Articles 11 to 20 of 90
A 'B-school' in India Reaches out to Rural Women
The Mann Deshi Business School in India is a unique initiative: It seeks to provide rural, illiterate women with business and management skills, and to help them become entrepreneurs. In the past six years, the school has empowered 40,000 rural women. It aims to reach 100,000 women by 2015. Experts tell India Knowledge@Wharton that the challenge lies in scaling the organization effectively and making it financially sustainable.
Vijay Govindarajan: How Reverse Innovation Can Change the World
During his two-year stint at General Electric, Vijay Govindarajan, now a professor of international business at Dartmouth College, gained insights that led him to become a pioneer in developing the concept of reverse innovation. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Govindarajan shares his thoughts on what is driving reverse innovation and how it can change the world.
Can YES Bank, India's Youngest and Fastest-growing Bank, Be a Model for Newer Entrants?
Banking is fundamentally a simple business: You borrow money at a low rate of interest and lend it out at a higher rate. And yet so many financial institutions -- in India and across the globe -- have proved unsustainable. YES Bank, one of the beneficiaries of the Reserve Bank of India's new licenses in 2004, seems to have bucked the trend and has an ambitious plan for growth. But the institution's exposure to some troubled companies and sectors could be a roadblock, observers say, and YES will have to become more aggressive and react even faster to get ahead of some of its larger competitors.
Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl on Creating a 'Discovery Platform' for Indian Consumers
In less than two years, Snapdeal, a group discounting site in India, has grown to become one of the leading e-commerce sites in the country. According to co-founder Kunal Bahl, deals are only an entry point into the customer’s life. The vision, he says, is to build a brand that participates in consumers' lives every day, across product and service categories.
Ignighter’s Adam Sachs: Making an Impact on India's Dating -- and Start-up -- Scene
India wasn't even on Adam Sachs's radar when he and two friends founded Ignighter, a dating site that allows users to organize group dates. But the site quickly attracted the most traffic from India and other Asian countries, where one-on-one dates are still not the norm and young people going out in coed groups is more widely accepted. Ignighter has now turned its focus to India and recently set up an office there. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Sachs discussed the company's growth plans and how it is negotiating the ins and outs of navigating India's cultural landscape.
Husk Power Systems: Generating Electricity from Waste for India’s Rural Poor
Entrepreneurs Gyanesh Pandey and Ratnesh Yadav have designed a system that generates electricity out of rice husk, a waste material. Their company, Husk Power Systems, is providing power to more than 35,000 rural households in Bihar, a state where around 85% of the population does not have access to reliable electricity. Pandey and Yadav are hoping to light up one million households by 2014. Experts are bullish about the company, but warn that scaling up operations will not be easy.
Stylitics: Mining Data from Fashion
Would you trust a computer to design your wardrobe? The co-founders of Stylitics, a start-up that combines fashion with the burgeoning field of analytics, hope the answer is yes. But the company's strategy is as much about attracting corporate clients as it is about building a community of fashionistas. Stylitics employs an analytics platform to track and gain insights from users' clothing choices and purchase behaviors. With the right mix of users, the firm is hoping to become an alternative to the fragmented and often out-of-date market research that retailers have traditionally used to identify trends.
In Kashmir, Entrepreneurs and Educators Preach Optimism and Self-Reliance
Violence has long plagued India's troubled Kashmir Valley. But a new crop of local entrepreneurs and educators are working to reach a generation of young Kashmiris hoping to be a part of India's remarkable growth story. There remains a strong local belief that government jobs are the best in providing stability. Yet a recent report found many young Kashmiris are interested in entrepreneurship, and there is rising interest in pursuing an MBA. One entrepreneur, Abdul Hamid Bhat, is on a mission to promote private enterprise and reduce an over-reliance on the government sector.
India Equity’s Steven Wisch: Creating a Business Environment with the Best of Both Worlds
During his first stint in India, Steven Wisch, founder and managing partner of private equity firm India Equity Partners, was struck by the quality of the entrepreneurs there, even though at the time it was “a very tough place to do business.” In a conversation with India Knowledge@Wharton, Wisch discussed the lingering challenges and frustrations of the Indian market and what Indian companies and managers have to offer the world.
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Succession: India's Changing Business Landscape
With so many Indian multinationals increasing operations outside the country, many in the business community are asking if India is preparing to remain competitive in the changing economic ecosystem. Does India have the resources, structures and innovation it needs to meet the challenges of the coming decade? What are the opportunities for first-time entrepreneurs in the country? At the 15th Wharton India Economic Forum, leaders of global corporations and first-time entrepreneurs discussed these and other questions, offering advice to those hoping to make their mark.
