Evening Edition

State weakness report: Brookings Institute ranks India 67th out of 141 states in their new report that measures state weakness based on the criteria of economic, political, security and social welfare.
Technology: Google released today Voice Search in Hyderbad which enables users to find business, restaurants, etc. by speaking the query into their mobile. In a [...]

Op-Ed: Microeffect of Microfinance

A recent article in the New Yorker echoed sentiments expressed by many venture capitalists that have begun to shift their focus on the developing world and BoP markets that microfinance, while an amazing concept for enable entrepreneurs, cannot in itself lift countries out of poverty. James Surowiecki writes:
Microloans are often used to “smooth consumption”—tiding a [...]

ThinkChange India has Calendars Now!

Hello readers,
We recently just launched two Google calendars with the aim to keep our readers up to date on pending deadlines, dates and events relevant to social entrepreneurship in India. Please check them out by going to the Calendars tab on top of the blog. Feel free to subscribe to them in your own Google [...]

Some more BACO-bits of investing knowledge from Acumen

Previously, ThinkChange India posted on the Acumen Fund’s investing strategy. In that post, we pointed out how a major factor in the Fund’s decision-making process is the BACO, or best alternative charitable option.
Due to a comment posted in response to this article, Brian Trelstad chose to follow up with Acumen’s readers on the BACO’s limitations [...]

Rafiq Dossani — Next Google will come from a small town in India

In an interview promoting his new book, India Arriving, Rafiq Dossani (former editor of Business India weekly) said that he sees the next Google coming from not Bangalore or even the developed world, but rather a small town in India.
Now, if you ask whether someone else might do that in India, and who that will [...]

Select Headlines

Here are some headlines for the day:

Bhopal gas victims march to Delhi
Google India launches Internet safety program
US confident that N-deal will be completed
UN Makes Its Statistical Data Free and Searchable

Just Call Me on My Cell …

At the risk of overstating the role that mobile phones will play in reaching the BoP, a great post on NextBillion.net talks about how cell phones have reached the level that Malcolm Gladwell would label a “social epidemic.”
It is notable that Eric Schmidt, chairman of the board and enlightened CEO of Google has said that [...]