TC-I Tidbits

Your daily dose of headlines:

Technology: Trak.in reports that a DesiWiki will help Indian start ups to increase their knowledge base on the technical aspects of starting a new venture.
Education: In order to encourage students to stay in school, the government approved a merit scholarship that will award deserving students of lower income sections with Rs [...]

Entrepreneurship Encouraged by the Government

iGovernment reports that the Indian government is encouraging the growth of entrepreneurship in several different ways, from public private partnerships to employment generation programs. In its Eleventh Plan, macro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) clusters will be promoted.
The Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana will assist potential 1.5 lakh first-generation entrepreneurs in completion of various [...]

SMEs adaptability = ideal conduit to BoP

In a post on Nextbillion.net yesterday, Derek Newberry, wrote a great piece on how SMEs serve as an ideal player in modifying technologies and products to reach the BoP. He starts off by recognizing the recent interest by large multinational corporations (MNCs) in serving the bottom billion, but then pushes forth the inquiry about the [...]

Upcoming Competitions, Awards and Challenges

Here is a summary of some interesting opportunities for our readers:
1.The Great Indian Developer Award: “The Great Indian Developer Awards 2008 recognizes trailblazing individuals, technologies, and organizations contributing to the evangelism, productivity and innovation excellence of the Indian developer ecosystem.” [Source: PluGGd.in] Go here to vote.
2. TIE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge 2008: “Canaan Partners and TIE, today [...]

Headlines Digest

We have decided to condense the headlines to be posted once each workday. Please comment here, if you prefer the Midday and Evening posts.

Global Warming and Energy: P. Chindambaram speaks on measures taken by India to combat global warming. In similar news, in Haryana the government has granted a 27 crore contract to a company [...]

SME News Portal

TradeIndia launched a news portal targeted for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that will be a “one-stop information library” for the sector.
The entire business module of Tradeindia revolves around the pledge to help SMEs build a self-reliant India. To keep SMEs informed on the recent policy changes, international trends and how these changes could affect [...]

Over the weight limit …

Anyone who has flown recently can relate to the frantic attempt to remove clothing, shoes and other packed items from your suitcase in order to meet the weight requirement that is draconiously enforced upon unsuspecting passengers. In a similar fashion, here are some additional articles that may be of interest that I could not fit [...]

Op-Ed: Microfinance revisited and its role in reaching the missing middle

Two weeks ago I wrote about James Surowiecki’s article in the New Yorker that brought forward the inherent limitations of microfinance to actually generate a substantial number of jobs in a developing country. Since then it seems as if I was not the only one (surprise surprise) to take notice of Surowieki’s conclusions and it [...]

Video: Tata Nano

Here is a video of someone describing the new Tata Nano (from Kamla Bhatt):

Enjoy

Bangalore is HP’s laboratory for data center cooling

Neerja Raman writes that Hewlett Packard’s new data cooling technology has found it home, not in Silicon Vally or the offices of Google in Mountain View, but rather in the heart of India 2.0 Bangalore.
Because in Bangalore, just like in other big cities in India, with its poor infrastructure and intermittent power supply, you get [...]

Kal Raman aims to reshape education with GlobalScholar.com

Utilizing the power of internet technology, GlobalScholar.com is an online platform for teachers, students, administrators and other education professionals to develop, disseminate and review curriculum. The company goes one step beyond that to figure out ways to implement such curriculum into schools. Focused on K-12 education, the venture is currently searching for a CEO to [...]

OneRoof aims to be a one-stop shop for essential services

Operating as a for-profit SE, OneRoof through its subsidiary in Chennai (and another in Mexico) intends to build out franchises throughout the country that offer what it considers nine essential services to the world’s poor.

You can see from the organization’s website the services they plan to offer. They currently have 20 locations between India and [...]

DBS Bank Offers Social Enterprise Products, Expands in India

DBS Bank, which is based in Singapore, is hoping to expand in India. With branches currently in New Delhi and Mumbai, the bank offers Enterprise Banking to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. An interesting program is the new DBS Social Enterprise Special Package, which is currently available in Singapore:

The `DBS’ Social Enterprise [...]

Forbes Magazine: Dearth of innovative SMEs not from lack of $, but lack of trained entrepreneurs

Studies have estimated that over $1 billion in possible venture capital financing has been infused into India in 2007. Instead of spurring a wave of innovative startups, however, this influx in capital has remained just that — surplus of capital. Unlike Africa or parts of Eastern Europe, the lack of wide scale SMEs in India [...]

Reforming Microfinance: Bhandan looks to scale it up

Earlier today I posted and Op-Ed on why I believe that microfinance is an incomplete solution to ending poverty because it does not lead to job creation — a necessary precondition for development. This concern has clearly been considered within the microfinance community themselves, as Bhandan — a MFI that targets women in Bengal — [...]