Brainforum

UID Project in India – Catalytic in achieving Inclusion

One of the key policy issues that the Unique Identification Authority of India hopes to address with the envisioned UID is bringing Inclusion with Micropayments. The linked pdf is a working paper released by the Planning Commission and I suggest that the readers skim through it once.

It starts off with a brief on the transformation that India has undergone from limited access to open access economy in the past twenty years. The report also gives financial exclusion levels in rural India and the lost economic opportunity that comes attached to it.

Some innovative policy initiatives undertaken to mitigate the problem of financial services in India are – no-frills account, branchless banking in the form of Business Correspondents (I have previously covered BCs here), liberalization of banking and ATM policies and the incorporation of National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) which provides a national infrastructure for payments and settlements in the country. Technological advancements have been providing a solid base to leverage all the initiatives.

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There is no alternative to regulation

The collapse of Lehman Brothers in midst of September 2008 made people become sensitive towards bonus payments in the investment banking sector.We all know that they are different from the ones in middle sized or big companies.
Of course, everyone was aware of the fact that investment bankers receive an especially high remuneration – but until the beginning of the crisis, it did not matter to anyone but a few people outside the sector.
With the collapse of Lehman and the start of the financial and economic crisis, lots of credit institutions had to get back to governmental interventions in order to not break down Lehman style.
It was then that the public realized what the bonus system in the investment sector really was about and how it worked.

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Importance of the developing world

Even though the recent crisis has affected the upliftment of poverty ridden people towards giving them a better life, the transition is still happening, even if slower than the crisis free scenario.

The global economic crisis will continue to affect the long term development prospects well beyond 2015 in terms of slowing down the momentum of achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), says the Global Monitoring Report 2010 released by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The crisis has slowed the pace of the poverty reduction in developing countries but the number of poor in India is still falling, says the report. As a result, 53 million more people will stay in extreme poverty in 2015 who otherwise would have been brought out of it. Similar trend is expected with other MDGs related to hunger, child and maternal health, water and health issues and sanitation.

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StartingBloc

After attending the student convention, which was as awesome as World Business Dialogue, I have been thinking about the other such engagements that a university student like us can take advantage of which talks about the structural constraints and the possible solutions that prevail in the Development through Enterprise sector.

I hope that organizations or institutions or mere individuals working actively in various nations take a hint and initiate a BoP activity/ Development through enterprise initiative within their borders. It need not be a direct set up of an institution/organization but trying to promote the very idea by exploring different ways. Something that doesn’t restrict the selection criteria by giving privilege to an MBA over a fresh college graduate just because the former one has experience in business equity and venture capital. Something that hires, trains and retains a youth community into its operations and attaches youth to such opportunities at a much bigger scale.

In the list of such organizations, one that I think is brilliant is StartingBloc. StartingBloc educates, inspires and connects emerging leaders to drive social innovation across sectors. The Institute for Social Innovation, their leadership development program, exposes emerging leaders (“Fellows”) to new models for achieving social impact.

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Sustainability sucks!?!

Sustainability sucks? At least that´s the impression we get when thinking about the social, economic and ecologic problems we are facing and the things people do or don´t do to change the way the world moves.

Even single persons struggle with integrating sustainability into their daily life. Public transport to get to the office? Recycling? Car-Sharing?
When it is not even possible for private persons to make the step towards sustainable behaviour, how should this work out for a global company? Even more: Do we then have the right to demand this kind of attitude?

When looking at corporate homepages, the first thing that comes into view most of the times is a big and shiny button screaming “Corporate Social Responsibility”. The flash video next door talks about sustainability. In my opinion, these two terms seem to have evolved to the new and hip gadget in the world of corporate communication. The true motive rarely is an altruistic one, but the fear that some day society will deprive the company from taking action and drift over to competitors.

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“Blindfolded – The future of our children”

“The future of our children” – The title seems to affect all of us, no matter which generation we belong to.
For the old generation, the future is connected with the fear of having depreciated the things they achieved.

Our parents in contrast feel fear and hope at the same time when thinking about their children´s (which means our) future. They guide us hoping that we´ll some day find our own way and they are scared that we won´t be able to cope with all the requirements of today´s society.

Our generation on the other hand is confronted with many feelings and influences at the same time. We are torn between the pursuit of professional success and self-realization.
So is there anyone among us thinking about children? We all know that some day we want to have a family, but this day seems so far on our journey throughout life´s suprises. We conduct this journey blindfolded without knowing whereto and why. And while we are travelling, the pressure to perform and the run of information increase and our future is becoming more uncertain with every second that passes. And that scares us!?

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Can we really price nature: or what is the other version of the crisis we have today?

This article does not want to give the answer to the question, but rather wants to discuss the issue with the World Business Dialogue participants. The right answers are under development and many question raised in this article are the challenge for our generation to find the clue-solutions. At the World Business Dialogue, this challenge can be met by professionals and students.

Who can answer what our Earth is worth in money? What is the value of the air we breathe? It’s the same as to ask how much your life is worth. Seems like a very extreme comparison, but nowadays, when the modern world faces the financial crisis, it is becoming a more and more essential question.

Why? This question refers to sustainability or new fresh trends of economic development. Somebody can say that we already priced water. Yes, we did, but is the price right? Is it fair in every region? Won’t global warming correct these prices?

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Looking forward to green gadgets in 2010

I recently came across various links show casing the future of technology products. These products not only substantiated the importance of green in the coming future but also demonstrated that the resources are being directed to bring about such innovations.

That the green is being taken seriously! This is obviously something to be happy about. Ingenious innovative concepts that are eco friendly – what is not there to support?

Out of the long list of products that interested me, I am posting here a couple of concepts that I think stand a high chance of massive scalability in the coming future. An impressive idea of Turbine light which is going to be a part of the Greener Gadgets conference at New York City attracted my attention the most. The concept harnesses the power from the wind of the rushing cars to light up the roads. You will be getting more details about the concept during the conference which is scheduled on 25th February 2010. The conference has an interesting panel of presenters and has an interesting Design Competition which chose 10 entries on the basis of innovation and the eco-friendliness. The winners will be selected on the basis of public voting. So do check out the link and vote for the best innovative design!

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The consumer’s power

The concept of a flashmob might be known by lots of people, as there have been many of such gatherings lately.

One great and widely recognized example during election time in Germany was the flashmob called “And everyone goes Yeah” that was organized by the online community during a speech of Angela Merkel, where the people present shouted “Yeah” after every sentence she finished. Merkel was pretty disturbed at the beginning and the initiative even made the evening news.

But while flashmobs are often criticized by certain people and characterized as being senseless, the alternate concept of smartmobs is making positive headlines. One sub-category of the smartmob movement is the one of carrotmobs. The initiative’s name derives from the image of a donkey longing to eat the carrot someone is wagging in front of his nose. In our case, the donkey stands for the business sector and the person holding the carrot is the conglomeration of customers. For organizing a carrotmob, it therefore takes a group of customers that are linked throughout some device (most of the times an online community) and a group of companies competing for the carrot which symbolizes the consumer’s spending power.

How Organized Consumer Purchasing Can Change Business from carrotmob on Vimeo.

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The crisis and media strategies for marketing places – Part Three

Marketing is a universal process that can be applied to developing and promoting many entities, including products, services, experiences, places, persons, properties, ideas, causes, and information.

Since the early 90’s there has been increasing interest in place marketing, place image and place branding. The number of countries taking part in the global economy and global tourism is increasing, accompanied by a parallel process whereby worldwide transportation and communication have grown. They are speedier, easier and the barriers between East and West are fading and getting cheaper (low cost carriers e.g.). However, if some place grows, another decreases in the attraction cycle. For example, today Paris does not compete just with other cities in Europe, but with other global cities, trying to win international tourism and important conferences. Global competition for tourism and investment has always existed, but today visiting foreign parts or investing abroad is much simpler, cheaper and safer, thanks to the communication progress. Avraham & Ketter (2008) and White (2006), indicate the best strategies, in particular communication and promotion strategies, to improve the place´s image in the crisis´ context. To help the place’s image and the place’s attraction in the decrease of the attention context, the decision makers have to choose a suitable “package” for marketing the place competitively.

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