NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

SKS at the Crossroads

By Shloka Nath On a rainy afternoon at a five-star hotel in suburban Mumbai, Vikram Akula is making a fervent pitch to a group of potential investors in the enterprise he founded, SKS Microfinance (SKS). Akula and SKS chief executive Suresh Gurumani take turns at the mike to impress on the rainmakers the advantages of investing in SKS, well on its way to becoming the world’s biggest microlender. While their purpose is the same, the two men present a study in contrast. Akula,...

Source

Forbes India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

IDE India Featured on PBS

NewsHour correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on how India is trying to feed its growing population while maintaining the environment. Watch the full video: ...

Source

PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid

According to C. K. Prahalad, a professor of corporate strategy at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan, corporations seeking to create new markets addressing the needs of the billions of poor people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid can — and should — use that effort to drive sustainability and innovation within their own ranks. The primary lesson, said Mr. Prahalad in a recent telephone interview with Green Inc., is learning to “do...

Source

New York Times (link opens in a new window)

We Must See India As One – Prahalad

When Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad and his colleague Stuart Hart wrote an article on the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) in 1998, no management journal accepted it. Unconvincing, they said. In 2002, Strategy+Business agreed to publish it and that one idea changed the way multinationals thought. Suddenly, everyone was looking at poor people across the world as a lucrative market. Prahalad followed his idea up with the bestselling title The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. The fift...

Source

Forbes India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

A Paradigm Shift in Ayurveda

Imagine this: You are a budding and ambitious entrepreneur in your mid 30s and you are interested in healthcare or say Ayurveda, to be more precise. The best part is you are also sanctioned an appreciable fund to set-up a chain of Ayurveda centres across India. Sitting in your boardroom, you are thinking about the locations for your new centres. Which places are you likely to choose, keeping in mind that you have sufficient funds? Maybe a place where there are high-income gro...

Source

Express Healthcare Management (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Legatum Center Hosts 2nd Annual Conference

MIT Legatum Conference on Oct 2 The Legatum Center at MIT is holding its second annual conference on October 2nd, 2009 in Cambridge, MA. The Center’s annual conference provides a forum for discussion of issues relating to entrepreneurship and international development. In 2008, the conference featured an unprecedented gathering of 5 Nobel Laureates in Economics ,...

Source

Press Release (link opens in a new window)

Pioneers of Prosperity Select 2009 Winners

The 2009 Pioneers of Prosperity Caribbean program is pleased to announce that Bulkan Timber Works of Guyana has taken the competition’s grand prize. Alternative Insurance Company of Haiti and Totally Male Ltd. of Jamaica were also recognized. On September 11, 2009, ten finalists from seven countries across the Caribbean competed for a grant of US $100,000 to invest in the growth of their company, and the prestigious title of Pioneer of Prosperity. The Honorable Orette Bruce Goldin...

Source

Press Release (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Danone May Apply Bangladesh Lessons to India

Groupe Danone, the $18-billion French dairy company, is understood to be exploring a strategy for India which will leverage on its experience in Bangladesh. One of the things Danone is studying is to enter with an affordable initiative, what it internally calls a bottom of the pyramid one. Danone has a joint venture with The Grameen Group in that country, from early 2006, with a focus on easily affordable dairy products. The Grameen Danone Foods model relies on the creat...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia