-
Is more funding the answer to Pakistan’s struggling microfinance sector?
Microfinance is a booming industry in neighbouring India and Bangladesh, but has had a slower rise in Pakistan.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
Practo: Rural India is online healthcare’s big challenge
India's online health care sector is growing at a remarkable pace but the disparity between how rural and urban India benefit from it are stark.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
-
Where Ideas for Social Enterprise Take Wing
A graduate from Oxford University, Manas Nanda's dream was to make a social change. He found his way back to his roots by starting 'Harvest Wild', a social enterprise, with an aim to create livelihood opportunities for people living in remote forest areas in India. It was at IIM-Bangalore's incubation cell, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), where his idea of bubble nut wash was mentored.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
Bengaluru Is Achieving What Many Regions Could Not: Stanford Business School Dean
Stanford university’s Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) counts numerous Silicon Valley entrepreneurs among its alumni, including Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla. In 2013, Stanford GSB launched its Ignite programme for entrepreneurs and innovators, with Infosys’s Bengaluru campus acting as the host facility. Its Dean Garth Saloner was in India recently to explore the possibility of finding a facility host for The Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (Stanford Seed). Saloner spoke to Forbes India about the importance of the entrepreneurial process and why Bengaluru has managed to create an enviable startup ecosystem.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
Viewpoint: Regulators Should Leave China’s P2P Sector Alone
I got into a shouting match with my 83-year-old father-in-law the other day in Shanghai. He had invested 300,000 yuan ($45,940) in Zhongda, an obscure peer-to-peer lending company based in Zhejiang Province. So far he has not suffered a loss from his adventure but he has refused to pull his money out despite my insistence that he do so.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending
-
Stepping in for Social Enterprises
With nearly a decade and a half of working in the social enterprises space, Paul Basil firmly believes that there is a huge gap in funding for-profit ventures that cater to the bottom of the pyramid. There are funds available at the angel space and then at the Series A stage, when the ventures get their first round of funding from VC firms. But, between the angel and the Series A stage, there is a huge gap.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
-
Indian Government’s Financial Inclusion Dream Still Unrealized
"Never before in economic history would 15 million bank accounts have been opened on a single day. Never before has the Government of India organised a programme of such scale," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on August 28, 2014, launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (Prime Minister's People's Wealth Programme/PMJDY).
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
Viewpoint: Impact Start-Ups Left Out of India’s Funding Boom
Aasaanjobs’ fund-raising journey has been a bit different so far from most impact start-ups. Last January, the Mumbai-based company picked up $1.5 million in seed capital from Inventus Capital Partners and IDG Ventures India. Both are mainstream venture capital firms and generally don’t back businesses that focus on consumers at the bottom half of the pyramid. This week, the two firms increased their investment when the company raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Aspada Advisors, the venture capital firm backed by Soros Economic Development Fund.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.