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Western Union Tapping the Fortune
Money transfer company Western Union believes in tapping fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. The company is tying up with microfinance institutions (MFIs) and e-governance service providers to facilitate financial inclusion. This marks a shift in its India game plan, to offer money transfer services through MFIs besides its current portfolio of India Post network, banks, retail and finance agents. The Nasdaq-listed company has tied up with e-governance and I...
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- South Asia
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Indian Firms Shift Focus to the Poor
Indian companies, long dependent on hand-me-down technology from developed nations, are becoming cutting-edge innovators as they target one of the world’s last untapped markets: the poor. India’s many engineers, whose best-known role is to help Western companies expand or cut costs, are now turning their attention to the purchasing potential of the nation’s own 1.1-billion population. The trend that surfaced when Tata Motors’ tiny $2,200 car, the Nano, hi...
- Region
- South Asia
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How C.K. Prahalad’s Bottom of the Pyramid Strategies Are Paying Off
Five years ago, C.K. Prahalad published a book titled, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid , in which he argues that multinational companies not only can make money selling to the world’s poorest, but also that undertaking such efforts is necessary as a way to close the growing gap between rich and poor countries. Key to his argument for targeting the world’s poorest is the sheer size of that market -- an estimated four billion people. How has Prahalad’s book...
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Tata Power Links with MCX to Empower Farmers
As a part of its strategy, to take the benefits of the future’s trading to farmers’ doorstep and reach out to every corner of India, The Tata Power Company Ltd, India’s largest Integrated Power Utility signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), India’s leading commodity exchange. Through this alliance, the benefit of the future price information will be spread to more than 2000 farmers across 25 villages of Maharashtra where Tata Po...
- Region
- South Asia
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Understanding Rural and Low Income Customers in Asia
An important segment that marketers cannot ignore in Asia is the bottom of the pyramid and those Asian consumers living in rural areas. The challenges, marketers face in trying to address these consumers are high and risky due to the fragmented nature of the rural market and the low margins of this trade. There is no denying though that rural consumers want to access brands, if only because they are a promise of quality. For Asian marketers interested in tapping the huge rural markets in Asia...
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Water Purifier Players Battle for Every Drop
It’s said the next world war will be fought for water. While this frightening scenario — a global battle between nations for the precious resource — is strictly hypothetical in proportions, a skirmish over water has already erupted in India. No, not the disputed Cauvery water nor the water sharing between India and its neighbours, but between brands in the water purifier market. And it’s between market leader Eureka Forbes (EFL) and Hindustan Unilever which has been fo...
- Region
- South Asia
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Investors Back Social Initiatives in India
Bangalore: When Pune-based sanitation services provider Saraplast Pvt. Ltd started hunting for funds late last year, it was confident of attracting investors. The company had all its documents in place, a three-year track record of profits and a business model that it thought could be scaled up. However, Saraplast was baffled when investors indicated that they did not think its business of operating portable toilets was a business at all, even in a country where 55% of the populati...
- Region
- South Asia
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ANDE Announces $447K in Capacity Development Funding
Fifteen international economic development organizations have received grants in support of their work to expand small and growing businesses in developing countries. The grants-totaling US $447,000-were announced at the 2009 annual conference of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs in Glen Cove, New York. The grants were the first awarded as part of the network’s Capacity Development Fund, a US $1million effort to increase the productivity and effectiveness of organi...
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