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How a Classic Model of Social Commerce Can Teach the World How to Save
In a dusty hallway in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, two women barter used clothes for pots and pans. The going rate today is ten pieces of used clothing for one new tin pot. This is the informal economy, growing as the world’s population continues to urbanise in mega-cities like Mumbai and São Paulo. In Mumbai, where 60% of residents live in slums, activity in the informal economy, from bartering to neighborhood savings groups to co-ops, rivals the scale of the formal economy of...
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- South Asia
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Vodafone Increases Banking Options in Rural India with Mobile Service
Vodafone India and HDFC Bank have announced plans to launch a mobile banking service across the country next year after a successful trial period, according to an Economic Times article . The service, which is called ’M-Paisa’ (named after its monetary unit, the p...
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- South Asia
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Selling Water, Health Care in the Developing World
In rural India, deep in Punjab - about 90 minutes from the Pakistani border - getting clean drinking water is a challenge. Well water often has high levels of dangerous chemicals. Surface water is contaminated with pesticides and agricultural waste. Getting adequate health care is equally challenging. Government hospitals are often far away, and lines are long. Here, in places like a dusty rural town called Rajiana, a 2-year-old company called Healthpoint Services is trying to fig...
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- South Asia
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How Vineet Rai Has Made Microfinance Advisory Intellecap into a Rs 30 Crore Venture
Age at starting business: 30 years Company name: Intellecap Headquarters: Hyderabad Seed capital: Rs 1 lakh Source of money: Parents-in-law, personal savings Turnover after first year: Rs 12 lakh Turnover in 2010-11: Rs 30 crore In a country where advice is abundant and free, making a career out of it may seem like a risky proposition. Fortunately for me, the gamble paid of...
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- South Asia
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More Optimism Here Than in Developed World
New Delhi: David Calhoun, chief executive officer of leading global information and measurement company Nielsen Holdings NV, believes overseas clients could learn from the innovations of Indian marketers for bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers. The former vice-chairman of General Electric Co. (GE), who surprised many when he moved to Nielsen in 2006, was in India to attend a consumer summit organized by the research firm. Nielsen, owned by a group of private equity firms, including ...
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- South Asia
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Invest in Women
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) - In the developing world, women have a critical stake in survival. And it turns out that investing in women is a good bet for a number of reasons. "We know that women are critical to economic growth and community stability," the organization Business for Social Responsibility says in a report, Investing in Women’s Economic Empowerment. "Research has also shown that women earning an income are more likely than men to invest in the education, nutrit...
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- South Asia
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Adidas to Launch $1 Shoe in India
BERLIN: Adidas, the German sportswear and equipment maker, is to launch a shoe costing one dollar a pair in India, boss Herbert Hainer said, despite the failure of a similar venture in Bangladesh. He told the Sunday newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag that unlike in Bangladesh mass production would be possible to supply the growing Indian market. "The shoe will be sold in villages through a dis...
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- South Asia
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HBL to Launch Branchless Banking
Islamabad-HBL has inked a Technology Support agreement with Sybase 365, the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services, and Abacus Consulting, a leading management and technology consultancy firm for the deployment of branchless banking services. Mr. Faiq Sadiq, Head-Payment Services and Mr. Mudassir Khan, Chief Information Officer from HBL, Mr. Mathew Talbot, Senior Vice President, mCommerce and Tarik Husain, Business Development Director, mCommerce from Sybase 365 and Mr...
- Region
- South Asia
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