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A $25 Solar Lamp for Millions in India
One of the partners, Matthew Scott, led the design and development of a solar-powered lamp when he was a student at the Stanford Business School in 2003. The lamp is based on light-emitting diode (LED) technology, which uses much less electricity than incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Scott initially intended for the lamps to be used in commercial buildings or aircraft. Then he read "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" and shifted his approach. The book by C.K. Prahalad des...
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- South Asia
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A Network to Help Start-Ups With a Cause
By DEEPTI CHAUDHARY OF MINT BANGALORE - A social-sector advisory firm has launched a platform to bring together rich individuals, foundations and companies keen on investing in businesses that cater to the poor. Intellecap Impact Investor Network (I3N), launched ear...
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- South Asia
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IFC to Invest $45M in Listed Non-Banking Indian Finance Co
International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to invest $45 million as equity in an unnamed public-listed mid-size Indian non-banking finance company (NBFC) for expanding access to finance for the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs. Although the name of the target company stands undisclosed, its primary business is ’asset-backed financing’ - focused on providing funds to the bottom-of-the-pyramid stratum in rural and semi-urban areas. The NBFC has significant presence in the ...
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- South Asia
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Microfinance Staff Seek Greener Pastures
Mumbai: SKS Microfinance Ltd, India’s largest and only listed microfinance institution (MFI), has seen an exodus of at least 3,000 of its employees in the three months ended 31 March, even as the lender of tiny loans to the poor grapples with large-scale defaults from borrowers in Andhra Pradesh and a rapidly eroding market value. The 12% decline in its employee strength for the March quarter is the sharpest fall the company has seen. SKS is not the only micro-credit lender th...
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- South Asia
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Grameen Bank to Come Under Bangladesh Bank Supervision
The government plans to bring Grameen Bank (GB) under the direct supervision of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to be guided by Bank Company Act, 1991. The move, according to official sources, is aimed to establish...
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- South Asia
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Making Healthcare Affordable, Accessible, and Ubiquitous
A small but growing band of companies wants to make healthcare affordable, accessible, and ubiquitous. Like the larger groups, their services are of a high quality, but costs are kept under a tight leash. With early models starting to scale, social investors are not the only ones being drawn to such companies. For the rich, famous and pregnant living in Hyderabad’s upmarket Jubilee Hills, there is The Cradle, a high-end , luxury ’birthing centre’ recently launched...
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- South Asia
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(Indian) Venture Funds Race to Raise Fresh Capital
BANGALORE -- Aavishkaar India, an early-stage venture capital firm, will complete raising a $120 million in June for its fourth and largest fund. The size and speed of Aavishkaar’s fund-raising effort -- six months to close a fund -- reflect the hurry venture capitalists are into make new investments, taking a cue from their more active private equity investors. There are at least half a dozen other venture-capital firms that are either raising funds or increasing the size of their ...
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- South Asia
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Investors Assume the Worst for SKS Microfinance
That SKS Microfinance Ltd will have to write off part of its Andhra Pradesh (AP) loan book is inescapable. If there is any difference of opinion among brokerages, it is just in the matter of degree. Some assume 40% of its AP advances will have to be forgone, while others paint a bleaker picture at 90%. The fourth quarter (Q4) results of the firm make for grim reading, with falling net interest income, spreads and return on assets. Not only did SKS lose Rs. 70 crore, its collec...
- Region
- South Asia
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