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

Paper Gains on Early Investment in SKS Microfinance Largely Evaporate for Sequoia Capital

Since its initial investment in SKS Microfinance, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), Sequoia Capital, a US-based venture capital firm, has experienced significant gains on paper followed by partial losses of those gains. Before other venture capital firms were investing in SKS, Sequoia invested USD 11.5 million in the MFI [1]. By the end of 2008, venture capital firms had invested a total of USD 75 million in SKS [1]. SKS went public in July 2010, and its share price reached...

Source

MicroCapital.org (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

From Victims to Entrepreneurs

JAIPUR: A 23-year-old victim of domestic violence, Sudha Sharma, (name changed) of Jaipur is learning basics of social entrepreneurship at a workshop organised by an NGO - Centre for Social Development (CSD) in the city. Until a few months ago, she was physically assault by her inlaws but now she lives separately and is planning to open a small tailoring unit here. Like Sudha, there are 29 other ...

Source

The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

The End May Be Nigh for Microfinance in India

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said a few weeks ago that "hopefully, sooner rather than later" there will be national rules governing microfinance institutions that would trump the law imposed by Andhra Pradesh last year that has gutted the business model of private microcredit companies. Mark Stoleson, chief executive officer of Legatum, a Dubai-based investor in the industry, was in Delhi this week with a warning: Act now, or face what he termed a "Lehman Brothers at ...

Source

Wall Street Journal - India Realtime (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

PepsiCo Will Cater to Different Segments of Consumers

NEW DELHI: Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo India is gunning for the bottom-of-the-pyramid consumer for the first time in the country, as its chairman, Manu Anand , drives the New York-based $60 billion parent’s target to reach the ’next one billion’ consumers in the value segment. In his first media interaction since he succeeded Sanjeev Chadha in January this year, Anand tells ET that PepsiCo is creating verticals to cater to different segments of consumers, ac...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Hands Off Our Houses

Mumbai, India: LAST summer, a business professor and a marketing consultant wrote on The Harvard Business Review’s Web site about their idea for a $300 house . According to the writers, and the many people who have enthusiastically responded since, such a house could improve the lives of millions of urban poor around the world. And with a $424 billion market for cheap...

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Region

South Asia

Fighting the Taliban One Irrigation Project at a Time

JALALABAD, Afghanistan-When Chris Corsten describes his job, he starts from space and zooms into the eastern hemisphere of the world, down into Central Asia, and then into Afghanistan, using Google Earth. In one of the country’s rural districts, nestled in mountains and riverbeds, are hundreds of colored dots representing construction sites. If Corsten moves his cursor over one of these dots, a geo-tagged photograph showing Afghan men building walls or mixing cement appears. If he display...

Source

Slate.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Pak to be Leading Recipient of UKAID Next Year

KARACHI: Pakistan will be biggest development programme partner of UKAID next year, said Andrew Mitchells, UK Secretary of State for Department of International Development (DFID). "The biggest development partnership programme that Britain will have next year in the world will be in Pakistan and it is designed to help children get into the schools," he said after inaugurating a mobile banking franchise of private mobile telephone company here on Wednesday in cooperation with Tameer-e-P...

Source

Business Recorder (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

LeapFrog to Invest up to $40 Million in India

MUMBAI --LeapFrog Investments, a $135 million fund focused on micro-insurance, is looking to deploy as much as $40 million in India. "India presents an opportunity as the level of penetration of insurance is very low," said Jim Roth, the company’s co-founder and partner. In other markets, insurance is for the wealthy, whereas in India there is insurance that focuses on the mass market, he said, adding that LeapFrog will invest between $5 million and $20 million in a company. M...

Source

The Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia