in an effort to be a self-financed organisation by 2021. "Even in 1990 we depended 100 percent on foreign donations, but in 2011 it was only 30 percent," Executive Director Dr Mahbub Hossain said while unveiling the 2011 annual report of the largest Bangladeshi NGO.
TAGS:Microfinance, NGO
Tuesday, June 05, 2012 — South Asia

Reduction in ST on black tea: leading brands welcome government decision

Source: Business Recorder
Leading tea brands in Pakistan, Lipton, Brooke Bond Supreme, Pearl Dust and A1 welcomed the bold decision by the Government of Pakistan to stem smuggling of tea and provide relief to consumers. As per SRO 608(I) 2012, General Sales Tax on black tea has been reduced from 16 percent to 5 percent.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid
Tuesday, June 05, 2012 — South Asia

Will invest US $ 1 bn in India for inclusive growth and climate change: Karin Finkelston

Source: Business Standard
A member of World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC) has chalked out its investment plans for India focusing mainly on the renewable energy sources and targeting the bottom of the pyramid. Karin Finkelston, vice president, Asia Pacific talks to Rutam Vora on IFC's investment plans in India during the current year. Edited excerpts:
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, renewable energy
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 — South Asia

Young managers from top firms barter fat pay checks to join political system

Source: The Economic Times
MUMBAI: Come June, Vaibhav Lodha will swap his pinstripes for crisp white khadi. The 27-year-old manager with Bangalore-based analytics company Mu Sigma is set to leave a high-paying job, where he is serving his notice period, to work as a consultant for parliamentarian Anurag Thakur in Himachal Pradesh.
TAGS: No Tags
Friday, May 25, 2012 — South Asia

Yes, Microfinance Does Work. Here's How...

Source: Huffington Post
By now, anyone with an interest in microfinance or poverty alleviation has read the criticism. There are tragic crises in Andhra Pradesh, the regrettable stepping-down of Muhammad Yunus from Grameen, and provocative headlines in the media claiming to refute microcredit's effectiveness. However, I feel strongly that if readers listen only to the white noise, they'll do themselves and the microfinance industry a disservice and, more to the point, they'll be misled.
TAGS:Microfinance, poverty alleviation
Friday, May 25, 2012 — South Asia

Rural women in Gujarat get energy-efficient products

Source: Times of India
AHMEDABAD: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is helping Ahmedabad-based Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) provide energy-efficient cook stoves and solar lanters to its members. IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee for a $5 million loan that an Indian private sector bank is providing to SEWA-sponsored Grassroots Trading Network for Women.
TAGS:microcredit
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 — South Asia

Reality Check at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Source: Harvard Business Review
Most companies trying to do business with the 4 billion people who make up the world’s poor follow a formula long touted by bottom-of-the-pyramid experts: Offer products at extremely low prices and margins, and hope to generate decent profits by selling enormous quantities of them. This “low price, low margin, high volume” model has held sway for more than a decade, largely on the basis of Hindustan Unilever’s success in selling Wheel brand detergent to low-income consumers in India.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid
Friday, May 18, 2012 — South Asia

Hope springs a trap

Source: The Economist
THE idea that an infusion of hope can make a big difference to the lives of wretchedly poor people sounds like something dreamed up by a well-meaning activist or a tub-thumping politician. Yet this was the central thrust of a lecture at Harvard University on May 3rd by Esther Duflo, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology known for her data-driven analysis of poverty. Ms Duflo argued that the effects of some anti-poverty programmes go beyond the direct impact of the resources they provide. These programmes also make it possible for the very poor to hope for more than mere survival.
TAGS:poverty alleviation
Thursday, May 17, 2012 — South Asia

Lok Capital and Acumen Fund announce Rs. 7 crore investment in Hippocampus Learning Centres

Source: Acumen Fund Blog
Bangalore, May 2012: Lok Capital, one of the largest dedicated funds in India for businesses focused on serving the lower income and base of the pyramid (BOP) customer segments and Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia, East and West Africa, today announce Rs. 7 crore investment in Hippocampus Learning Centres (HLC), a for-profit rural education service provider in India. This is Lok Capital’s and Acumen’s first investment in Education and marks the launch of their respective education portfolios. Based in Karnataka, India, HLC provides affordable, quality education by employing and training local female teachers who coach students between the ages of 3-12 in both pre-school and primary instruction.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, impact investing
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 — South Asia

Genpact to buy VentureEast-backed Atyati Technologies

Source: VCCircle
Business processing outsourcing major Genpact Ltd has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atyati Technologies, a technology platform provider for the rural banking sector in India. The terms of the transaction, including the stake acquired and the deal value, remain undisclosed. The deal is expected to close in 3-4 weeks.
TAGS:mobile banking, rural development, technology
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 — South Asia

Nachiket Mor: The Business Of Morality

Source: Forbes India
In India, businesses and businessmen, particularly from the private sector, have always been viewed with some suspicion. Given our underlying socialist ethos, this is perhaps not surprising, but in recent times, this has worsened with reportage about the various means that some businesses have used to gain an advantage, be it bribing government officials and elected representatives, indulging in coercive practices with their customers, misusing monopoly power, concealing information, or ill-treating employees.
TAGS:health care, Microfinance, rural development
Thursday, May 10, 2012 — South Asia

India Needs to Liberalize Further to Combat Poverty: Pitroda

Source: India West
The U.S.-India Business Council, in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, held the first annual U.S. India Business Summit-West, titled “Building Bridges, Fostering Innovation,” at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel here April 26 and 27 (Read: India-US N-Deal 'One of My Proudest Moments': Condi Rice).
TAGS: No Tags
Thursday, May 10, 2012 — South Asia

New Apps for the Bottom Billion

Source: Technology Review
When it comes to mobile communications, there's still a lot of room for innovation at the bottom. In Bangalore, India, researchers from the University of Toronto and Microsoft are now imagining new business models for the world's poorest phone owners by adapting a little-known protocol that can receive pictures as bitmapped text messages. The technology could readily be used in the roughly 1.5 billion low-end Nokia and Samsung phones in circulation.
TAGS:mobile applications, social business
Tuesday, May 01, 2012 — South Asia

Singapore's Social Enterprise Stock Exchange to Launch Soon

Source: Forbes
For impact investors and social enterprises looking for ways to link up, the ultimate dream is to have a stock exchange aimed solely at mission-driven companies. That’s a difficult feat to pull off, to put it mildly. You need a critical mass of investors and stock-exchange ready companies, not to mention the wherewithal to meet all manner of red tape and regulatory hurdles, as well as establish the technology capable of supporting the venture.But such an exchange is well underway in Singapore.
TAGS:No Tags
Friday, April 27, 2012 — South Asia

Forus Health Raises $5 Million From Accel Partners & IDG Ventures India

Source: PR Newswire
Bangalore-based affordable medical technology and solutions company Forus Health Pvt. Ltd. (Forus) has successfully raised Series A funding of $5 million from two leading venture capital funds, Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India. Forus's mission is to address the healthcare delivery issues in the developing world through innovative, inclusive product design and service deployment. Its flagship product 3nethra, a portable, low cost, non-mydriatic, non-invasive pre-screening ophthalmology solution, can detect Cataract, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retina, Refraction and Cornea problems. 3nethra can be operated by a minimally trained technician, and can be deployed in remote areas.
TAGS:health care
Thursday, April 26, 2012 — South Asia

The Cookstove Conundrum

Source: New York Times
Cooking the family meal can be a dangerous business for poor people in developing countries. According to a study by the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution from “primitive household cooking fires” is the leading environmental cause of death in the world. In most rural homes, which lack electricity, a stove can be an open fire and the fuel as basic as wood, dried animal dung or agricultural residue, together known as “biomass” fuels. The result is nearly 2 million deaths a year, worldwide, almost as many as are caused by malaria and tuberculosis combined. What’s worse, cooking with biomass releases carbon dioxide and “black carbon” into the atmosphere and consequently is a significant contributor to climate change.
TAGS:consumer products
Thursday, April 26, 2012 — South Asia

In Rural India, Manufacturing Is Booming

Source: Wall Street Journal - India Realtime
When you think rural India, think factories and cell phones, rather than fields and bullock carts. Rural India, says a Credit Suisse report, is no longer an agrarian economy whose fortunes are dependent upon an erratic monsoon. Rather, they are now increasingly tied to the national economic cycle, something they had been largely immune from so far, as it gradually shifts away from agriculture.
TAGS:manufacturing
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 — South Asia

India's Aadhaar ID Project Turns Nation's Poor into Economic Players

Source: CBC News
Power Shift India: Nation turns to technology to extend a guaranteed identity to its poor
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, governance, social development
Monday, April 23, 2012 — South Asia

Govt to Probe Sister Concerns of Grameen Bank

Source: bdnews24.com
The government will form a commission to look into the activities of 54 organisations associated with Grameen Bank, the finance minister has said.
TAGS:microcredit
Friday, April 20, 2012 — South Asia

‘Citi and SEDC Working for Capacity Building’

Source: Daily Times
Citi Pakistan and the Social Enterprise Development Centre (SEDC) at LUMS are collaborating on a capacity building project, supported by $50,000 grant from Citi Foundation.
TAGS:academia, Capacity Building, Citi Foundation, social enterprise
Thursday, April 19, 2012 — South Asia

Can SKS Change Its Spots?

Source: Forbes India
After being the bad boy of microfinance, SKS is now trying to pick itself up and transform into a more cost-effective, diversified organization.
TAGS:business development, Microfinance
Friday, April 13, 2012 — South Asia

Perspective: Poverty, Health And Forced Eviction In The Slums Of Bangladesh

Source: CommonHealth
On April 4, one of the largest forceful slum evictions in Bangladesh’s history took place in Dhaka’s Korail bustee. Households, schools and shops within twenty meters of the road were bulldozed, with approximately 3,500 individuals affected.
TAGS:health care, Poverty, social impact
Thursday, April 12, 2012 — South Asia

Villgro Innovation Marketing Raises Seed Capital

Source: Press Release
Chennai based Villgro Innovation Marketing Private (VIM), an innovative rural distribution company, has raised a significant seed series investment from US-based investment firm Unitus Seed Fund and a group of angel investors to further expand its operations in South India.
TAGS:farmers, investment fund, Poverty, rural development
Monday, April 09, 2012 — South Asia

Micro-health Insurance Scheme for Poor on Test

Source: bdnews24.com
A microfinance institution has started piloting a micro-health insurance scheme as an 'alternative' mode of health financing for the Bangladeshi poor to help them overcome the cruel cycle of poverty and illness.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, health care, public health
Friday, April 06, 2012 — South Asia

Government's Heavy-handed Regulation of Microfinance Will Kill It and Bring Back Moneylenders

Source: The Economic Times
Among many Bills stuck in the legislative process is the Micro Finance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill. This is a 2011 Bill. An earlier 2007 Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, but lapsed with the lower House's dissolution in 2009. Financial inclusion shouldn't mean only credit.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, financial inclusion, Microfinance
Thursday, April 05, 2012 — South Asia

Cisco Invests in Rural Venture Capital Firm

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Cisco today announced an investment in Aavishkaar, a venture fund founded to promote development in rural and semi-urban India.
TAGS:impact investing, rural development, venture capital
Thursday, April 05, 2012 — South Asia

Innovation Comes Home to Go Global

Source: The Times of India
Innovation in India used to be largely about developing products for personal consumption and cheaper no-frills versions of existing devices. Now the products are targeted at the domestic consumer and for those at the bottom of the pyramid.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, consumer products
Wednesday, April 04, 2012 — South Asia

Japanese Professor Shoji Shiba Helping India Inc Breakthrough

Source: The Economic Times
Dhobi Ghat, the washermen's hub in Mumbai, is a dingy neighbourhood of clotheslines, discoloured pools of water and rows upon rows of wash pens. But it presents an array of socio-economic groups among the 10,000-odd washermen who live and work here-from smaller washermen thrashing clothes on flogging stones to better-off cleaners who run Laundromats. It's a thriving ecosystem and a perfect case study for how people at the bottom of the pyramid impact an economy.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, business development, Management, social enterprise
Wednesday, April 04, 2012 — South Asia

'Social Entrepreneur of the Year' India 2012 Awards is Open for Entries

Source: afaqs!
Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship are pleased to announce the 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year' Award for 2012 for India. Applicants are invited to participate and share their innovation. The deadline for receiving first round applications is May 31, 2012. Finalists will then be selected following an intensive search and selection process, including expert reviews and site visits. The winner will be announced at a ceremony coinciding with the India Economic Summit in November 2012 in New Delhi.
TAGS:social entrepreneur
Tuesday, April 03, 2012 — South Asia

100 Women Who Matter: Entrepreneurs Roundtable

Source: Newsweek Pakistan
Newsweek Pakistan’s Benazir Shah and Bisma Ahmad got down to business with five leading women entrepreneurs in Lahore recently to talk about the hard slog.
TAGS:entrepreneurship
Monday, April 02, 2012 — South Asia

Omidyar's Jayant Sinha: Volatile Government Policy is a Deterrent to Investing

Source: Forbes India
Jayant Sinha, partner and MD, Omidyar Network India Advisors, tells Dinesh Narayanan that government trying to micro-manage the economy is not good. Edited excerpts from an interview.
TAGS:financial inclusion, governance, impact investing
Monday, April 02, 2012 — South Asia

Asian Innovation: Frugal Ideas Are Spreading from East to West

Source: The Economist
Multinationals are beginning to take ideas developed in (and for) the emerging world and deploy them in the West.
TAGS:business development, entrepreneurship, multinational corporation, social enterprise
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 — South Asia

Angel Deals May Get Tax Breather

Source: VCCircle
Individual investment up to Rs 5 crore and total deal of Rs 10 crore may be exempted.
TAGS:financial inclusion, governance, impact investing
Monday, March 26, 2012 — South Asia

World Bank Chief in India, Focus on Poverty Alleviation

Source: Business Standard
World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick begins an official visit to India tomorrow, to see what more it can do to support government efforts to overcome poverty, as India embarks on its 12th five-year Plan and global recovery remains fragile.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, poverty alleviation
Friday, March 23, 2012 — South Asia

Omidyar Network Backs Two More Indian Firms

Source: livemint.com
Omidyar Network started funding projects in India about two years ago with plans to invest up to $200 million in five years
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, investment fund, venture capital
Thursday, March 22, 2012 — South Asia

Growth Busts Poverty

Source: The Times of India
Poverty estimates between 2004-05 and 2009-10 show a sharp reduction in the absolute number of the poor by 52.5 million to 354.7 million.
TAGS:Poverty, rural, urban
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 — South Asia

Is India Misrepresenting Its Poverty Numbers?

Source: The Washington Post
India’s poverty figures fluctuate wildly, anywhere from 300 million people to 800 million people, depending on whom you ask.
TAGS:Poverty
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 — South Asia

A Changing Innovation Landscape

Source: livemint.com
At a time when the global economy continues to be in a state of flux and the emerging economies are also beginning to feel the impact of this uncertainty, my mind races to the proverbial thought of viewing the glass as half empty or half full. I choose the latter.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, social impact
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 — South Asia

Symbiosis Project to Help Light Up Village Homes

Source: The Times of India
PUNE: Students from the Social Entrepreneurship and Consulting Cell of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management ( SIBM) have come up with a project to provide low-cost lighting units to rural households without electricity.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development, social impact
Monday, March 19, 2012 — South Asia

Start-ups to be Taxed on Funds from Angel Investors

Source: livemint.com
Start-ups raising money from angel investors will have to pay income tax from April on the funds they receive after the national budget on Friday proposed to treat the capital received as income from other sources, if the consideration received for issue of shares exceeds the face value of such shares.
TAGS:entrepreneurship, impact investing, startup
Thursday, March 15, 2012 — South Asia

Tara Thiagarajan Wants the Poor to Get More Out of Their Micro Borrowings

Source: Forbes India
Tara Thiagarajan believes that microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been pursuing the wrong goal. Instead of scale, they should be looking to make loans more effective. That means borrowers should get more out of their borrowings. Along with credit, they should also get the tools and the benefits of a large network to make the most of the credit.
TAGS:Microfinance, scale, skill development
Thursday, March 15, 2012 — South Asia

Organic Farming Promises to Yield a Sustainable Future for India's Rural Poor

Source: The Guardian
Organic agricultural practices are improving prospects for India's farmers by providing greater profit and sustainability
TAGS:agribusiness, farmers, rural development
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 — South Asia

For a New Highway, from Rio to Delhi

Source: The Hindu
Brazil and India can benefit from each other's experience for an inclusive development agenda.
TAGS:consumer products, financial inclusion, poverty alleviation
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 — South Asia

N Sundaresha Subramanian: Why the SME Exchange Needs a Big Hand

Source: Business Standard
For the third time in the Indian stock market history, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) now have a new platform to access funds from people other than friends and family in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SME exchange that completed its first initial public offer (IPO) in February.
TAGS:financial inclusion, SME
Monday, March 12, 2012 — South Asia

Interest-free Microfinance Hope for Poor Muslims

Source: The Times of India
Making headlines in the recent past for crushing interest rates claiming lives of debtors, microfinance is now being offered with a more humane approach. The Human Welfare Foundation will now offer loans in the form of interest-free microfinance to the poor across the country including Hyderabad, said vice president of Jamat-e-Islami Hind Prof K A Siddique Hassan here on Saturday.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, Microfinance, social impact
Friday, March 09, 2012 — South Asia

Using Microfinance to Bring Clean Water to India's Poor

Source: The Huffington Post
A unique public-private partnership involving private sector giants like Unilever and Heinz is improving the health of Indian children. Two hours outside India's tech hub Bangalore is Krishnagiri the Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) is using interest-free microfinance loans to increase access to products people could not afford on their own.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, Microfinance, water
Monday, March 05, 2012 — South Asia

Solar-Powered Micro Grids Change Lives of Indian Villagers

Source: Treehugger
In Uttar Pradesh, one of India's poorest states, a pair of US-born entrepreneurs is creating a new model for energy delivery to villages far from the grid. The founders of Mera Gao Power build and operate solar-powered micro grids to provide low-cost lighting and mobile phone charging to village houses, giving many rural people access to both light and power for the first time in their lives.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development
Friday, March 02, 2012 — South Asia

Pathbreakers: Harish Hande, MD of Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO)

Source: Economic Times
Unable to ignore the poorest of the poor who live in abject darkness, Harish Hande decided to put his Master's in solar power to good use. Today, the 44-year-old MD of Solar Electric Light Company or SELCO, retains the same inclusive elan while reminiscing how his company continues to light up lives at the bottom of the pyramid.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, social enterprise, solar
Thursday, March 01, 2012 — South Asia

Creating an impact

Source: Malaysia Star
FOUNDER and chairwoman of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) in Singapore Durreen Shahnaz is seeking to create the Impact Exchange a social enterprise exchange. “By investing through the Impact Exchange, impact investors can significantly lower their market research and due diligence costs, as well as have liquidity in their investments thus allowing for more impact and wealth to be created and brought into the space,” she says.
TAGS:impact investing
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 — South Asia

Responsible lending key to microfinance

Source: Live Mint
Mumbai: Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still struggling for recovery after a crisis triggered by an Andhra Pradesh law in October 2010 that reined in MFIs, which lend small sums of money to poor borrowers; the state is India’s biggest market for such loans. The MFI sector was the subject of a Mint Clarity Through Debate event in Mumbai last week. Responsible lending is is key for the sector’s revival, according to the participants. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty; director of the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning Usha Thorat; Basix group chairman Vijay Mahajan; chairman and managing director of Small Industries Development Bank of India Sushil Muhnot; International Finance Corporation’s regional manager, financial markets and private equity, Manoj Prashar; and Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh were the panellists in the discussion. Mint’s deputy managing editor Tamal Bandyopadhyay moderated the discussion. Edited excerpts:
TAGS:Microfinance
Friday, February 24, 2012 — South Asia

Micro-lender's Own Probe Links It to 200 Suicides

Source: The Seattle Times
First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, televisions, ration cards and heirloom gold jewelry. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself in a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, microcredit, Poverty
Thursday, February 23, 2012 — South Asia