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Danone’s Cheap Trick
Groupe Danone is the world’s largest yogurtmaker and one of the biggest companies in France, with some $21 billion in sales annually. Yet a tiny factory in Bangladesh from which Danone never expects to earn any money is giving the company a profitable lesson in manufacturing for the developing world - and even some tips for business in the West. The factory, which sits in the northern city of Bogra and ma...
- Region
- South Asia
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Indian Rickshaws Pull Ahead
Today, "social entrepreneurship" has become an important development to help some of the poorest groups in the world like the rickshaw pullers in India. Colorfully adorned cycle rickshaws have long been a part of India’s landscapes. These hardworking yet environmentally friendly rickshaw operators can navigate busy urban streets and rural country roads with the same ease. But they are all but invisible to their passengers as they barely subsist above the poverty level....
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- South Asia
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VCs Plan to Invest $53M in Social Biz Over Six Months
MUMBAI: In the 20-company portfolio of Nexus Venture East, a $320-million venture capital (VC) fund, three businesses stand out. There’s Suminter India Organics, which does contract farming for organic produce; D.light Design, which provides solar lighting solutions; and Sohan Lal Commodity Management, which provides grain warehousing facilities in small towns and villages in 12 states. Nexus refers to them as ’impact investments’ - businesses where the pursuit of...
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- South Asia
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Everest Capital Launches ’Frontier’ Hedge Fund
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Everest Capital, a $2 billion hedge-fund firm run by Marko Dimitrijevic, has launched a new fund focused on so-called frontier markets such as Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Everest, which has been investing in emerging markets for roughly 20 years, started trading in the "frontier" markets in 2008. By June, the firm had $90 million allocated to its frontier strategy. The money came from the firm and from...
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- South Asia
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Rich I.P.O. Brings Controversy to SKS Microfinance
An Indian company with rich American backers is about to raise up to $350 million in a stock offering closely watched by philanthropists around the world, showing that big profits can be made from small helping-hand loans to poor cowherds and basket weavers. The company, SKS Microfinance, is one of the biggest players in the field known as ...
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- South Asia
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SKS Microfinance: Giant squid, ?Devta? or Just a Business?
I’ve written in this space before asking why my BlackBerry stayed on the grid in a remote mountain village where basic banking was missing. A few years earlier I had argued for a model that would make financial services as ubiquitous as paan masala , glucose biscuits and shampoo sachets in remote rural India. So now when this comes to pass in the form of an initial public offering (IPO) from a microfinance firm that has made capital availab...
- Region
- South Asia
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Would You Like a Soda with Your Small Loan?
SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution (MFI), aims to raise up to $353 million in a closely watched IPO that has already drawn top anchor investors. As India’s largest MFI and the first to do an IPO, SKS is answering lots of questions : Should MFIs charge ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Innovating Solutions for India’s Challenges
Last week, Kapil Sibal unveiled the prototype of a Rs 1,500 tablet pc aimed at providing an ultra-low-cost solution targeted towards making computer literacy accessible to those who are at the bottom of the pyramid. The minister believes that not only it is possible to see a commercial launch of this prototype as early as in 2011, but also a price-point which could eventually be as low as Rs 500. A few months ago, Tata Group launched an ultra-l...
- Region
- South Asia
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