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Notes from Indonesia: 2009 New Ventures Investor Forum
Last month I had the distinct pleasure of spending two full days with entrepreneurs from Indonesia during the New Ventures Investor Forum. These entrepreneurs are unique in many ways - but bound together by a sincere desire to lead change in Indonesia. through innovation, inclusion of BoP markets and environmental sustainability.
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From the Field, Part 5: The Launch and Seeing the Vision Become Flesh
The formal launch was perhaps the most difficult part of the journey so far. Because both the Governor of the State and the Finance Minister were coming, the local political officials were determined that everything should be perfect.
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Village Capital Announces Peer-Selected Investment Funds
If you have a business idea to help improve the world, listen up. The newly-announced West Coast Village Capital (WCVC) is a social venture program that brings entrepreneurs together to learn from and support each other’s social enterprises. Unlike most incubators or seed funds, however, WCVC also puts the investment decision in the hands of...
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Notes from the Field, Part 4: A Hybrid Approach to Building a Company
Building a new venture from scratch often takes a lot of time. Operating in a rural area with imperfect infrastructure only makes it harder. But we were able to leverage the existing field force of our Indian partner to begin construction of our healthpoint units almost immediately after incorporation.
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Notes from the Field, Part 3: The Money Chase
When BOP entrepreneurs share war stories, they are inevitably about raising money. And I’m often asked, how do you do it? So here in brief are my experiences in raising money for our rural healthcare venture, which now has 3 operating E Health Points in rural Punjab, India.
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In the Business of ’Doing Business’
When it comes to mobilizing the BoP’s $10 trillion in hidden capital and creating an enabling environment to get the most out of it, there is no magic reform recipe - but local knowledge is always a vital ingredient. International exposure and competition through the World Bank’s Doing Business Reports have pressured governments into seeking...
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“Is It Right to Have The Poor Pay?”
Asks BOPreneur Paul Hudnut in a blog post published this weekend. He does so in response to the Fast Company article about J-PAL, which I linked to late last week and cites one of its researchers arguing against the practice of charging fees at the BoP. I’d like to add a couple of additional arguments to the discussion Paul started.
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Weekly Roundup: $500k for Clean Energy in India, and More
I’ll add to Francisco’s Thanksgiving post to say thank you to NextBillion’s readers. Also, give thanks for challenges, prizes, and some links to good thinking and good works.
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